Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
Both approaches are hazardous. Commodore had multiple pet projects on the boil and as each one became ready they were supposed to market it, regardless of what the actual market was for it. But they couldn't afford to do that. Furthermore their marketing was often over-priced and ineffective due to the advertising companies not understanding the product (and/or just being plain incompetent).
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The IDE directive originated from Commodore Germany which caused A300's scope creep which resulted in A600's release and A500's cancellation.
A600 suffered a sales flop which tanked Commodore's revenues into unsustainable P&L losses in 1992.
At fault: Commodore management. Specific fault, Commodore Germany.
Commodore Germany's management demanded hard disk-capable Amiga models.
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There are triple-digit million dollars equivalent corruption from Commodore Netherlands.
At fault: Commodore Netherlands' management.
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AA3000+ AGA prototype didn't have an IDE controller, hence any "AA500+" derived from this design wouldn't have a Budgie (cost-reduced Buster/Ramsey) and Gayle (Fat Gary with IDE and PCMCIA).
AA500+ would have cut down Super Buster (one edge connector), Ramsey, Fat Gary, and AGA core chipset.
No IDE, no PCMCIA, and no Gayle for the cost blowout and delay.
There's less need for Budgie cost reduction when there is no Gayle-related cost blowout.
A500Plus with AGA could have been released.
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CDTV had a cut-down SCSI controller for the semi-custom CD-ROM drive.
Stop blaming engineers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
By the time Commodore got a manager onboard who had the vision they needed, things were pretty dire and his options were limited. The A1200 was as good a result as could be expected under the circumstances - just a pity it wasn't implemented earlier when the company wasn't in such dire straits.
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I agree on this point.