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- By Chris Seward
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-
- Hello and welcome!
- {p} {p}
- Its been a strange kind of a month on the Amiga front, the tables and
- stands are cleared away at both WoA99 and the AmiWest show. As far
- as I have read both went well and at least most people where pleased
- with what they have seen. Although not attending this years WoA I
- think it is important for these types of shows to continue so we have
- a reason if not just to buy some new items but to meet up with all
- the people we have communicated with over every media other than
- basic one to one communication.
- {p} {p}
- It shows us that the people who run these companies, user groups and
- whatever else who are doing things for the Amiga are just normal
- people like the rest of us. These companies are run by Amiga users
- themselves and the only difference from us to them is that they are
- trying to make a living out of what they sell. It shows in the days
- of the Amiga now we are all alike, noone is any different, this is
- ofcourse in a good way I mean. I don't think I know of one person
- who is not doing something or has done something for the Amiga in
- one way or another. We are the ones building the dream and have kept
- this old rollercoster going for as long as it has. Yes sometimes we
- have gone off the rails but have got straight back on and it is this
- commitment that is saving {bold}OUR{nobold} computer. Without you,
- me and everyone else the Amiga would not be here for a fact.
- {p} {p}
- So with this I would like to thank everybody and congratulate you all
- on this fine achievement. Although, at the moment I have just been
- sitting back and watching was has been going by me. Listening to all
- the gossip, reading all peoples rants and generally just taking in
- the atmosphere that has surrounded the Amiga globe recently.
- {p} {p}
- What I hear and read does anger me sometimes because I think some,
- not all people have lost the plot as I see people plunge into PC
- users mode more and more. Isn't it the fact that we have PC users
- talking about the specs of this and the speed of that that annoys
- us sometimes? In the end who really cares how many light-sourced-lazer-bitmapped-polygons
- or whatever the latest 'buzz' word is. Does it really matter if you
- can have a billion colours on screen at once or shift things at 1000
- frames per second.
- {p} {p}
- In the end it is the computers community, the way they act, the
- way they do things and joy you get out of using your computer. It
- is nice to see that these days most people know what they are
- talking about in the Amiga market but constantly I see people sounding
- more like PC users caring what the specs of this are or what the
- speed of such and such can go at. The friendlyness of the Amiga
- community is in danger of becoming the 'mine can go faster than yours'
- PC world. When talking to PC users all they seem to be bothered
- about is that they can get Quake going 1fps faster than the other
- guy. I personally think talking of such things are a waste of time.
- You could spend more time analising the hardware of a machine and
- just completely forget what it is there for. A tool to use, a machine
- to relax on, whatever you use your computer for is the purpose that
- makes you like that certain computer. Of course you can get a PC
- more powerful than an Amiga but just because it has more power and
- better specs doesn't mean I like it. Why recently has there been
- so much emphasis around what power the new Amiga is going to be and
- not how it is going to handle.
- {p} {p}
- From my point of view i'd rather have an Amiga that has a community
- like we have now, with great support and something I enjoy using
- rather than a powerful beast of a machine. I am not so small minded
- to think that power is nothing, yes, of course it is, but in the
- end it is what you do with it that counts.
- {p} {p}
- I bet most PCs are going to waste, the average PC user probably doesn't
- use more than 10% of the power that they have at their finger-tips but
- keeps upgrading whether they need to or not.
- {p} {p}
- Do people in the Amiga community want to end up like that? Maybe I
- am different from everyone but to me the computer is there to be
- explored, sit down and find out what you can do, take it to its
- limits and then come back and tell me you are an expert. I really hate
- all this talk about speed and power. If that is all you care about
- then you are not a computer user, not even an Amiga computer user.
- {p} {p}
- You should go off and play with your microwave to see which has more
- power or have a look at who has the better motored lawn-mower. If
- you want to be a real computer user then get to know its workings,
- become THE computer user. Use it for what you want to use it for and
- not for how much power it has, don't get into the game of mines more
- powerful than yours.
- {p} {p}
- I agree, seeing nice chips used and powerful hardware in a computer
- is great and to see it finally bring us up to date and even past
- up to date, but don't forget that the heart of a computer is for
- your use.
- {p} {p}
- And another thing....
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- Recently I have seen many people talking about the fact that Amiga
- does not listen to our wishes. Reading through another magazine who
- will remain nameless I noticed a clip taken from an Amiga newsgroup
- that said 'when will Amiga ask us what we want' or something similar
- along those lines.
- {p} {p}
- This type of talk is an awful state of affairs. Where do some people
- dream up such ideas? Do you think Bill Gates and his band of merry
- men ask the PC world what they want? Do you see Intel asking the
- billions of PC buyers what they should do next. I'm sure the answer
- is simple and that is... no.
- {p} {p}
- Personally I think Jim Collas and the rest of the Amiga team are
- doing a blinding job giving the feedback they are giving, taking into
- consideration what task they have been handed. Jim will personally
- reply to alot of the emails he receives and he quotes he receives
- 100+ emails a day. How many of these disbelievers including maybe
- you reading this if you are a disbeliever would expect a reply from
- Bill Gates personally or have tried to email him and got a reply?
- {p} {p}
- I do know that the PC world is a much bigger scale but would you
- seriously consider replying to 100+ emails a day aswell as trying to
- run a computer company which is trying to get a foot back in an
- already huge market. I don't think any of us would and I give Jim
- and the rest of the workers alot of credit. I have heard many people
- say that they received 1000 emails every day, but mostly these are
- mailing lists and not personal mail. I doubt very many people even
- get 10 personal emails per day. So please whoever thinks that Amiga
- aren't giving us enough feedback then take into account the points
- i've raised and see the bigger picture before opening your mouths.
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- Lastly....
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- I'd like to thank a few people who have helped or just generally need
- thanking for something they did towards this issue. Firstly thanks
- to {bold}Ray Elf{nobold} for his nice title screen. Next I would like to thank
- {bold}Michael Evervall{nobold} for his music. I would also like to thank {bold}Srdan Kvrgic{nobold}
- for doing some new menu screens for us and lastly like to say thankyou
- to {bold}Bjorn Lynne{nobold} who very kindly sent us his latest music CD from his
- own record lable LynneMusic Productions which can be found at,
- {link http://www.lynnemusic.com}http://www.lynnemusic.com{end}. You can
- read the {link fe9}review{end} of this CD in the Articles Section.
- {p} {p}
- Issue 28 released : {bold}25/09/99{nobold}