NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/misc-part2/12129

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 7.0 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Jim Ogilvie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.marketplace,comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: Is it Adios Amiga again? (AT sold out!)
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 21:12:17 GMT
Organization: InfoRamp Inc., Toronto, Ontario [phone]
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j
>    What if...  I've heard that to many times.  I'm sick and tired
>of "What if..."  What if the people as VIScorp do us all a big favor
>and tell us straight out whether "Amiga Lives" or "Amiga Dies."

That depends on your definition of "dead". New development for the
Amiga has been shrunk to near nothing. The Amigas very last hope,
Escom, has abandoned the machine. There's no new software to speak of,
no new hardware to speak of. This, in my view, means "dead". The
Amiga, in my view, was officially dead when Commodore folded. The
exodus of Amiga developers began then. Without developers, there is no
future.

>    I mean I waited the nearly two years it took for Commodore to
>be bought, then for Escom/Amiga Tech. to start producing machines,
>then for Amigas to be available in the States, and again for the Amiga
>4000T to move from the 040 to the 060.

What good are machines without software/expansion hardware?

>    I finally thought, "Ok, aside from the Power Amiga (which I
>think should be the other way round, Amiga Power[PC]), the U.S. Amiga
>market is stable enough for me to purchase an Amiga 4000T 060.  Even
>if it is a bit pricey with an adequate amount of RAM (10MB would've
>been better).   no monitor, no CD-ROM, no modem, no AAA, and no 16-bit
>sound.  But hell, if I don't show support for the Amiga now, none of
>that stuff will ever come about..."

Even if this machine came with AAA, none of your software would take
advantage of it, unfortunately. You'd then be relying on new
development to fuel the capabilities of the new machine. There are so
few developers that this seems like an unlikely scenario (that any
software would be developed for it).

>    Well, now I have no idea what to think.  The press release
>isn't exactly brimming with good news, and from my POV doesn't look
>promising.  VIScorp's focus on set-top-boxes is not something I'd like
>to see the Amiga relegated to.  The weak affirmation that the "support
>of ongoing European sales of popular models such as the A4000T and the
>A1200 as well as the current developments and future releases of Amiga
>Technologies" does not impress me...  One sentence from the head of
>Escom Helmut Jost and not VIScorp showing any promise of the
>revitalization Amiga COMPUTER platform , is not, in my opinion
>something to be very (positively) excited about.  As for what Petro
>Tyschtschenko said, the "research and development support potential"
>"like VIScorp can provide" may only be directed toward Amiga based
>set-top-boxes...

I think your observation of the state of things is pretty accurate.
Escom is dumping the Amiga, and they make a vague statement about
continued support. I think only the blindest of the blind, and naively
optimistic can carve out any promise of a future based on this. Its
fairly plain that if the new owners of the technology had any plans to
support the Amiga in a computer platform, they would have been very
clear and repetitive about it, just so everyone got the message.

>    I had had the full intention of writing a very long and (I'd
>hoped) pointed letter to BYTE regarding their article on the "Web PC"
>chastising them for making mention of the Commodore 64 while ignoring
>the Amiga entirely.  I'd hoped to go into how the Amiga could most
>likely fit the criteria of a "Network Computer," without the
>disadvantages of proposed NC technology (i.e. the Pippin).  I'd
>thought I could use the Amiga Surfer and the Walker as examples of
>full fledged "P"ersonal "C"omputers that were low cost (sort of),
>having strong telecommunications capability, and a small efficient OS
>with AREXX to boot.  Now how can I be sure that the Amiga won't end up
>as a crippled PC, designed solely for couch potatoes who might want to
>browse the web once in a while.

BYTE has (IMHO), long ago, considered letters from Amiga users to be
pointless rants from zealots who invested in a dead computer platform.
There is no point in writing to BYTE concerning the Amiga on any
front.
>    Until, and or unless, there are some hard cold facts about the
>future of the Amiga as a COMPUTER and not some overglorified cable
>box/game machine, I have no intention of investing the $3000+ I would
>have for an A4000T 060, let alone the extras that are usually bundled
>with Wintel based PCs.  In the meantime I'll probably end up having to
>do something I  truly, absolutely, really don't want to do...
>Overhaul my current Wintel PC or invest in a new one.

What facts are you waiting for? What more do you need?

>    I might get away with overhauling the barebones A2000 I
>already have, but the the little comparitive shopping I've done
>suggests I'm financially better off with a whole new Wintel PC than an
>overhauled Amiga PC.  "Spiritually," I'd rather have an Amiga.

Without going into my own personal history of the Amiga, suffice to
say that I too, would rather have an Amiga in the spiritual sense. I
still have one, and use it occasionally. It is, however, not a machine
tied closely to productivity. It simply has no growth potential, and
thusly it is a dead platform in that sense. Naturally, the Amiga is
still good for what you bought it for in the beginning, but it will
likely never grow beyond that.

I had to buy a PC. No choice. When I got it, with windows95, I
discovered it wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of the more rabid Amiga
fans would make it out to be. I can do a LOT of what I would do with
an Amiga with my PC. There are a lot of things I do miss, but the
things that the PC can do that the Amiga typically cannot, makes those
missing features seem distant and forgotten.

The reality for many has arrived long ago, and they have left. They've
mostly gone out and bought PC's, some of them bought Macs I guess too.
You don't hear from them, because they are gone.

I miss the Amiga, I miss the way things were. Back in 85/86, when the
magic began, things were great. We all seemed like kids, discovering
new and magical toys. But, those days are gone, the Amiga is now
relegated to be a hobbyist machine, completely self supported.

The Amiga, as a hobbyist machine, is going to be around for many, many
years. There are a lot of people that have great configurations, and
they remain productive machines for these folks. But now the name of
the game is self support. New development is simply a dream that shall
remain unfulfilled, and without it, there is no real future. I realize
that there are always small independent software developments here and
there, but by and large, there is nothing happening.

Wish the situation were different. It isn't. It's not going to be.

Sad, but true.

Jim