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[News] Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash?ANN.lu
Posted on 06-Jan-2001 10:10 GMT by Christian Kemp36 comments
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Corinna Cohn posted a transcript of an interview with Bill McEwen on Moo Bunny, where Bill says that AmigaOS 3.5 and 3.9 are no significant additions to the Amiga revenue, but not worrysome either. Apparently, their cash is getting low, but they are working on securing more investment. Bill also said that Amiga will not be exhibiting at Comdex or CES, but only at Amiga trade shows, but their product will be available through vendors.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 1 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by DonX on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
I`ve read stuff from her before. This piece seems ALOT more positive towards Amiga Inc. than previous posts. But is she really the right person to do an interview regarding her previous super negative out of perspective posts? But it`s good to see that even the most negative persons within the community seem to become more objective and neutral.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 2 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by James Whelan on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
It's good to see some straight answers from Amiga management after all the pretty speeches from Gateway and Escom. However, it doesn't fill me with optimism for the future. Comdex and CES are major shows and although Amiga would probably have a presence there if they could afford it, the fact that they can't means that yet another year goes by with the Amiga absent from two of the biggest events in the technological calendar.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 3 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
buy OS3.9 it is an investment for amiga's future, if the figure of 50,000 is reached atleast they have some revenue to play with.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 4 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Martin Baute on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 3 (Anonymous):
DON´T! It´s simple maths: If they reach 50.000 pieces sold, they have to
commit to OS4.0 PPC. This will cost yet more money, will distract developers
from the AmigaDE, will split the community yet further (if such a thing
is possible).
I am very concerned that they don´t exhibit at CES as they planned. If they
run out of money, we run out of hope...
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 5 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Don Cox on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (Martin Baute):
Did they ever plan to exhibit at CES ?
The important feature of CES for a company like Amiga Inc which is
selling maimly to OEMs is the private discussions.
Of course it would help if some STB manufacturers showed products that
will use the AmigaDE.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 6 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Troels Ersking on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
I don't think they will run out off money and if they do i dont think it can be that hard for them to get capital to get going.
Remember they have a product nearing completion (=income) and that some venture capital companies (invisible hand?) allready have investments they don't want to loose.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 7 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Remco Komduur on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (Martin Baute):
Nonsense!!!!!!!
It won't cost Amiga anything and won't cost them time either because they have nothing to do with Amiga OS 3.5/3.9/4.0 . I hate this 40000 units number. The only reason they need so much is that Amiga want to make money on it too. Then you get some useless point about 'commercially viable'.
Then let Haage&Partner take the chance themselves. Give them the rights and let's see what happens then. I still like their POP motherboard Amiga OS 4 idea
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 8 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Robert SImmonds on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 7 (Remco Komduur):
Oh, what a good idea. Just go and give other companies the rights to licences that you paid damn good money for, so that they can carry on feeding a tiny population of fanatics, while not paying anything back. Sounds like good business sense to me ;)
Amiga are a business, not a charity. their ultimate aim is to get the AmigaDE into the wider market place. To be honest, I am suprised they care one jot about the current amiga users, as the market is so small and, I am sorry to say, whingy and bitter, that if I was at the Amiga helm, The current "Community" (I hate using that word) would be the last people I would care about.
If they can carry on making money out of the aging classic OS, then great. But dont start ribbing them for not carrying on the classic OS at a loss.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 9 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Roj on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 8 (Robert SImmonds):
I'm sorry, but I've sat here most of the last two weeks reading post after post after post, which call myself and other Amiga users whiny, bitchy, fanatical zealots with no clue about modern computing.
You know something? I've had it. I've read one post too many calling me things that are complete bulls**t. I'm willing to go along with the notion that the PC and other machines which receive non-stop influx of resources have merit above what even top-of-the-line Amigas have. But I draw the line when I'm told I should toss my perfectly working Amiga into the bucket in favor of a machine I do not want, like, or admire, let alone have no room for, lest I be called names and receive labelling of behavior I have in no way demonstrated.
