#AmigaWorld ends 🙁
66 messages in this thread
I just got some bad news.
AmigaWorld is closing down. 🙁 The April issue will be the magazine's last.
It's a real shame. I had fun working with them, and enjoyed doing the Denny on
DOS column. I've honestly never worked with a friendlier bunch of folks.
I wish the AW team the best in their future magazine-industry endeavors.
[No, I don't know what's going to happen as far as subscription fulfillments
go. I'm just a freelancer. I'd guess it's too soon to call them to find
out, as they'll probably need a week or so to implement something.]
You sure it's not 1 April, not 1 March? It's hard to believe that the leading
Amiga publication would close with the buy-out seemingly imminent, Amazing on
the ropes,and a loyal following of almost 100,000.
Gary,
Saying that Amazing is "on the ropes" is not accurate. I spoke with Don Hicks
this afternoon and asked him Amazing was going to stick in there. He said
"Yes". At the end of our conversation I said something to the effect of "Well,
I'm glad that you're hanging in there for now". At which point he became a bit
forceful and said "I didn't saying anything about 'for now', I said Amazing is
not going away".
Now, while there may be speculation otherwise, I can only believe the direct
answer to my direct question.
Steve-
That's reassuring. I appreciate the info.
Mr. Zombie – now 76375,1776 – no longer Warped
If AW shuts down, my guess would be that Amazing could be profitable for a long
time.
dale@iam.com http://www.iam.com
Intangible Assets Manufacturing
Gary:
>> It's hard to believe that the leading Amiga publication would close with
the buy-out seemingly imminent…
Unfortunately, the buy-out has been "seemingly imminent" for far too long.
Every one of these "two week" waits decreases the Amiga's chances of a
successful comeback. Although I was very optimistic when this fiasco started,
I'm losing more faith each day it drags on. 🙁
Wayne
Perhaps they felt they could no longer wait on this forever imminent
buy-out.
Then agan perhaps they knew something we don't and they figure there will
never be another Amiga to write about.
It's sad to see them go….
If Amazing folds, that will about finish the American market. If there
are no Amiga magazines, it will be a little tough for the people to
advertize and sell product.
Well, there are Commodore mags without Commodore production, so the lack of new
Amigas shouldn't be a problem for the forseeable future.
It looks like Amazing is going to publish a while longer, so the point may
be moot.
However, if Amazing had gone under along with AW, then there would have
had to be a new Amiga magazine started to serve the market.
With no Amigas in production, and no sure solution to be on hand, it would
be hard to get financing to start up a new magazine to serve a dead
computer.
About the only thing that could get off the ground, would be a kitchen
table type operation.
Without renewed production, the only place the subscriber base has to go,
is down. Not to mention that the closing down of AW will make some of its
former readers think twice before subscribing to Amazing.
(Some will just to keep the info flowing, others will look at the missed
months, and decide that they do not want to risk more money on another
magazine shutting down in the middle of the subscription.)
It remains to be seen if the demise of AW will translate into more
advertising dollars for Amazing. (Hopefully it will.)
>It remains to be seen if the demise of AW will translate into more
>adverstiing dollars for Amazing (Hopefully it will.)
I just called AC to get a subscription and was told that their phones
are ringin off the hook with adertisers, so it does look like they'll get some
benifits from the demise of AW.
All we can hope is that this is settled before AC is forced into
dropping publication too…:(
Asha
Surprising to see you outside of Fido-Net….
I think one magazine can hang on for a couple more years….
At the same time, I think things have been resolved. We just aren't willing to
accept that yet, since CEI and the UK tell us what we want to here.
How many of us would believe that an Atari buy-out or reinttoduction were
immenent?
Alex,
Hey, Fido is great, but it's not the ONLY place to "hang out"
electronically…:)
I agree, I think Amazing can hang out for a few years. I'm just
wondering whether *I* can…sigh…
I would think that had things been resolved we would know by know. Even
CEI and C-UK have been silent lately.
Well, I'll keep showing up on Sunday for the conferences. And, as long
as my machine still does what I need, I'll keep it. I REALLY want a 4000T
though…:)
Asha
> Not to mention that the closing down of AW will make some of its former
> readers think twice before subscribing to Amazing.
It would be interesting to know how many AW subscribers are _already_ AC
subscribers (like me).
jsaklad@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
Now there's a title for a history of the Amiga:
"Forever Imminent"
jsaklad@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
Gary,
I'm as much an Amiga booster as anyone. I love the machine. I have a business
interest in the machine. I nurture hope as much as I possibly can. But with all
that, I have NO idea where you came up with the phrase "Seemingly imminent"
with regard to the buyout.
