Amiga Reveals Future Design Plans

DrPsycho writes "The folks at Amiga International have put out some information about where their next generation computer systems might be headed. Jim Collas president of Amiga, gives a few tidbits in his ">Executive Update, but to cut to the juicy bits... they've posted concept drawings for their "next generation mulitmedia computer" due out in late Q4 of this year. These concepts look suspiciously like PalmPilots and iMacs, if you ask me. "

Re:Can anyone believe Amiga anymore? Sure!

First of all, the Amiga isn't really dead. We still have Amiga
Format, selling ~15.000 copies a month, as well as tens of other
printed mags. Some of them really professionally done. The Video
Toaster is still used lot's of places, as is Scala. They still do
their job very well.

However, the biggest proof of the Amiga still being alive is
probably the user community. Although not of the same size as the
Linux one, it is truely a special thing to be part of. Lot's of
new free- and shareware is uploaded to the Aminet every day, and
that's just a part of what is being released. The demo scene is
very vibrant even these days, and Amiga coders are doing full
screen texture mapping in 20 FPS even on the AGA chipset, which
most people claimed was useless for anything like this a few
years ago. Quake was released commercially for the Amiga, Myst was
released commercially for the Amiga. All thanks to active users who
have been pestering the software houses. We'll get Shogo this
autumn as well!

G3 and G4 boards are on their way, 603 and 604 boards are already
out and quite well supported (though only as a co-pro to the existing
68040 or 68060 processor - yet!) We have 3D boards and brill 16
bit sound boards, and even the A1200 have proven to be quite
upgradable. Just apply a bit of creativity and you can have lot's of
equipment attached to even the clock header on the mother board!

Sure, we're lagging a bit behind Wintel boxes hardware wise, and
the OS still lacks some important functions, but we are having fun,
and there's still lots and lots of stuff happening out there,
and tens of thousands users proving that the Amiga is not dead.

Together with the user community, I believe that there's still a
good chance the Amiga can make a large comeback. Gateway isn't
exactly poor either, and with the latest hirings of staff ... well,
I belive they can do it.
impressive comeback

Amiga is the very definition of "Zombieware"

It really is time that somebody classify, diagnose, and assign a name to this kind of behavior.

The Amiga is clearly the walking dead of computing platforms. Existing in the netherworld of computing somewhere between the reality of a viable business to a company being reduced to paper filled cardboard boxes in a storage unit. All the while tormenting former users with empty dreams of support and innovation.

Thus, the amiga is "Zombieware". Remember, this is where it was first defined.

Some may ask "is this not Vaporware??". No, it is not. Vaporware comes primarily from companies that actually are producing some kind of product and seem to have a viable existance.
In other word, Zombieware makes Vaporware look good.

"Amiga" is an ideal, not a computer

Posted by The Famous Brett Watson:

I don't know whether this latest batch of promises and vapour will materialise into something solid and worthwhile. Wake me up when it's actually in the shops, because I lost heart years ago and gave up on the Amiga, at least as far as being interested in what's supposed to be coming next.

I have a few Amigas lying around amongst my various pieces. I don't remember what happened to the original A1000, and I don't really care, since it was only of historical interest. The A2000s I have are becoming terribly long in the tooth and hard to maintain. I'm running out of monitors that work, and I have to cannibalise one to fix the other now and then. This makes using the Amiga less than a joy. I only use it for the things that the PCs just can't do, and for the occasional bit of nostalgia.

Although I've basically given up on the Amigas I have lying around the place, I haven't given up on the essence of Amiga. This is best explained by comparision with Linux. Linux is a robust implementation of Unix, it's free, and it comes with the source code. That description, although accurate, completely fails to capture the essence of Linux. The essence of Linux, and of Amiga, is the sense of being part of a large, creative community of people who are truly passionate about their use of computers. Contrast this with anything Microsoftian.

On the other hand, Linux and Amiga are two very different things. The one will never be the other, and there's no reason why they should. It would be nice if the two communities would work on their similarities rather than their differences, of course. We know about the strengths of Linux, so let me reintroduce the strengths of the Amiga to those who have forgotten (or never knew).

