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It's been a very long and hot summer here at Amiga, Inc. headquarters. We
have been busy and working steadily to secure Amiga's future. While we have
missed the announced target date for our OS partner, we have continued to
negotiate, execute contracts, and work on our plans for the next generation
Amiga.
I can promise you that we have been working very hard. We are even more
excited about the future than ever before, but we are determined to do it
right and this takes time.
One evening at home I was reminded how important doing things right is. One
of my family's favorite things to do in the evenings is to watch a movie or
play interactive adventure games. We all headed out to the nearest store to
make a selection. With our wallet in our hand, we all stood in front of an
array of games. We selected the Titanic adventure. I proudly explained to
our children that the Amiga was used in part of the production of the movie
Titanic. We all agreed that this would be a great game looked forward to
seeing what "adventure" awaited us at home. And an "adventure" it was!!
We all gathered in our home theatre room, in front of the Destination PC/TV,
and proceeded to install the game. My wife and our four children were
excited to play and the "adventure" began.
We loaded the game...and it CRASHED! Then we noticed a yellow insert,
titled WARNING with a long list of instructions. It had us turn off features
that would degrade the video and audio quality and slow the CD ROM
performance. We carefully followed each step (under great protest I would
like to add). You see, we have a loaded system, with all the latest
technology, and believe me I want to use every bit!! Slowly one by one, our
kids left the room. Each of them saying..."let me know when you get it
running, Dad". Our 7 year old son James was the only one who sat by
earnestly waiting for the Titanic adventure to come alive. What he ended up
seeing was ... black screens with a white hourglass and his Dad getting
ready to throw the wireless keyboard through the 32 inch monitor!! After two
hours of shutting the machine down and re-booting our adventure was over
(before it started). With anger and disappointment, we put the game back
into it's box, to return to the store. The only thing that kept going
through my mind was "it shouldn't be this way". Just like the Titanic, no
matter how massive, nothing is unsinkable!
It really "sunk" in....why the Amiga is different and why it's so important
for us to reach our vision for the future Amiga and get it right. Thanks
for your continued support and patience, you make Amiga what it is.
Remember, its "adventures" like this that keep Amiga in our hearts.
Jeff Schindler
General Manager
Amiga Inc.
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