I've heard this crap for the past 15 years. Even back when PCs did 256 colors max, and even fewer if they didn't have an expensive graphics card, at the time even more expensive than current Amiga graphics cards cost. The tune hasn't changed. Only the faces of the mouths that spew it forth have changed. Fine. I'm a zealot. I've been a zealot since the day I forked over cash for my very first Amiga according to all the nitwits out there who need the latest and greatest in order to accomplish the very same tasks I accomplish with this "obsolete" <laugh> machine.
The simple fact that Amiga are even considering OS4.0 is a pretty good indicator that Amiga themselves know the AmigaDE will NOT be an adequate replacement for the current (and only) Amiga system out there. It's a clear sign that NO ONE knows what the DE will be.
I'm not saying don't use PCs (or anything else for that matter). I have one on my desk too for crying out loud. It's not there because it's my first choice to run the apps I need to run. It's there because it's the ONLY choice to run the apps I need to run. But NO ONE has yet said ANYTHING to make me want to clear the Amiga off the same desk and ONLY use the PC. I don't know what it will take for that to happen, if it ever does.
Yeah I do. I know what it will take. It will take that wonderful smelling blue smoke bellowing out the back of my Amiga, and thanks to everyone bantering at Amiga, Inc to drop the classic Amiga line, I won't be able to buy a replacement.
Gee, thanks a lot fellas. THAT'S progress!!
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 10 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by DanDude on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
I find that post somehow not to be believed. Was the closing factory in Germany
a good idea?
Well, there is one powerful option that keeps all companies going....
Advertise.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 11 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Robert Simmonds on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 9 (Roj):
"I'm sorry, but I've sat here most of the last two weeks reading post after post after post, which call myself and other Amiga users whiny, bitchy, fanatical zealots with no clue about modern computing."
I am not calling you any of those things, but my experience of MANY users on IRC at least, is that they are clinging on to things like "the PC doesnt multitask" and "the PPC is twice as powerful as an Athlon". So many amiga users are so blindly fanatical that they cannot see past the end of their noses. Now I am still an amiga user, I have an amiga sitting here running my LAN, doing all my email, IRC, etc. However, I am not so blind as to think that the amiga is the ultimate machine, and everything else is crap.
"The simple fact that Amiga are even considering OS4.0 is a pretty good indicator that Amiga themselves know the AmigaDE will NOT be an adequate replacement for the current (and only) Amiga system out there. It's a clear sign that NO ONE knows what the DE will be. "
That is utter crap. The reason they are doing OS3.x and thinking about OS4 for the classic amiga is to appease the current amiga owning public. keep them quiet while the DE sells to everyone else.
Now this seems to be a rant totally off of what I was saying. I was essentially saying that Amiga do not owe us, or H&P, or anyone else anything really. Doing something at a loss is stupid unless it brings in greater revenue elsewhere, but the classic amiga doesnt even do that. when it comes down to it, if amiga are running out of money, they need to cut the dead weight, and if that means dropping the no-longer commerically viable Classic OS to bring us a modern, forward thinking Operating system that runs on normal, fast, cheap, well-supported hardware, then so be it, and good luck to them.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 12 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Martin Baute on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 7 (Remco Komduur):
> Nonsense!!!!!!!
No, based on facts. I recommend having a look at http://www.aakt.de; in a
few days, the January issue of the international version will be released.
Read the closing comment.
> It won't cost Amiga anything and won't cost them time either because they
> have nothing to do with Amiga OS 3.5/3.9/4.0 .
Citing Fleecy Moss, "if Amiga Inc. decides to do an AmigaOS 4.0, it will be
specified [...] by Amiga Inc., with Haage & Partner and others bringing in
their expertise.". (Private E-Mail.)
If Amiga Inc. doesn´t put serious cash into OS 4.0, it will end up being a
bunch of shareware demos, like many flamed OS3.5 / 3.9 to be.
> I hate this 40000 units number. The only reason they need so much is that
> Amiga want to make money on it too.
