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Commodore Software Selectable, and Can Range from 136 Compressed Rockfort Diskfile Range of products M.f.10 not only offer an easy reference and attractive floppy Disk Box disk filing system but also offer complete Holds 10- protection from damaging dust particles. 5'/4" Disks Post for your order today! £2.45 Incl. VAT, Post &.. Packing ~ ROCKFORT L!J DISI(oSTORAGE M.f.50 Manufactured by Projectron Ltd - Trade inquiries invited Aoppy Disk Box r----------------~I Holds 50- I ROCKFORT PRODUCTS - Member of the Vignesh I 5',4" Disks Group, 30 Topsfield Parade, London, N.8. Tel: 01-348 0 543 £9.50 I I Incl. VAT, Post I I &.. Packing I I M.D. 12/30 I I Micro I I Disk Box I PLEASE FORWARD THE ROCKFORT DISK BOXIS I Holds 12 to 30- I AS INDICATED ABOVE. I ENCLOSE CHEQUE. VALUE £ I 3 V2 " Disks according to thickness I NAME I £7.85 I ADDRESS I Inci. VAT, Post &.. Packing L _________ ~~~~ ____ ~ In this issue: First Impressions, the new 8296D ... Battle of the Business Micros ... Disk The Battle for Drives ... Word Processing, a Checklist ... Business Packages .. Commodore Profiles - Gail Wellington and Nick Green ... and the New Communication the Business Micro Revolution ... n business, nothing is deader than yester­ 8296 field - down below the £;1000.00 I day. Or yesterday's computer. In the highly mark. Contributors: competitive world of business, the demand What has happened is that IBM AT has Andrew Harris ... Teresa Geneva ... for the latest model, the most efficient caused the price differential of the floppy Peter Gerrard ... Anthony Max. system, that extra edge of software cost­ and hard disk based systems to be dramati­ Research: Pippa Hammond, Jeannie effectiveness is brutally Darwinian; even the cally reduced and the knock-on effect will Lawrence newest or the fittest has to struggle furiously be that the floppy systems must become to survive. Today's publicised launch can cheaper either through manufacturers Consultant: B.J. Lewis M.Sc., A.c.A. turn so quickly into tomorrow s discreet setting lower prices or simply market forces Published by Croftward Limited, wake. bringing heavier discounts. Finsbury Business Centre, Commodore - the creator of the first busi­ The scenario is that the IBM PC/AT is a 16 40 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1 ness micro, the 700 series PET - has bit, floppy and hard disk based system with launched a major marketing campaign to 256KB of memory, 1.2MB offloppy disk and recapture its original place. It will spend 20MB of hard disk capacity, selling at around more than £6 million over the next year - a £4500.00, which will bring the earlier IBM substantial proportion devoted to business PC down to around £2000.00 and make a First - to keep and increase its market share. standard CPM or MS DOS retail for about The spearhead of its business drive is the £1500.00 at which the 8296 is presently Impressions new 8296D - covered on this page. But is priced. the 8296 a machine that can put Why should Commodore come down in The new 8296D is being widely advertised Commodore up with the winners in the price? Because the 8296 technology is not but is noticable for its absence for retail fiercely combative, if highly profitable, the newest; it is an 8 bit, floppy disk with buyers. Even CCI had difficulty in obtaining a business game? Or is the 8296, as some about 1/10th the capacity of the new IBM. model to review. When it arrived we were detractors claim a 'yesterday' machine - too Another problem is the relatively limited not a little impressed. It is an attractive slow, too small and too late? amount of software presently running on it. object of design. We decided however to Commodore is basing its marketing Superb Marketing give the full examination of the computer a strategy on 'knocking copy' - comparisons; Nevertheless, don't jump to the conclu­ realistic form by making use of it in our a technique widely used in the car business. sion that the 8296 will not be a success. normal routine - it is often unfair to seek out Its 8296 advertisement points out a checklist Commodore has proven a superb market­ faults or virtues that would not be usually against the IBM PC, the Apricot and the ing organisation - you don't sell 6.3% of the noticed in our standing working Apple Macintosh. They cl earl y show the world's computers by chance. It may well environment. Our in depth working test will Commodore 8296, at around £1500.00 convince the business public, as it has the appear in the next issue of Commodore including software, substantially better home