Crisis of identity

The main concern about current Amiga scenery is the total dissolution of a peculiar way of looking at the Amiga. Someone finds that Amiga is simply simplicity, a slogan which seems to come right from a commercial; others believe that it represents a philosophy of extreme refusal, the philosophy of those who choose to live on the edge of information technology rather than buying the rubbish considered by the world as the biggest innovation after MS-Dos. Others think that Amiga represents an answer to the progressive de-personalization of computer folks: once, back into the pioneer's time when people used to build computers in their garages, they were seen as eccentric and not-too-sane subjects, while now they are merely considered stuffed wallets to squeeze money from...
Modem of Darkage preaches self-made happiness beyond every reason for performance, and that's why he chose Amiga. Battilana on the other hand recalls past times when Amiga meant innovation, an urge to change the world and to improve your knowledge in computers, and that's why he made Amiga ever-lasting with his Amiga Forever...
Even within AmiWorld we have different ways of seeing the Amiga...

You might wonder why Petty is speculating on those problems, instead of self-glorifying like he uses to.
The concern is that while we are here, creating our own concept of Amiga, Amiga is no more. A computer (or, if you prefer, a philosophy) which has been walking this Earth for fifteen years can't just have 300,000 supporters. Expecially if compared to BeOs, Amiga's spiritual heir, which has reached one million supporters in relatively short time...
Some say we are few but good, and that could be true. But those who believe in Amiga as a way to improve the world and shake their fists at Uncle Bill must admit that the battle is now fought elsewhere, led by someone else... The army of Linux programmers and users is increasing, the number of supporters of freedom of choice, freedom of software is growing (the freedom to adapt it to their own needs, to modify it an to spread the modified version)...
To those who see Amiga as a philosofy to advocate, well, the time has come to show we have the balls to go and fight side by side with our alternative cousins, and to take part of the creation of a new magazine, with comparisons and back-stages about what's outside the ghetto. And this time is up to us, dear readers: let's turn this idea into something real. Or are we just Amigans when it comes to talking?
All the above doesn't apply to those who believe in Amiga as being simply simplicity, i.e. a system which is still usable and suitable to our needs, possibly a powerful system with few but extremely productive programs.

Sticking to a choice made by some of its best authors (but not shared by its director, the one who is writing now), AmiWorld will remain Amiga only.
To each one his/her own, and to us anything which is Amiga: AMIGA RULEZ!!!

Paolo PettYnato

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Contact: paulpetty@iname.com