CompuServe Messages

1. Amiga future: Yes. I just bought a Supra 28MHz accelerator for my A2000 to see if I could extend its life. It added zip, but the Amiga software still lags behind what is available on Mac and PC. 2. Amiga products: Possibly, depending upon the product and its comparison to similar products on my Mac Centris 660AV. 3. Not a developer. 4. Not a developer. 5. Support the new Amiga: possibly (same as 2 above regarding A2000-compatible purchases; not too likely regarding new CPU purchase; possible for upgrade to A2000 hardware, such as replacement motherboard). 6. Invest: Not in a financial position to do so. Some words of explanation and observation about these gut-wrenching events of the last week. I am a classic case of an Amiga purchaser who bought my A1000 because it did so much more graphically and audibly than any other computer at the time (1987), and cost less. I was upgrading from my original purchase of a C-64 for the rather expensive price of $595 (just the CPU – my machine has a serial number of 14232). But compared to the Apple IIe available at the time, even at its introduction price the C64 was a price/performance leader. I later traded up to an A2000HD in 1990. When I considered an Amiga 4000 purchase in 1993, I compared the machine against a Mac Centris 660AV, which could digitize NTSC video as well as sample audio (16-bit resolution at CD speed) RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. When I factored in the purchase of an Emplant board to get the Mac compatibility I needed with my day job, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that there was simply no piece of software that I needed to run that was only available on the Amiga; that similar packages such as word processors and structured drawing packages available for Macintosh outperformed those available for Amiga; and, irony of ironies, the 660AV would cost less than a similarly-configured A4000, even without the Emplant. Those Apple ads about doing more and costing less aren't just blowing smoke anymore – they accurately reflect Apple's new competitive pricing. The more I considered an Amiga 4000, the more it felt like my prior purchase of a Sony SuperBeta hifi VCR. And consider the planned modular PowerMac AV machine to be released this summer. It has specifications that sound like the computer that the A4000 should have been – modular boards which allow replacement of any component of the system – video, audio, CPU. It's like the A4000 processor board, taken to its logical conclusion. The first three PowerMacs are only the beginning, and none of them will do Audiovisual work as well as that Modular AV Mac. If I needed to do video switching or direct-to-NTSC animation, especially broadcast-quality 3D work, I would have bought an A4000 on introduction. But without that overriding reason to buy one, I could not justify the purchase (and still could not today). I anticipate using my A2000 less and less until it joins my C64, still functioning, but only occasionally turned on, nostalgically taking up space next to more capable machines. Though I really do hope that the Amiga product line will survive, and do wish the best for such an effort, I fear that the damage done during the last few years of mis-management, lost opportunities, non-existent publicity, and technical stagnation have allowed other systems to overtake the Amiga, and have irreparably damaged it. Seeing the writing on the wall, I have already voted with my pocketbook. It would take a product as technically innovative and groundbreaking as the original Amiga was in 1985 to get my attention again. And one last note: if somebody actually acquires the rights to the system, PLEASE BRING BACK THE AMIGA CHECKMARK!