Citing Bill McEwen, OS 3.x does not ammount to a serious cash influx for
Amiga Inc. (Moo Bunny)
I for one seriously hope they never reach the 50.000 units limit; IMHO, this
would endanger both AmigaDE _and_ OS4.0.
> Then let Haage&Partner take the chance themselves.
Haage & Partner created lackluster updates for the classic OS, which is about
all they _can_ do given the ressources (money and manpower). Hey, OS development
is not a fun sport, it´s business. If you want to play with the big ones,
you have to play it big.
> Give them the rights and let's see what happens then.
Creation of an OS that runs on 15.000 PPC-Amigas and the occassional PowerMac,
with a OS3.x emulation and no software to take advantage of the new features?
Thank you.
> I still like their POP motherboard Amiga OS 4 idea
Which is just that, an idea. If it would be "commercially viable", don´t you
think they would´ve done it already?
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 13 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Georg Steger on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
Why Amiga Inc. now seems to give AmigaOS 4 PPC a chance?
I guess the most likely thing is, that developing AmigaDE takes
(much?) longer than they expected. How otherwhise can it make
sense to wait one year before even (really) thinking about it
(and contrary: telling H&P to stop AmigaOS PPC development which according
to H&P was already started in the late Gateway days).
Writing a new OS is not an easy task. Certainly much more difficult
than port AmigaOS to PPC or x86 or whatever. First they wanted to
have it ready in 2000. Now they are talking about ~ around mid 2001.
But even that is still extremely early. Even if they had 2 times as
many people and each of them was 2 times better/faster than actually. It's
still not very likely that they manage to have a final version (I'm not
talking about PDAs, set top boxes and stuff like that, instead about
desktop) before 2002, which is not too buggy (the initial versions of a
new OS usually always are a bit buggy) and supports more or less all
basic things (for example printers) one needs for a desktop computer.
Part of the biggest work is certainly drivers. There's a huuuuuuge
difference between an OS running hosted (under some other OS) and a
native OS. I know this from AROS.
And then I also think they are overestimating the VP technology a bit.
Okay, it's a nice feature. But if (as an user) I'm looking for a nice
OS, then VP would be among my lowest priorities. And then having a
VP technology that allows you to run the same app on all kind of
different CPUs is good and nice. But for what a native OS concerns
you still have the driver problem. Which is a much bigger part of
the work. Amie VP technology supports PPC? Well, cool. But as a long
as it does not work native on a Amiga PPC, Mac, whatever then for
most people it's not an alternative. So who is going to write all
this drivers for x86, PPC, ARM based machines? (I could tell you
some stories about AROS x86 native, where it took us ages to even
just get this stupid keyboard driver to work partly(!) on most(!, not
all) PCs)
And what if some Linux (or other OS) freak decides to add
VP support in this OS. I think this is probably much easier (and
faster to do) than what Amiga Inc. is doing: have VP ready/finished and
built a complete new OS around it. Then AmigaDE's main feature
is not worth that much anymore. And what other cool new features, apart from
VP, is AmigaDE going to have? Features, that other OSes don't have?
Features that were impossible to add to AmigaOS? Can you tell me some?
So it might be that Amiga Inc. have realized this (if what I say is
somewhat true). Now know that it will take 1 - 2 more years until
AmigaDE is finished. So they need something in between. It's of course
true that Amiga Classic people are a very small market. But small market
is better than no market. Releasing something is better than releasing
nothing.
One more thing: if they decide to make an AmigaOS PPC, then I think they
should also tell the people if this is only planned for having something
until AmigaDE is released or not. That is: if there's is going to be only
one single AmigaOS PPC version and after that no more version, because
then they would expect people to buy/upgrad to AmigaDE instead of AmigaOS PPC?
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 14 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Martin Baute on 05-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 13 (Georg Steger):
> And what other cool new features, apart from
> VP, is AmigaDE going to have? Features, that other OSes don't have?
> Features that were impossible to add to AmigaOS? Can you tell me some?
