VIScorp: Problems Identified and Solutions Offered

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            VIScorp: Problems Identified and Solutions Offered
  Stephen Judd                                    judd@merle.acns.nwu.edu
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[Originally from comp.sys.amiga.misc.  Enjoy. -Jason]

Recent months have revealed a clear and unmistakable disconnect (or one
perceived thereof modulo extenuating circumstances tansverse to hegemonic
dialectic) between VIScorp and the Amiga community at large.  With this
text I hope to instigate a soporific discourse upon the current state of
the Amiga dystopia, in the specific context of the internet community, and
examine the invocations, both cause and effect, which characterize the
abundance of banal vicissitudes permeating this newsgroup.

First.

VIScorp has constructed a device apparently named "ED".  This name most
certainly must change, as it contains the capacity to cause consternation
encompassing the Amiga community -- is this product really a set-top box,
or merely an editor?  Will the editor continue to be a part of Amiga OS?  I
believe this signifies VIScorp's desire to convert the AmigaOS to a pure
set-top box.  For many like myself "ed" has come to symbolize AmigaOS, and
this choice of name as the settop box conveys an unmistakably ominous note.

To avoid this sort of confusion the company should immediately change the
name to something more appropriate, such as "ED-209", or "EDLIN".

Further is the referral to their box -- which is, after all, an Amiga -- as
just that, a box.  Not only does this indicate a detrimental attitude
towards the Amiga, but the word itself contains much more ominousity, a
lot:


1box \'ba^:ks\ n,  pl box or box-es
[ME, fr. OE, fr. L buxus, fr. Gk pyxos]
(bef. 12c)
     esp: a widely cultivated shrub (B sempervirens) used for
     hedges, borders, and topiary figures 
     ^^^^^^

Hedging their bets?  PIOS explained?  Or do they mean to simply use the
computers as gardening tools, or perhaps larn ornaments?


2box n
[ME, fr. OE, fr. LL buxis, fr. Gk pyxis, fr. pyxos box tree]
(bef. 12c)
1d: the driver's seat on a carriage or coach
1e slang: GUITAR
1f slang: RECORD PLAYER

A-ha!  Perhaps the company really intends to use the Amiga technology to
make record players!


6: a square or oblong hollow space or recess

"Hollow", not a good attitude to have.  "Recess", as if we were simple
schoolchildren who needed something to play with.


10: PREDICAMENT, FIX

Not good at all. :(  But, most revealing of all:

4box n
[ME]
(14c)
:a punch or slap esp. on the ear 

Truly, not a very good looking state of affairs.

Secondly.

To understand the dichotomy between VIScorp and the Amiga community we need
to take a closer look at the two words which comprise the name itself:
"VI", and "Scorp".

VI -- merely the number 6, one-third of the evil triad?  Probably, but
equally probable is the unmistakable reference to the holy UNIX editor.
Why does VIScorp have such a fixation with text editors?  Is this how they
view the Amiga?  Is this all they know how to do back there?  Does this
mean that VI is to replace ED in AmigaOS?  Do they intend to edit AmigaOS?
If so, how?  By adding more of a UNIX kernal?  Or do they intend to simply
use the machine for UNIX work, and drop AmigaOS altogether?  Once they have
dropped AmigaOS, what then?  Are current programs really supposed to be
compatible with UNIX?  Why is the company so obsessed with UNIX?

Or is the Freudian play on words the key signifier here?  What has VIScorp
to do with Eunuchs?  Is this really the image a serious company wants to
project?  To imply that millions of workstations and users are somehow
Eunuchs because they do not use AmigaOS, while correct, is certainly not
appropriate business practice.  Eunuchs have not been used in the business
community, to the best of my knowledge, for many many years.   And in no
way could Eunuchs have been associated with Amigas, either -- after all,
electricity had not been invented yet back then, right?  Does VIScorp
really have such a complete lack of basic fact and logic and common sense
and basic fact?

The second word is "Scorp".  What does this word mean?  It is a mystery,
and that's why so is VIScorp.


VIScorp is clearly a business, and as such is primarily motivated in making
a profit, in expanding itself, in facing constraints placed upon it by
outside influences, and working within time and budgetary limitations. 
They have survived for a while and are thus wholly controlled by this sort
of existentence-based business thinking.

We, on the other hand, are the Users, whose very lives may depend on the
actions VIScorp takes.  We are not constrained by similar paltry
considerations, and may concern ourselves with more weighty and visionary
tasks.  As users, we necessarily know what VIScorp should do with the
Amiga, and what technologies should be implemented, and what direction the
computer should be moving.  While a company must focus on producing and
selling computers, and continuing its existence as a company, we are the
ones who can look forwards and focus on using them: on Needs.  Whereas a
designer may get bogged down with design details, such is not a problem for
us.  We develop the "Should-Be" which follows from the "As-Is".

Moreover, VIScorp clearly owes us something, as longtime Amiga users.  We
should be rewarded and listened to, and our ideas and designs implemented,
for we have had much longer to think about the truly important issues.
They should keep us informed at all times about their plans and progress,
so that we may follow, and correct when necessary.  We have paid our dues
and the company would do well to remember that since we don't work for
them, it is they who work for us.

Finally, as the internet Amiga community, we speak for the uneducated,
unenlightened members of the Amiga community who are not present.  These
ideas have stood up to the close scrutiny of everyone else in the internet
community, have been pronounced correct, and are thus inherently correct --
an incorrect idea or assumption simply cannot last in such an environment.
That is the reason for the great uniformity of opinion expressed.

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