Ian´s Editorial

 

Well!  It had to happen sometime,  and it has.  My son,  Gary, now attending College in Cumbernauld (Accounting)  uses a PC to do most of his work,  So he decided to get his own!  Now! some people might see this as, Jumping Ship, I DON'T!  It is simply a Natural progression! The Need for a tool to do a job, One that can't be done with the tools at hand (the Amiga)

So one Sunday,  It was into the car and a quick trip to PC World,  Emerge 30 Minutes  later (and £1000 Poorer)  with a nice Pentium III  PC  with  a  17" Monitor, Sound & Graphic card etc.

After arriving home,  In 30 minutes it was set up and running (Easy as that) So  what  is  the verdict? Me a life long Amiga Fan and user,   What  is  my thoughts on the PC?

Well!  I have never really been a PC (Spit!  Puke!  Boak!) type of person! I have  always stuck with the Amiga,  Because it does exactly what  I  require from it, It does it fast enough and well enough to keep me satisfied.

So  How  do  I  get  on  with this intruder? Very well indeed!   It  a  real Powerhouse of a machine,  Running at a thunderous pace, Displaying graphic's that  are  out of this World.  Its like stepping out of our LADA Samara  and into a Roll Royce.
 

   What's this! The Ferret writing in an Amiga Magazine and Praising a PC


Yes!  That is exactly what I am doing, and I don't apologize one little bit! The  PC  like the Amiga,  Like the Apple Mac,  is simply a tool to  run  the software. The PC and the Mac are now streets ahead of the Amiga, And it will NEVER EVER manage to make up for the lost ground! So do I think that the Amiga is dead? YES as a stand alone Computer Machine it cannot survive!

I  think Amiga/Gateway (the company)  were right in their decision to  Scrap the  idea of a NEW machine,  It would just not (regardless how revolutionary it was)  present a serious challenge to the PC domination,  and it would  be crazy to even try it! So what of the future! Well!   What  I  would  like  to see Gateway/Amiga  do  is  to  develop an alternative OS that would run on a PC.

Look! Before you all start sending me HATE mail, consider this,

You have in the world of Computing, Four styles of Operating Systems

Both WINDOWS and LINUX will operate on any make of PC!  While MAC OS and all the  rest are Machine specific ( MAC for Apple Mac's,  Amiga for Amiga etc.)
What  made  Bill Gates the richest Man in the world? The fact  that  if  you bought  a Compaq/ Dell/ Tulip/ H.P it didn't really matter the MAKE  of  the Machine,   WINDOWS would work on all of them!  The only real  challenger  to WINDOWS is now LINUX an Operating System that will also work on all Standard PC models.

So  is  there a need for another PC OS to challenge WINDOWS/LINUX ? Yes!   I believe  there is,  Can you imagine a Powerful Pentium/Celeron  PC  combined with the User Friendliness and Stability of an Amiga type Operating System, It would be pure Heaven!

AH!   but  you  say!  That would turn the Amiga into a Software  Package  as opposed to a Computer!  YES!  it would,  However if Commodore had  done  the  right  thing with the Amiga!  I still believe that it would have had  turned into a PC type platform anyway!

PC's  are  reasonably cheap to make,  Easy to upgrade and  there  is  plenty companies  producing them (From budget machines to  the  Top  of  the  Range models) The main Complaint from users about the PC, Is not the machine but the unstability of the OS and software!

Amiga/Gateway would be crazy to build a new manufacturing plant,  and try to produce  a  NEW  computer  to challenge the Dominance of  what  is  already regognized as Standard PC, Much better to work to improve the performance of the Industry Hardware by introducing a NEW OS.

OK!   Time  to get off the "Soapbox" and talk about something else.   I  was saddened to read "Dr Jekyll's" article regarding the closure of the  "Crypt" Magazine.  OK!  I would be the first to admit it may not have been my cup of tea,   However it was well presented and produced and was one  of  our  long standing Amiga Magazines.

Perhaps the saddest thing about the Crypt, is the reasons for it closing!


 

 LACK OF INPUT!!!


Every issue we cry out to you the Reader that we need your Contributions  to survive!  Every issue we have to squeeze articles from people.
We at  the Ripper  know just how the editor at the Crypt feels,  Despite all the  teams efforts  you  can't continue to publish a magazine if the  Reader  will  not help.

We  are  all sad at the fate of the Crypt,  But even sadder that it  is  the Crypt  today and us Tommorow!  Yes we have talked about giving up,  We  have said  is it really worth carrying on,  Thankfully we have managed to  scrape together enough for this issue!  but what of the future? Well  that  is  in your hands,  You send us the material and we will publish the Magazines future is your future, We need you!

-= Ian C Fyvie =-