I still hope for a transparent, responsive, well-documented, easy-to-learn
(both as user and developer) system that allows me to do what I want to do,
instead of figuring out why this ***** system again malfunctions.
Windows malfunctions. You get Linux into functioning only if you have a
master´s degree in networking and configuring the Beast (tm). MacOS is a
nice way to pay a hefty premium, only to end up still using Microsoft Office
with less choice in hardware. QNX, BeOS and some others failed to attract
a solid base of installed systems (and the software / drivers support that
comes with it).
AmigaDE, theoretically, has the chance to be what I´m looking for. Installed
systems base due to hosted / VP technology. Being a nice OS because Amiga
people work on it (and if enough attemps are made, somebody *has* to do it
right... ;-) ).
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 15 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (Martin Baute):
distract what developers? you think H&P are developing both OS3.9 and AmigaDE???? wrong!!!, if they do make OS4.0 PPC it will be outsourced like the previous OS3.5 & OS3.9 to H&P....
why not buy OS3.9?
it is people like you killing the amiga off!!!!
tightass!!
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 16 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by anon on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
Why does anybody care what Moobunny thinks? I have never seen anything constructive come from Moobunny it's all hate mongering. :(
I think Moobunny might be trying to take Cooksey's place as Amiga's #1 nut job.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 17 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Steven Wilson on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 16 (anon):
Is something constructive supposed to come from MooBunny? Last time I checked,
it was just a message board. As for hate mongering, I see that just about every
where I go, regardless of subject. There's always at least one person who just
wants to hate.
Quint
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 18 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by XDelusion on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
I just wish someone would make a freaking Amiga on a PCI card, I still have an
Amiga 1200 which I hope to upgrade if I can afford it after famlily life begins.
But if it should die, like many other classic Amiga owners, it would be upsetting
to know that I will not be able to replace that classic piece of kick ass
technology some day. The classic Amiga OS no longer does it all for me sadly to say
but I have to say that UAE still don't have what it takes to make me feel at home,
though I must say the Be version is comeing along nicely, but it still ain't Amiga,
I still can't run stuff like AmIRC, and Dopus still tweaks out, my colors still tweak
out, and I still lose Icons for my devices.... :/
Oh well, can't have it all, still looking foward to the new OS, but I feel it is going
to be a burn in the ass for Amiga not to have it on display at the major Tech event shows.
We need to be in the main stream media, not just the underground. Amiga needs
Omnipresense!
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 19 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by anon on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 17 (Steven Wilson):
Obviously, Moobunny is understood to stand for that Corinna. Duh.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 20 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Richard on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
I am a bit worried about the last transcript read from Corinna. That Amiga Inc are getting short on cash is definetely not a good sign since they still have a lot of expenditures that awaits if they are to successfully launch the new AmigaDE. Not that it would be surprising since they have hardly earned much money this year. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for the new Amiga Inc. when they finally have the products almost ready they lack the financial support to successfully launch it and attend important events and so on. I really hope they get new investors that will continue the road laid by Amiga and not state new priorities for their funding. Every timetable Amiga inc have come up with whatever they have talked about have been broken. SDK for Linux (february/march 2000), SDK Windows (a few weeks left was said in July), new machines (christmas 2000, maybe Q1) etc etc...It will be the same for Amiga DE (developer boxes in december ??? not!) which means they have to pay salaries for several months more.....Ok. I am still optimistic. It is to early to make any conclusions out of this but that Bill McEwen even officially begins to reveal they are getting short on cash is not good.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 21 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Remco Komduur on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 11 (Robert Simmonds):
>>"I'm sorry, but I've sat here most of the last two weeks reading post after >>post after post, which call myself and other Amiga users whiny, bitchy, >>fanatical zealots with no clue about modern computing."
>I am not calling you any of those things, but my experience of MANY users on >IRC at least, is that they are clinging on to things like "the PC doesnt >multitask" and "the PPC is twice as powerful as an Athlon". So many amiga >users are so blindly fanatical that they cannot see past the end of their >noses. Now I am still an amiga user, I have an amiga sitting here running my >LAN, doing all my email, IRC, etc. However, I am not so blind as to think that >the amiga is the ultimate machine, and everything else is crap.
