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000726_owner-lightwave-l _Tue Apr 25 22:02:35 1995.msg
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From: <ALANL%wpmail@sppd.stpaul.gov> (Alan J. Lloyd )
To: <>
Subject: ESCOM musings
Date: Tue Apr 25 12:51:58 1995
Sender: owner-lightwave-l@netcom.com
Precedence: bulk
Having read most, if not all, of the USENET and mailing list
stuff on the ESCOM purchase, I have a few thoughts of my own...
1) ESCOM, while a clone manufacturer, _has_ said, explicitly,
that they intend to continue the Amiga line. What that means
right now is anybody's guess, but I think that the "Amiga Lives!"
diatribes on the 'net might be missing somthing here.
The future for the Amiga, if there is to be one, is _not_ as a
general-puropse computer. There are more than enough of them out
there, and this approach smacks of "re-inventing the wheel" far
too much or viability. Remember; a personal computer is a
machine designed to do nothing in particular...where the Amiga
excelled was in some very specific areas (video, 3D, etc.) as
opposed to in general. (BTW, the "nothing in particular" bit
isn't mine, I just forget who said it!) The Amigas we all know &
love have a good future if they are going to become
special-purpose machines, none whatsoever if they are to be
marketed as "PC substitutes" or the like.
2) Power PC CPU/PCI bus as bases for future Amiga tech. If
anything gets Lightwave coded for the Power PC, this will!
(ObLightwave) If the OS has to be rewritten, let's hope it can
keep _some_ of the features that made it nice (and lose a few
others) and, hopefully, as simple and compact as it can be. That
said, the notion of booting from a single floppy is a romantic
leftover...no one does that anymore except for the truly
nostalgic. Even most Amiga software requires HD space,
floppy-only machines are doorstops now. PCI compatibility would
open the archtecture to a wealth of good cards, controllers (DPS'
"Perception" among them!) and the like, with the advantage of
economy of scale (lots of them already developed) keepnig costs
as low as possible.
3) Video as the soul of the new machines. That's what Amigas do
very well. That's the market to shoot for. There's a user base
there, ready to be explored.
4) NewTek/Lightwave...they kept the thing alive for a while, they
made it the visible platform it is, with "Babylon 5" "SeaQuest"
"RoboCop" and more. _IF_ ESCOM keeps the technology going, and
doesn't just turn it into set-tops and the like (way behind SGI
and others right now, also) then I hope it cna be the platform of
3D animation choice for a while longer.
That's just my $7.49 (adjusted for inflation) on the situation.
I sure would hate to go home today, fire up the old A2000, and
have a shower of sparks and a cloud of smoke tell me I need a new
computer! I have only owned _one_ computer, and that's it. I
_like_ using my Amiga, even if it's a bit dated. I'm also
practical enough to think that if nothing happens _soon_ on this
front, then I'll use the thing as long as it lasts, but get
something else for the future.
Well, that's enough bandwidth burned by me. In closing, I really
_hope_ this is good news, but we'll have to wait and see. I know
that even a gilmmer of hope is better than none at all...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Lloyd
alan.lloyd@stpaul.gov
>> All standard disclaimers apply. Non-standard disclaimers
available on request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------