A Veteran Developer Who's Hooked on Amiga

When asked why his platform of choice is Amiga, Chris answers, "It really doesn't matter what system you use so long as you enjoy using it and it can get the job done you need it to do."

The truest virtue of Amiga is that people enjoy using it, and through its wealth of speed and compact size, people get their jobs done. What platform could be more fun?

But there's a deeper story behind Chris's Amiga heritage. "I bought an Amiga 1000 in 1986. Odd story here, I walked in to the local computer dealer looking to get something called 'Simon's Basic'... instead I saw the Amiga and was instantly hooked. I later bought an A2000 and sold the A1000 to my cousin who still uses it professionally as a MIDI sequencer and drum machine."

Those first steps into the Amiga market brought Chris to develop a number of well-received software products, touring tradeshows and Developers' Conferences in Toronto, St. Louis, Columbus, Orlando, San Jose, and New York. Eventually, Chris formed a transatlantic partnership with some developers from Europe. This partnership, called Finale Development, is responsible for several Internet applications and for the graphic interface toolkit "ClassAct". "Finale is more of a democratically-run company, we have frequent meetings on IRC and via a private company mailing list."

Chris considers his best work to be ClassAct, which has been used to produce popular products like the A-Web web browser, Voodoo e-mail, and others. Based on the object-oriented programming interface provided with the Amiga OS, ClassAct was designed to give developers a straightforward, rapidly deployable user interface tool. Being as interface-savvy as Chris, it's no wonder why his personal Amiga hero is Jim McKracken. Jim created that object oriented programming interface, called BOOPSI. "Without Jim, ClassAct wouldn't exist, my life would have no purpose!" Chris explains.

To hear Chris talk about purpose, the edge the Amiga retains is really summed up. "The Amiga certainly has been a major factor in my personal direction and my goals in life."

There's more than one way to enjoy this technology, too. Both Classic and Future Amiga architectures offer so much more than meets the eye. Speaking through his experience in embedded controls, ultrasonics, and robotics, Chris says, "Having seen what is out there in the embedded world, and looking at the Classic Amiga, the Amiga has alot to offer the embedded designer. There are a number of applications ranging from Kiosks to Gas Pumps with video monitors that play 'Come in and by a twinkee' infomercials while you're pumping gas. The Amiga has an efficient operating system and hardware which is suitable for such applications."

When not thinking about embedded applications, Chris is busy helping his company prepare a new release of Voodoo (an e-mail application), a new release of New York (a newsreader), and the next generation of ClassAct. With his face turned to the future, Chris is visibly excited about new Amiga developments.

"I honestly can not say what I would be doing if I never got involved with Amiga... but I would imagine it would be less enjoyable."