Amiga was the epitome of multimedia. The Amiga had been around for years before the term "Multimedia PC" was coined to describe a PC that came with a CD-ROM drive, sound card, and a pair of jam-tins-on-string speakers. The Amiga didn't just have sound and graphics capabilities, it had well-implemented sound and graphics capabilities. The entire architecture screamed out "make me do cool stuff!" It inspired an entire sub-culture of demo-coders. It could do stuff with one meg of memory and one floppy disk that would stop people in their tracks and make them look. The enthusiasm and passion for coolness possessed by the designers of the Amiga exuded out of it and inspired you to use it in cool and creative ways.

Linux is no substitute for the Amiga, folks. I have to explain this to those of you who never experienced the essence of Amiga first hand. Linux has its own essence, and a good one at that, but I really would rather have both than just Linux. I like to do cool stuff on-screen and genlock it over video. I have a game-show which runs this way on ten year old Amiga hardware, and I haven't been able to get a PC to do the same thing yet.

Whether or not Gateway (or whoever else may come into ownership of the Amiga trademark) succeeds in creating a new Amiga is not my main concern. I'm not waiting for the next computer which has "Amiga" stamped on the case. I'm waiting for the next computer which embodies the essence of Amiga, and I think it will be a hard task to produce such a machine. The PC architecture is chronically un-cool but it's the most economically viable thing to produce: anything else starts at an economic disadvantage. Then there's the question of what software it will run.

It's not a question of Linux or Amiga, and I think that suggestions of Amiga hardware running Linux are pretty misplaced. The essence of Amiga is up-front cool fast right-now happening in-your-face stuff, and the essence of Linux is low-down foundational stability and dammit we own the computer right down to the hardware none of this "licensing" and denial of responsibility by software vendors crap.

There is one final point which does bear mentioning: can the Amiga ever be the same again without also being open source? Well, I don't have the answer to that. I'd prefer it if all the software was open source and the hardware was commoditised and available everywhere, cheaply, but I can live with options not quite so rosy as that. Bear in mind that the original Amiga hardware and OS was proprietary, under any reasonable definition of the word, but it was never secretive. You never got the feeling that some company was keeping secrets from you so they could hook you in and screw you over later.

You frequently did get the feeling that the upper management of Commodore were quite possibly the stupidest beings ever to stand on the face of the planet, but that's a different story.

From a former Amiga owner.

Owning an Amiga anytime in the last decade has put you automatically into the soap opera of ups and downs that Amiga has experienced.

When it first came out, and for a good while, Amiga was hands down the BEST damn home computer you could buy. It did things that lesser operating systems STILL can't do, or have just recently added.

The soap opera was bad enough with Commodore, but when Commodore went belly up, it just got worse. Passed from owner to owner, each holding out some hope of a new product. The fact is that the Amiga remains stuck in the same form it was when Commodore went under.

The Amiga Soap Opera is mainly one of broken promises. Like Amiga STILL doesn't have a Java enabled browser, even though one has been "almost done" for like years. Escom never did anything they promised. Now Gateway has let all the original dates slip by that they promised to make this or that available. Now we see napkin drawings and are supposed to get excited?

I think it is important for all true Amigians to realise that whatever Gateway is making, it isn't an Amiga. I mean, if they are going to start over from scratch and create a machine based on QNX instead of AmigaOS, why the hell are they calling it an Amiga?

IF they get anything off the ground, my guess it will be some intel based system with standard hardware and a sorta Amiga looking GUI. Won't run anything from anyone. Will somehow stay in existance defying logic and common sense, cause, well, that is just what Amiga does.

The truth of the matter is that the Amiga is well and truely dead. Let her rest in peace. Let her go, my fellow Amigans. Whatever Gateway might possibly make won't have AmigaOS, won't have any sort of special graphical co-processors, won't have Amiga programs that can run on it. It will be some cheap hooker with a wig thrown on to look like the long dead love.

At this point, I have no clue WHY Gateway spent good money on technology they will never use and a name that everyone has forgotten. It defies common sense and logic.

But, that is what the Amiga has done best anyway...

Rest in Peace, Amiga.

Bad link...

Try this one:

Executive Update [amiga.com]