Look, I'm not one of those people either that says Amiga is everything. I have 2 500 MHz PC's and laptop next to my Amiga. But in most cases, the AmigaOS still(completely under powered) does it better.
Both Windows and Linux are bloated with code and are both too slow. If I would have to make a choice I would chooce Windows over Linux any day. Linux is a nice hobby OS that does quite good now but in 5 years it's gone because making something for nothing has never worked and won't work here either.
Haage & Partner also wan't to see Amiga OS 4. I too and it should have a chance. I like the POP motherboard idea and want to see it happen. Even though the AmigaOS won't get converted completely on the first go, emulation on a G3 or G4 will produce more speed then the 68060 is able to deliver and the context switches are gone so both in PPC and 68K power we will be going forward.
It's cheap, fast buses, fast memory, fast IDE and no legacy. I like it.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 22 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Remco Komduur on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 12 (Martin Baute):
>> I still like their POP motherboard Amiga OS 4 idea
>Which is just that, an idea. If it would be "commercially viable", don´t you
>think they would´ve done it already?
No, because the last time I checked the POP motherboard still wasn't out the testing phase at IBM. So we won't see anything untill the basic design is error free.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 23 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Al K on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
Well, what makes me wonder is not that AmigaInc. is short on cash but that there seem to be many people who believe
they have not ever been since the beginning of 2000. The AmigaInc. we are talking about is _not_ the one founded
in 1982 and thereafter owned by C=. It is a complete startup company and the only funds have been what Bill and
fellows have brought in so looking for investors is everydays business and even more the bigger the plan is.
And their plan is _huge_ ..
AmigaNews.de have an interesting recent interview with Francis Charig, CEO Tao Group, from the CES here:
http://amiga-news.de/archiv01/010106.shtml
To summarize it says 'Nowadays Amiga Inc. is our most important partner.'. So obviously TAO will try to make
AmigaDE a success as it does mean lots of licensing fees (from millions of installed devices and desktops).
Also the Tao connection can widely attract investors. I have no doubt it already does only the companies do
wait until the AmigaDe appears and can ship with their own products. BTW, according to Charig, AmigaDE will
be available within 'the next half year' so not only AmigaInc. tells this but Tao.
So I am rather optimistic that AmigaDE will show up this summer.
Call Me Al
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 24 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Alcemyst on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 11 (Robert Simmonds):
Robert Simmonds
lets say you have 10,000 PC owner 10,000 classic Amiga.
wich group is going to buy & show the AmigaDE-Os to there friends
first, it will be Amiga users & thats the cheapest form of
advertising.
its better to start off with 10.000 willing customers than killing off
the classic now & starting with none.i wonder how many PC owners went
out & bought Amiga.Os 3.9 to run on UAE compaired to real amiga
owners.
oh & about this doing things at a loss, the PS2 is sold at a loss or
at least at cost price so they can make there money later on from SW
sales,so sometimes you have to loose to win.
also the only thing that lets the amiga down beside new SW is really
its low clock speeds.if the amiga was running at 1Ghz then it would be
a diffrent matter & then it would have the power to run SW that the pc
enjoys. take a top of the range PC & downclock it to 50Mhz & lets see
how well it performs. then the you will see that the only thing that
makes the PC better is its faster clock speeds nothing else
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 25 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Alcemyst on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 24 (Alcemyst):
- the :)
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 26 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Colin Wilson on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 24 (Alcemyst):
The console market is an entirely seperate market to that of computers.
Consoles manufacturers have STRICT licensing arrangements, where they receive a proportion of the selling price of ANY software sold for it. It`s not all one-way traffic though - before they will allow a title to be released, it also undergoes considerable play-testing and bug-testing by their own staff (I know two people who do this for Sony). If the title is buggy, it *may* be released in very limited quantities until the bugs are resolved, and if any of the original buggy release have the bugs found, they are replaced.