The buyout isn't looking like it's going to happen. We've been fed the same
lines every two weeks for longer than I care to remember. Both CBM UK and CEI
have been shown to be "overly optomistic" with a regularity approaching, even
exceeding in some cases, clockwork.
Buyout? What buyout?
Between the lawyers, the CBM "management" (I use that term VERY loosely) and
the courts, we've been had. It's hard to swallow, but that's all there is to
it.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Yes, I'm disappointed, too.Maybe AW folding will stir something up, especially
among the creditors!
Ben, all you can say for Commodore "management" is – they shot it and left it
to rot. I still have a piece of your financial interest too – one of the
original Ham-E boxes. Alas for the snows of yesteryear ! 🙂
Regards,
Kimo
Since AW is probably "plugged in" WRT the buy-out, and is still folding their
tent, should give cause for pause… The imminence of the buy-out may be just
a wave of anxiety that built to a fever pitch with no supporting basis.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Geez. If Amazing Computing doesn't hang in there, we're all going to be high
and dry. Even the Atari ST still supports a book, thin though it may be.
I guess it amounts to another love note from Irv and Mehdi. They made Humpty
Dumpty International almost impossible for the king's men (or the president's
men) to put back together.
I still miss Amiga Resource. There's always Amiga Format.
On the plus side, at least in the near term, the failure of AW should make it
easier for Amazing to exist, at least that's how it seems to me. I hope so.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Hey Denny, I will miss your columes also. See you in Cyberspace!
Thanks, Mark.
I'll still be doing my column for the UK mag Amiga Computing.
And if Amazing ever does fold, I'll probably launch the Amiga newsletter I've
thought about for the past few years. But I'd rather Amazing stick around —
more free time for me. 🙂
It was about this time in 1985 that I bought my first issue of AmigaWorld
(months before the Amiga was released). Hard to believe it's been 10 years.
DENNY ON DOS was a very rewarding column. Thank you for writing for us
Amiga hobbiests. I have only subscribe to AW and so have no idea the format
or address of AC but guess I have to switch and get a subscription to AC
What is there address ?
DENNIS ON THE Auto PILOT and AMIGA USERS ONLY DUE TO THE LOYAL HELP AND
SUPPORT ALL AMIGA USERS HAVE SHOWN ME ON THE INTERNET
Dennis,
Glad you found the column helpful!
Amazing Computing's address/phone have been published a couple of times over
the past few days. I don't have it handy, but it's PiM Publications in Fall
River, MA — you might be able to get the number from 800 information. Or
hopefully someone else will post the sub info for you.
…Denny
Danny,
I will trully miss AmigaWorld, your column on DOS has always been a great help
to me, especialy when i was just starting out. It is a real shame that there
will be no magazine on the amiga that still say's "Made in the USA".
But i guess we'll still have those Euro. mags. It's just that i can't convert
Dollars into Crowns, DM, Franks, ect.
—Stephen—
===Cruisin' on Auto Pilot 1.77–From Kansas to OZ===
Stephen,
Glad you found the column helpful!
There is still one US Amiga magazine — Amazing Computing. Hopefully they'll be
able to stick around. But I can't find AC on the newsstands anywhere around…
(Guess I'll resubscribe now…)
Actually, there is a second mgazine as well — Amiga Game Zone, which has its
fourth issue in proidu its its 4th issue in production as we speak.
>> Amiga Game Zone
Good to hear they're still around.
– Jim, on AP!
I have an Amiga 500, a 45mb scsi hard disk, an old 1280 monitor, and have loved
the Amiga since I was stunned with it back in 1985. I use a Pentium system
running OS/Warp at work, but dearly love to come home to a true friend in my
Amiga.
Thanks for sharing your passion with all us. I hate like hell to see AW die.
It's like a death in the family. But I'm not giving up my Amiga because it
would be like giving up on all the things that I truly love about computing.
Denny, find somewhere to write. Where ever it is, those of us who love this
red-headed stepchild of a machine will find you. And if ever Amiga rises out
of the ashes created by those who were supposed to support it, it will be
because people such as youself kept the dream from dying.
Thanks
David Shows
David,
Thanks for the nice note. I'm still writing Amiga stuff for Amiga Computing (a
UK Amiga magazine which, strangely enough, was just purchased by IDG). I have a
monthly USA News column in there, along with the occasional reviews.
