iFusion Depends on the Market!!

[GadgetMaster]

Taken from: www.emaculation.com Dated Friday, July 26, 2002 (Warning! Site currently under construction)

I hope the paintball market is booming, because the emulators for the Amiga market sure is not.

That is why I asked Virtual Programming's sales deaprtment the following:

"Will Virtual Programming be continuing sale of the FUSION and iFUSION products for the Amiga in the future? Will the company be continuing the development of the product with Jim Drew and Microcode Solutions?"

Click read more for the reply.

This was it:

"It depends upon the market. Certainly there is no market for the classic Amiga now, but we are in touch with the right people to see about an OS4 version of iFusion. We will have to see how this develops."

I presume that "the right people" means Microcode Solutions.

Though this is diapointing in general, because it means that Fusion/iFusion for the Amiga is not available anywhere; Virtual Programming Limited OWNS the emulator, and if they don't want to sell it, no one will.

What is frustrating here is the fact that selling online is cheap. The company could take orders and create CDs with online documentation on an individual basis and sell the product without an expensive overhead.

Which I am sure is what Blittersoft did when they owned the product.

Or they could just give it back to Jim Drew.

[redrumloa]

Huh? The product is BROKEN!! They sold a nonworking product and never released updates to fix it! Now theyre crying because sales were bad?

Umm HELLO! BlizzardPPC users prordered and prepaid and got a BROKEN product! CSPPC user got a partially working product! These people paid ~$150 for a broken product! Now we should cry that they don't see enough sales potential? If they had a fully functional product their sales would have been MUCH MUCH better! A fully functional MacPPC emulator would likely be the top seller on the Amiga classic or OS4.

[Kaminari]

No wonder why Jim Drew is today one of the most hated people in the Mac & PC world.

[Jose]

I'd buy that for OS4. Mac Apps, when needed, alongside Amiga apps, not just one or the other like in MOL(Mac on Linux).

[redrumloa]

No wonder why Jim Drew is today one of the most hated people in the Mac & PC world.

Well I havnt heard that, but I guess it shouldnt be surprising. Personally I found Shapeshifter and BasiliskII to be better emulators than Fusion. I feel real bad for people who bought iFusion for $150+ just to find out it doesnt work at all on their BPPC, or only works for 20minutes at a time on the CSPPC and lacking sound and networking.

[System]

Yep! I can only confirm what has been said before: iFusion
has to be the biggest single piece of crap ever released
for the Amiga! While it is true that users were warned that
the "initial" release would lack features, there actually never
was to be an improved version! Hey, you've got neither sound
nor SCSI-support, it's unstable, doesn't support Picasso96...

The list of bugs and non-existant features is endless.

Which makes me wonder: in the thread about weirdo Brits I read
about some interesting US lawsuits; why couldn't some American
iFusion-"users" sue Microcode/Drew for selling an overpriced non-working
product?
Hey, they could even claim that they've been suffering from depressions
ever since :-D

CU,

Alex

[Zadoc]

Personally I found Shapeshifter and BasiliskII to be better emulators than Fusion.

Depends on your setup, I guess.  Personally, Fusion handled partitions alot better, and on my old A4000 with an ECS Spectrum card Fusion was very usable whilst ShapeShifter wouldn't cope very well with my gfx board.  Nowadays with my Mediator equipped 060 A1200T Shapeshifter performs well even in 32-bit screens, where as Fusion's hacky MMU calls won't even function on my machine.

I wholly agree on their business ethics, however.  Whining about poor sales when those that were willing to pre-order your product for a hefty pricetag were left in the cold without either a working product or the money they invested is rather pathetic.

It's no wonder that only 1,000 people wanted to put any hard-earned cash towards AOS4/A1 considering all the money scams we've been dealt thus far: iFusion, BoXeR, MiamiDx, etc.


BTW, does anyone know how to use a partion with Basilisk?  I cannot figure out how to calculate the strange "Block" system it uses...

[Blitter]

BTW, does anyone know how to use a partion with Basilisk? I cannot figure out how to calculate the strange "Block" system it uses...

I am asuming you are using the PC version of Basilisk.

Try this link.  If you travel back through the site it covers many emulators.  I used this guide to setup Basilisk II on my PC.