When was the last time you bought a computer game with "x% of the cost of this game will be distributed to (all the component manufacturers in the world)"
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 27 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Martin Baute on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 15 (Anonymous):
Come on, posting anonymously and flaming other people?
> distract what developers? you think H&P are developing both OS3.9 and
> AmigaDE????
Did I say so?
> wrong!!!, if they do make OS4.0 PPC it will be outsourced like the
> previous OS3.5 & OS3.9 to H&P....
It will definitely not be outsourced. Why do I know? Because I asked.
If an OS 4.0 PPC is done, it will be done by Amiga Inc., with H&P and
others "bringing in their expertise". Direct quote.
> why not buy OS3.9?
Read Amiga Aktuell 01/01, http://www.aakt.de. (English translation bound
to be released in one or two weeks.)
> it is people like you killing the amiga off!!!!
If you had a look at the name I am brave enough to write under my postings,
you would have realized how ridiculous this remark of yours is.
> tightass!!
What, because I try to make people aware of implications?
If you want to further discuss this, feel free to mail me at solar@baud.de.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 28 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Steve Wilson on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 19 (anon):
>Obviously, Moobunny is understood to stand for that Corinna. Duh.
That was not at all obvious. Tell me, how does MooBunny stand for Corinna?
I'm interested to know your line of thinking on this.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 29 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Robert Simmonds on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 24 (Alcemyst):
"lets say you have 10,000 PC owner 10,000 classic Amiga.
wich group is going to buy & show the AmigaDE-Os to there friends
first, it will be Amiga users & thats the cheapest form of
advertising."
yes, but a load of amiga users dont like, want, or contemplate using the new OS. More over, the amount of them that openly slag it off, when clearly knowing nothing about it is worrying for a company in a world where image is (almost) everything. Someone the other day started whinging about HAVING to have a Matrox graphics card to run the DE ffs. He didnt seem to grasp the idea of hardware independance, which is the whole basis of the DE.
"its better to start off with 10.000 willing customers than killing off
the classic now & starting with none.i wonder how many PC owners went
out & bought Amiga."
Again, a lot of the people who are holding out for OS4 are holding out because they dont like the DE. And people raving about a totally unrelated product (apart from the name) is not what you need.
"oh & about this doing things at a loss, the PS2 is sold at a loss or
at least at cost price so they can make there money later on from SW
sales,so sometimes you have to loose to win. "
yes, that is on a console, not a computer. Amiga would not get anywhere if they told ALL developers to pay them for licences to produce amiga software. Also, we get to the point that OS4 is not in any way related to the DE, and has no way of bringing in revenue, aprt from through sales.
"also the only thing that lets the amiga down beside new SW is really
its low clock speeds.if the amiga was running at 1Ghz then it would be
a diffrent matter & then it would have the power to run SW that the pc
enjoys. "
Correct, but you could have a 10ghz amiga, but there still are not enough active buyers to make any big software commercially viable. There is no point in having massively powerful Amiga's, if no-one has one. You may well be able to run things like Adobe Photoshop or Lightwave 6 on a 1ghz Amiga, but they are not going to port it for 50-60 people who have the hardware to run it.
"take a top of the range PC & downclock it to 50Mhz & lets see
how well it performs. then the you will see that the only thing that
makes the PC better is its faster clock speeds nothing else "
firstly, why on earth would you want to downclock a top of the range PC to 50mhz!? thaty is just some amiga-ite crap to make PC's sound worse. the fact is, you cannot buy a PC under 550mhz anymore, so that is really a poor arguement. Secondly, its not just clock speeds, its little things like support, software, development, proper PCI buses, AGP buses, USB, firewire, low cost, technical support, internet compatability etc. that also makes the PC far more viable.
Now again, I want to reiterate that I AM an amiga user, and I do like the amiga, but sometimes we have to face facts, and the fact is that unless a miricle of biblical proportions happens, the Amiga Classic will get smaller and smaller, less and less support, until it becomes the Atari ST ;)
Roll on the AmigaDE, I'll have a PC waiting for it!
