| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2295.1 | | LEVERS::PLOUFF | Semipro Semiologist | Wed Mar 01 1989 09:30 | 2 |
| Probably the motive is different default screen sizes for NTSC (North
America) and PAL (Europe) machines.
|
| 2295.2 | Not true. | AYOV28::ATHOMSON | C'mon, git aff! /The Kelty Clippie | Wed Mar 01 1989 10:34 | 10 |
| � Probably the motive is different default screen sizes for NTSC (North
� America) and PAL (Europe) machines.
This COULD be true if it was the other way round (i.e. European
S/W being used in the US) as the European Amigas have a higher vertical
resolution (256/512 vs 200/400). There is however NO restriction
on US S/W running on European machines - it only means that it uses
only 80% of the display.
Alan T.
|
| 2295.3 | U.S. <> Europe ? | SCUBA::WILTSHIRE | Dave Wiltshire - CSSE Europe | Wed Mar 01 1989 12:43 | 6 |
| If I buy Amiga Software while I'm in the U.S., does this mean that
the screen display will be of a lower resolution than if I had
bought the same product in Europe i.e. are there distinct European
and U.S versions ?
-Dave.
|
| 2295.4 | A possibility | BOMBE::MOORE | So many holes to plug | Thu Mar 02 1989 02:44 | 2 |
| In some cases (Arkanoid springs to mind) there could be license
restrictions against exporting the program.
|
| 2295.5 | OK to buy in US | JGO::CHAPMAN | | Thu Mar 02 1989 03:31 | 35 |
| Re -2
I have bought software when I have been over in the US (Pro-Write
and a couple of other things). For well behaved programs this is
no problem whatsover; windows simply expand to fill the extra space
available on a PAL machine. For games, have a look next time you
run one. Often the bottom 15-20% is blank, but it doesn't detract.
I have many games, purchased in Europe which do this, Marble Madness
springs to mind.
Some of my recent purchases (games) DO seem to be full screen -never
thought about it up to now, ie Starglider 2. This could be because
it is European origin anyway. Does this mean there are two versions,
or this there one version which detects which machine it is running
on - I don't know. But in any case anything you buy in the US should
work, but maybe you could get a European version in limited cases.
In many cases what you buy in Eorope are direct US imports by dealers
anyway. For example, Faery Tale Adventure has only had a European
distributor for a couple of months although it has been available
mail order for a long time.
So, buy in the US if you wish, for 'real' software. You might as
well buy games here, as there is little price differential now.
At least this is what I would have said until I read about the main
subject of this note. I still think it's stupid. Before you know
where we are we will have separate versions for Luxembourg and
Lichtenstein. The only thing more stupid is trying to put notices
like Arkanoid do (.2?), ie "Use (not Export, I think) outside the US
prohibited." A friend of mine has a shop purchased version that says
this on the intro screen. What will all you Arkanoid owners in the US
do when you relocate to Europe - leave Arkanoid behind. Can you think
of ANY other product that could get away with that.
Colin
|
| 2295.6 | | IGETIT::ELLISM | Purring on a straight six.... | Fri Mar 03 1989 03:30 | 20 |
| There are different versions for different standards. I'm sure I
can remember a while back that someone was complaining about buying
something in the US, and when they got back to Europe - it didn't
work.
I think it is something to do greed. There seems to be a higher
mark up on everything to do with computers in Europe.
By the way, the same article that started this, was probably on
par with Byte. Whoever wrote the article was obviously an ST fan.
The whole article was about alternatives to the MAC and IBM PC for
a business system. They concluded the ST section by saying that
the ST was wonderful, mainly because of the massive amount of software
available, like Word Perfect and VIP professional (Funny - thought
I had those for the Amiga!). The major problem for the Amiga was
it's 'buggy operating system', and it's lack of software. They did,
grudgingly, admit that the Amiga was good for Video work.
Martin
|
| 2295.7 | | ACE::SANDERS | | Fri Mar 03 1989 09:27 | 24 |
|
re: -.1, People that get paid to write articles should be
objective above all else. If the same software is available for
all the machines mentioned, then the tradeoff is what machine can
perform the task with the least long term cost. People that
write articles like the one mentioned really upset me. As an
example the folks that publish Home and Family computing (or
something along those lines) dropped all Atari and Amiga
coverage, but still cover 8-bit Apples, along with what they
believe a home business needs for a computer - PCs and Macs.
Same biased uninformed viewpoint that the author of the mentioned
article had.
On the subject of Greed, some of the increase may be due to the
effects of taxes and insurance. Back when I lived in Eastern
Mass., it was rare to be able to get more then 15% off list for
any piece of Atari software. Out here in both Albuquerque and
Phoenix, I can expect 20% off list just walking into the door,
and in Albuquerque I tend to find a bit more off the price. The
only way I can account for this is the difference in the real
cost of living, not just the sales tax, but the cost of doing
business.
Bob
|