The closure of Amiga Format means the end of an era for me. For thirteen years (pretty much my whole working life) I've been involved with the Amiga market in some capacity, whether that be in sales, distribution, freelance consultant and writer, or journalist and editor on Amiga Computing or Amiga Format. All this time I've been at the heart of the Amiga market and I've met and got to know some fantastic people, not least of whom are my readers. I've used some fantastic software and seen hardware dreams come and go. I've probably spent in excess of ten grand feeding my obsession and will carry on using the equipment I have at home for a long time to come. As for what I will be doing, you have no cause to fear on my or Richard's behalf: Rich has a job on Linux Format as a staff writer, working with erstwhile Amiga Format editor Nick Veitch. As for me, I hope you'll look favourably on Future's new launch - 3D World - where I'll be deputy editor and the editor of its website. 3D World will be aimed at professional 3D artists and those looking to get into that market, whatever the platform. I will be honest and say that although the only important criterion for inclusion in 3D World is image quality, the speed at which those images need to be rendered, and the quality of the support software, means that I don't think there'll be much, if any, Amiga coverage and that saddens me too.

For those of you who are subscribers, there's no cause for alarm. We aren't a fly-by-night company that will let you down when it comes to dealing with your subscription. All subscribers will get a letter shortly - included with your final subscription issue, that will explain all the options.

As far as any future reincarnation of Amiga Format goes, I am not yet personally convinced that Bill and Fleecy will be able to achieve all they want to, but if they do succeed I'm sure that Future Publishing will be one of the first publishers back into a new thriving Amiga market, and you can bet I'd want to be back. As such, although my new job will probably take me into the world of PCs and workstations, you can be sure I'll keep an eye on what's going on here and I've promised Bill McEwen I would remain part of the AAC in order to be better able to tell him where I think he's going wrong. :)

In the meantime, I don't think that the Amiga market has died, I just know it's got to the stage where Future Publishing can't sustain Amiga Format. At the end of the day, the only reasons for this are an increasing unprofessionalism in the marketplace and a lack of people willing to part with their money. There are plenty of good dealers out there that have their customers interests at heart and it's up to you to make sure that their level of service and support don't go the way of Amiga Format.

Just remember, there's still an issue on the shelves right now that contains all sorts of fantastic info (and Personal Paint 7.1b on the CD) and our next issue on sale, our last, will be well worth buying since it will contain a dissection of the Amiga market as the freelancers and staff on AF see it and a history of AF.

On a personal note, it's not so easy to convey emotion while writing an email. Suffice to say that this page would be wet if it were a letter I was sending to you all.