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 31 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Alcemyst on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 29 (Robert Simmonds):
OK if you had a 386/50Mhz PC then what :)
if u have a PC & a Amiga running at the same clock speeds the amiga
could do more with it.
running the same sw that is.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 32 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Corinna Cohn on 06-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 1 (DonX):
*sigh*
It's annoying to be ascribed as having a 'super negative out of perspective' viewpoint. I don't see myself as being strongly positive or negative. I used to be one of the loudest advocates of Amiga. In fact, I'm wearing an Amiga sweatshirt designed by Robert Hamilton as I type this, so beat that. :)
My viewpoint is that of a realist. As a realist take a look at all the factors of a situation and try to make predictions from them. After looking at the Amiga leadership, their product direction, their partners, and their hype, I conclude that things aren't optimistic. I'm not a radical. I'm not rabid. I have a hot little ember in my heart that wants to burn with Amiga passion once more, but I don't think that the current Amiga crew can make it happen.
On MooBunny there were rumours going on about the Amiga situation. Rumours never breed anything good so I felt a responsibility to clear them. That's all.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 33 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Robert Simmonds on 07-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 31 (Alcemyst):
We have discussed this via IRC, and I think it was quite clear I was right ;)
/me runs
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 34 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Jar Jar Binks on 07-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 32 (Corinna Cohn):
Corinna,
I appreciate your pragmatic viewpoint. I have seen you in the past support Amiga as well as demo ImageFX. I am glad to see you have qualified your "opinion" as such. It is just that however, and being that you yourself have never ran a major company, secured venture funding and such... it is just as in the dark as everyone elses.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 35 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Alcemyst on 07-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 33 (Robert Simmonds):
LOL
i dont think so :)
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 36 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Troels Ersking on 07-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 32 (Corinna Cohn):
Hello Corinna
Thanks for the clarification as you said, "rumours never breed any good".
Totally agree on that one..
I have a couple of questions for you though:
Whats wrong with the Amiga product direction?
Their partners?
Their hype?
From a business point of view I think they are very vise booth by choosing their partners and with the direction. I don't see any better alternatives do you?
As for the hype I guess you don't like it at all? I agree and think most of the remaining Amigans do. We hate beeing promised things that never appears:-(
But it's simply normal business they have to do it to attract the medias interest --> the investors interest --> potential users interest.
"I have a hot little ember in my heart that wants to burn with Amiga passion once more, but I don't think that the current Amiga crew can make it happen."
Maybe they can't but they tried, and I believe they tried to succeed the best possible way.
Theres probably other/better systems than elate/AmigaDE but I believe they have chosen the one where they have the biggest chance of succes, remember we know almost nothing about their licensing agreements with Tao and others...Well I guess only time will tell whether we will succeed or not.
Bill McEwen interviewed; Amiga short on cash? : Comment 37 of 36ANN.lu
Posted by Mark Loyd on 08-Jan-2001 23:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 9 (Roj):
>Yeah I do. I know what it will take. It will take that wonderful smelling
>blue smoke bellowing out the back of my Amiga, and thanks to everyone
>bantering at Amiga, Inc to drop the classic Amiga line, I won't be able
>to buy a replacement.
>
>Gee, thanks a lot fellas. THAT'S progress!!
Are you sure you'd want to pay for a replacement? Classic Amiga's
aren't exactly 2 for a dollar. When my Amiga 3000T died, I took
one look at the $400.00+ price tag of relacing the motherboard,
and chucked the whole thing in the dumpster. It just wasn't worth
it to me. If the new systems are running on standard hardware, it
won't cost you an arm-and-a-leg to replace or repair it. I think
getting away from high-priced custom hardware IS progress. Something
the Amiga most likely would have done by now had Commodore not folded.
It seems that a lot of people are quick to dismiss the AmigaDE based
machines, never having actually seen one. Let's at least get a look
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