Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

Punters left licking their wounds after dealing
with the now notorious Luton-based
WI'S Electronics mail order company can
take comfort in the raid carried Out on the
firm by the Bedfordshire fraud squad on 1
March. While the main target was WTS,
Total Computer Supplies, based in Hemel
Hempstead, were also raided because the
police believe the two firms may be
connected.
David Pleece, managing director of VVTS
and his co-director. Mark Barnby, were
arrested and company documents seized
after a staggering 800 complaints were
made to various governing bodies such as
the trading standards council and the
Advertising Standards Authority.
Thirty Bedfordshire and Luton fraud
squad officers, both plain clothes and uniformed,
swooped on the suspects at dawn
Also arrested were Sean Saint, company
secretary of Total Computers, and the
DRS
1 ROAM PHIL1IP5
IF
!flail order =pang
raided bq fraud 5Quad
Dark hor5P
director, Patricia Dykes. DC Ron Lack, one
of the key players in the operation, told
Amiga Computing that the four individuals
have been released on bail as he and his
team continue their lengthy breakdown of
the thousands of documents the case has
thrown up. The department has been
snowed under with phone calls from angry
customers of WTS and he expects this to
continue
"People who ordered at Chnstmas usually
phone a company up afterwards if they
don't receive their goods. They're fobbed
off with some excuse and then told they'll
receive it in a month's time. This doesn't
happen and come mid-March, beginning of
April. people start to take serious action
such as hiring a solicitor" commented Lack.
The bad news for punters eager for a
speedy conclusion is that they'll have to be
patient for the time being while police
continue their extensive investigations.
When the German company Escom appeared for the first time last year. not many people
outside ot its home country had heard of them, With over 200 retail stores in
Germany and central Europe, the firm has only recently bought retail outlets in
England. To give an idea of the size and success of the company. Escom is the second
largest computer manufacturer in Germany and recently. two new shareholders have
come on board, each allegedly worth BO billion and 15 billion German marks respectively,
both having major plans to move into interactive media and cable television.
With this kind of clout and an ex-Commodore chief in Its management. Escom are
hopefully in a position to offer Amiga users a bright future it their buyout is successful.
Interesting news has surfaced
about an Amiga-compatible graphics
and video workstation called
the DraCo from German company
Macrosystem GmbH The makers
have side-stepped the Amiga
custom chips by replacing them
with powerful software and hardware
combinations.
Macrosystem believe that any
The nut gpopration of Amiga5?
software compatible with the
Amiga will work on the DraCo such
as Lightwave. ImageFX and
AdPro. Also, hardware that doesn't
rely on the Amiga custom chipset
should work fine.
The first machine using this
technology is planned to be
unveiled at the NAB show in Las
Vegas on the a April. with the
1 1 • 1
liffTS Electronics; Major
police raid carried out
after BOO cernplaints
rec
eiv
ed
product going on sale in early summer.
It'll come in a full-size tower
with a minimum of 4Mb expandable
to 128Mb of on-board 72-pin
SIMMs. A parallel port and triple
speed CD-ROM drive will also be
included. After this initial machine.
a variety of different specced
models are also being produced to
suit particular user's needs
Amiga Computing
MAY 1995
GRAPHICS
Bru5h with di5a5tpr
The Commodore buyout has been at the
centre of another shock with Escom. a
German company that has over 200
chainstares spread throughout Europe,
apparently having their bid accepted by
the liquidator, Franklyn Wilson This, as
usual, means that the bidding process
should gel underway in the next four to
six weeks.
The revelation came about after
Escom bought a key Commodore trademark
from the bankruptcy trustee
Bernard Hembach of the now defunct
German subsidiary. This sale went
through on 16 February despite the US
bankruptcy court trying to block the sale
with a temporary restraining order.
Allegedly, Escom's original intention
was to use the trademark to produce
clone machines to fill the hungry Amiga
market, and that they had no interest in
the other facets of the defunct
company.
The reaction in the Bahamas and
America was one of fury as the liquidators
there said that the German liquidator
had no right to receive the 61.4 million
paid for the trademark because it belongs
to CEL. not simply the subsidiary. The
US iudge wanted to know why Hembrach
shouldn't be held in civil contempt and a
situation was created that could have
derailed the whole proceedings for
several weeks.
Hembach has argued that the American
court has no jurisdichon in the matter, saying
the logo was owned by the German
subsidiary, not the parent company,
Allegedly, David Pleasance, managing
director and head of the MBO at C=-UK,
threatened to pull Out if Commodore's
trademark was not included in the buyout,
While Pleasance wants to rename the
company, they, like Escom,are rumoured
to have intentions for licensing Amiga
technology to third-party developers, but
without the trademark — this wouldn't be
possible.
Fortunately. Escom have now backed
down and agreed to buy the remnants of
Commodore from the Bahamian liquidators,
with the promise of handing over the
trademark if their bid should be topped by
one of their competitors.
At the moment the liquidators are in
the process at arranging the day on
Ate the bidding process will take place.
II-