Blitter

[System]

GadgetMaster...

Thanks for the kind, kind plug.

But, you know, you should keep your comment posters in check... Jim Drew actually sent an e-mail threatening legal action against myself when my
comment posters attacked him for missing the iFusion Windows deadline (four months ago).  Aw heck... what am I saying... keep it up.

I'll drop you a link when I get my site functioning again.  I hate to have your visitors see it for the first time with large chuncks missing from it.

[redrumloa]

But, you know, you should keep your comment posters in check...

Jim Drew actually sent an e-mail threatening legal action against myself when my comment posters attacked him for missing the iFusion Windows deadline (four months ago)

Aw heck... what am I saying... keep it up.

Yeah, that's the spirit! What is he going to do? Last time I checked most of the free world has freedom of speech. IMO he's lucky he hasn't been sued by at least the BPPC owners.

I'll drop you a link when I get my site functioning again. I hate to have your visitors see it for the first time with large chuncks missing from it.

Chances are the news moderators here will allow the posting of a new news item. BTW pardon my ignorance. Are you the owner of Virtual Programming? Is there anything you can tell current and prospective owners of iFusuion about updates? This is a bit of a sore subject.

[billchase]

At one time, I would have been disappointed
in the lack iFusion or classic Fusion.  Now,
I don't care.  I started using Fusion v3.1 when it first
come out.  Unfortunately, the networking option
was non functional.  I was not happy about paying
for v3.2 to fix a feature that should have
been working in the first place.  I never upgraded
to iFusion due to cost.  I could still buy a decent
Mac 7300/200 for about the same price.  I was
also on the Fusion mailing list for sometime.
Joe Fenton and Jim Drew both posted on it.
Jim Drew never seemed pleasant and was always
very defensive regarding criticism toward Fusion.
I certainly didn't feel any motivation from him to
upgrade to iFusion.  If anyone else's experience
is similiar, it is easy to understand the low sales.
I think I will go back to Shapeshifter just for spite.

C Snyder

[System]

Nah, I'm not the owner of virtual programming.  The news post this is a reply too is me (emaculation.com) e-mailing Virtual Programming about why they are no longer selling any verson of iFusion (which they own outright) and getting the reply that is quoted.

Blittersoft bought iFusion then Virtual Programming bought Blittersoft.  But Virtual Programming is not sellign any of the Blittersoft properties right now.  And they are not making any of the iFusion patches available.  It is odd.  As I indicated on the site, it would be dirt cheap for them to sell it.

-

Drew promised a Windows version of iFusion for MacWorld Tokyo... and then when he did not deliver my forum users/comment posters when nuts.  He said that the "financial backers" of the project would sue me becauseof the posters.  We all had a good laugh at that.

-

And I swear that my site does not suck as much as it looks right now!  I hate to get a plug at a great site when I look like crap is all.

[GadgetMaster]

@Red

Clockwise is just the owner of the Emulation site that I got the info from. I guess I should have mentioned that. Well he has clarified his position now anyway  :-)

@Clockwise

I did point out to everyone that your site is under construction. sorry if you were not planning on getting attention just yet but then again maybe this will 'motivate' you a little to get the new site up and running sooner ;-)

As for people who threaten site owners with lawsiuits, it just doesn't make sense. What has society come to eh? Now even the messenger gets shot. :-o

[System]

Hmm.. If it would be technically feasible, an emulator like the "Classic" emulation in OS X, where the "other OS" (in this case MacOS 9.2.2) is booted and then hidden,  and apps open on the desktop as were they native apps, would make all the current MacOS classic and Carbon apps available for OS 4.

But i guess more is needed than some sourcecode (Basilisk II?) and a couple of skilled programmers.

But it would be an eeevil feature dont you agree?

Maybe the only way to get some of Adobes apps to the Amiga before the fabled AmigaOS5.0...

Well... More coarsely ground guatemala jouice for me..

IndJANa
indjana.1u.dk/Hardware/

[System]

Jim Drew sueing us for complaining about him not delivering what he got paid for? Great one that! :-D

Whatever next? Maybe he will release an update taht actually removes the working bits alltogether?
Suits me, so I can still use the DVD cover as a wedge to keep my office door from slamming shut... :lol:

CU,

Alex