market, that its machines suit not just Business. In the meantime here are our first value. their budgets but also have the capacity and impressions. However a major new factor in the game is speed they want. The 8296D would shame no rising the just announced IBM PC/AT computer No-one, not even IBM, is presently certain executives desk. Designed by Porsche - yes which has shaken up the whole business about the supply or the price of the new AT. the car company - it has confident style and micro field, leaving no-one certain what will The Intel 80286 chip used in it is in very short an agreeably futuristic look, especially the emerge as the winning formula. supply and Big Blue is having to produce its screen . There is no denying that when IBM moves own. Whether the AT can be supplied in The disk drives are not so up-to-date, the whole computer world shakes and we . reasonable quantities before well into 1985 indeed have a rather old fashioned sealing. could see a whole series of related changes seems doubtful and IBM, famous for its the keyboard has a crisp attractive look and New Factor marketing muscle, seems to be more fallible is ergonomically well-designed with room However a major new factor in the game is recently. It had a disaster with the failure of to rest the hands. The keys themselves are the just announced IBM PC/AT computer its Peanut micro to sell in the u.s. 'unsculptures' - against the fashion today which has shaken up the whole business The key to the battle may be with the soft­ and although the numbering and letters are micro field, leaving no-one certain what will ware that Commodore can get for its 8296 clear and bold, the typestyle in prosiac and emerge as the winning formula. and the support it provides. they tend to be noisy and clatter slightly in There is no denying that when IBM moves Business software is very much more than use. the whole computer world shakes and we just a network of dealers vending boxes. It The 'Insert/Delete' seems to close the could see a series of related changes that requires close attention to training, service Run/Stop key and could be a problem for could push the small business micro - the and maintenance; all especially important careless typers. And, while the screen has to first-time business buyers. How will brightness, it has no contort control. Commodore approach these aspects and Our impression is that it is one can it equate the product with of the most attractive business businessmen's needs that are by no means micros on the market the same as its usual market? and the coveats are Undoubted excellence of product, acute minor. We were judgement of ti ming and price and its superb impressed. ' Whether it marketing have kept Commodore a major works as well as it winner. But slugging it out with IBM in the looks well, read the next fight for the business micro market is a big installment ... step up in class. As Commodore no doubt realises, a large chunk of its future is resting on the 8296. The risks are great but the prizes are even greater. 3 Early Commodore computers, before the Vic 20 and the 64, had an un\Jsual version of an IEEE interface which linked to many standard printers. Owners of Commodore 64s and Vic 20s today are in a less fortunate position; the interface provided on those two computers able to whizz along at speeds well in excess is compatible with nothing other than of 100 characters a second. Commodore's own peripherals. If the printed material is to be seen by If you don't want to go to the expense of anyone other than yourself; for instance, in a buying various interfaces, but don't want to company using the printer as part of a word use Commodore printers, look at Ibek processing system, you will probably have Systems. They have just brought out a daisy to spend rather more money and be pre­ wheel printer called the San pie Daisy S!ep The type of printer that you buy should be pared to put up with a slower but higher 2000 which plugs directly into the 64. determined by the work for which you quality, daisy wheel printer. require it. As ever, you pay your money and take IBEK. Tel: 0203 661162. If its use is to be primarily private, your choice. producing listings and internal reports, the Commodore's own printers range from a Dot matrix printers chances are that you will be able to get away relatively inexpensive dot matrix printer to a Few printers, other than Commodore's with buying nothing more than an ordinary more expensive daisy wheel printer. The own, will allow you to reproduce the dot matrix printer.
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