A Word From The Top
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Bill McEwen
Welcome to the first issue of Amiga World, the official newsletter of Amiga Inc. Simply put, Amiga World is here to help readers better understand the new concepts in computing that Amiga is bringing to the world. We are doing this the Amiga way and are proud of that fact. We want you to know the steps and direction we are taking to bring this about, so you can count on Amiga World newsletter to bring you all the details of this continuing process.
We have a lot in this issue. Check out 'Tearing Down The Walls' to discover how Amiga and Tao will bring the world of 'digital content' to the masses. In 'Beyond The Beige Box' readers are shown just how this digital content might fit into their lives. You should also have a look at 'The Amiga Is Back' to find a report on the launch of the Developer Reference Platform and other events at the recent St. Louis trade show. Those who are interested in the more technical aspect of Amiga should have a look at 'Entering The AmiVerse' and 'Inside The New Amiga' to get an overview of the concepts and components behind the new Amiga. And finally, if you want to get your hands on one of the many commercial Amiga magazines, have a look at 'Amiga Resource Center' and learn where to find them.
Amiga World is meant to work in conjunction with our new website. Not only can you browse the pages of Amiga World online from our comprehensive website, but you can also
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download either HTML or PDF versions for convenient offline reading. Amiga World and our website provide a valuable resource for the community and together they represent Amiga's belief that customer support is vital to our success.
While we have been busy with the customer support side of Amiga, we've also been busy establishing our new office in beautiful Snoqualmie, WA--the place where the TV shows Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks were filmed. We're hiring new staff and contractors at a rapid pace. Right now Amiga's Washington staff includes; Fleecy Moss, CTO of Development; Randall Hughes, President of Sales and Strategic Business Development; Vincent Pfeifer, VP of Operations; Matt Fontenot, Product Manager; Gary Peake, Director of Developer Support; Gordon Stone, Director of Information Services; Susan Sutton, Director of Finance and Human Resources; several office support staff; and over 20 signed independent hardware and software contractors. As you can see, we've been busy. More staff will be added in the near future and we'll keep you informed about them in these pages.
Of course, while all this has been happening we've continued working hard on establishing strategic partners and developing the new Amiga. We'll have more about these
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developments in upcoming issues. Needless to say, you will be excited to learn just whom we are working with to help bring digital content to the world on an Amiga. Stay tuned!
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Fleecy Moss
Just underneath the famous Space Needle in Seattle, a new building is being constructed. On the inside, it is just another museum. On the outside, it is a tortured collision of bruise and silver. It grabs the attention. It defies what we expect, what we presume, what we have come to know.
In the last fifteen years, computers have gone from being boffin boasters, to corporate workhorses, to essential items in the home. However, they are still computers, still predicated by hardware constructs and designs. Instead of adapting to what we want to do, we have had to adapt to them. Cyclic evolution that carries a legacy albatross. We expect. We presume. We know.
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Yet social transformations are not defined by machine or process. We wield the tool; the tool does not wield us. Perhaps this was true in the beginning, but not for long. It merely provides another path, another possibility for our creative urges, and unfortunately our destructive ones as well.
In the beginning, humans remembered and died. Before long they sang, then they chiseled and painted on rock and wood, then they wrote on paper, then they recorded on magnetic tape. Now all things are being broken down into zeros and ones.
Computer operating systems and architectures try to tell us how to organize, think and store. Complexity, frustration, and confusion rise up to get in the way of what we are trying to do. The digital revolution is stalled behind a logjam of what we have come to expect and know.
The original Amiga brought a new revolution to the world: audio, video and graphics wrapped up in an elegant, common sense design. It worked the way people worked and made sense. It shattered expectations, presumptions and the common knowledge of the time.
Sixteen years later Amiga intends to do the same by creating technology that empowers the individual and puts them back in control, gets out of their way, and works the way they work. It will be technology that makes sense.
My life isn't a set of files stored in a set of folders. My choices aren't limited to a bar of nonsense icons. My world isn't constrained by a window with funny little arrows at the top and sides of it. Why should my computer be that way?
Amiga the company, and Amigans--the developers and users--have always been special, pushing the boundaries back and refusing to settle for second best. Some fear change, and the uncertainty that it brings. Others relish it, charging headlong forwards. The great majority just waits to see what change will bring for them.
I think this change will bring a better way of life.