Anyway, despite the P90, laptop, VIC-20, and Vectrex in the apartment, the
Amiga to this day still gets 90% of my computing time. And as long as there are
magazines around, I'd love to keep writing for the machine.
…Denny
DA>a UK Amiga magazine which, strangely enough, was just purchased by IDG
Hmmmm. The plot thickens, eh?
Dickoux
> There is still one US Amiga magazine — Amazing Computing
Denny, Don't forget Scientific Amigan 🙂
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder
Lu,
Thanks for the heads-up. I didn't know Scientific Amigan was still around.
Cool!
There's also Amiga Game Zone, which is about to publish another issue. So there
are three, apparently.
Alas, though, none of them have the newsstand distribution AW did, so a lot of
unwired Amiga users aren't going to know there's anything left…
What is Scientific Amigan?
If it is availible, how's about a Phone Number?
Thanx,
Zeddock
Zeddock Miller
Denny,
It's ironic that AmigaWorld celebrated 10 years of the Amiga and then close
down. I'll bet you may know more than you can share, but I won't press you.
You've been a GREAT help to the Amiga Community, IMHO. Please don't leave the
Amiga , we need you.
I wish you the best and will hunt down the magazine where you write for next.
Patrick White
Why drive a Ford when you can drive a Porsche….AMIGA
<<It's ironic that AmigaWorld celebrated 10 years of the Amiga and then <<close
down.
I had the sneaky feeling when I got the 10yr issue (a full six months before
the true 10yr anniversary of the Amiga's release) that perhaps AW didn't think
they'd be around to celebrate the actual anniversary….
I guess I should pay more attention to those sneaky feelings…
– Barry Jarrett
careening around CIS on my Amiga!
Barry,
I had that same sneaky feeling when they assigned me that article so early. But
I immediately went into denial. Sigh…
Patrick,
>I'll bet you may know more than you can share
Nope. There's really not much to it — declining advertising revenues and a
shrinking subscription base due to the changes in the market. And with
Commodore liquidation in a perpetual "just two more weeks" cycle, I guess the
accountant types finally just gave up.
Thanks for the kind words. Don't worry, I definitely won't leave the Amiga
community. I still have my column for the euromag Amiga Computing, and I still
prefer my Amiga greatly to my clone. 🙂
If anyone else wants to pick up my column, I'd love to keep doing it. But last
time I read Amazing Computing they already had a DOS column…
..Denny
Denny:
>> AmigaWorld is closing down.
Bummer! 🙁 That's just more fuel for the "bad news" fire that makes whole
mess look worse every day. I wonder who's next on the "bye" list? Anyway,
thanks for your contributions to AmigaWorld. They were among the best.
Wayne
Wayne,
Thanks for the nice words about my contributions. AmigaWorld was the first
magazine I was ever published in, back in late 1987 when I was still in
college. Really hate to see it go.
And AmigaWorld was the LAST magazine I was published in – but that was 1991. I
also hate to see it go.
But gee, I guess I had to keep up my record, Denny. Now, the only magazine for
which I wrote and that is still in business, is Genealogical Computing. I sure
hope I don't jinx THEM.
—Betty
>And AmigaWorld was the LAST magazine I was published in – but that was >1991.
I also hate to see it go.
Yeh…It's all Betty's fault. Hey, and she owns an Amiga too. Yeh…It's all
here fault.
"Betty is a jinx, Betty is a jinx"
8^)…..
._ _ _ INTERNET: mshea@math.arizona.edu
| | |ichael _>hea COMPUSERVE: 76665,3360
And God Bless 'em for printing my FractalPro images on the February 95 cover!
Daniel,
You got your images in there just under the wire didn't you. I read the
apology for not giving you proper credit in the March Issue too.
._ _ _ INTERNET: mshea@math.arizona.edu
| | |ichael _>hea COMPUSERVE: 76665,3360
Funny, because AmigaWorld had done that article many months earlier and it got
delayed as the magazine got thinner and thinner until you could cut yourself on
it. I think they did a beautiful job on the FractalPro cover – some of the
best pics I've done yet and they used the best. I was aghast when they didn't
mention the program used for the cover pics and most of the pics in the article
itself – but the 'apology' was the best I could hope for. See the great review
of the FractalPro Image Library CDROM in Video Toaster User (the NEW home of
Amiga fans), March 1995, Page 61. Glad you liked the pics, Mike.
hey MIKE leave Betty Clay alone 🙂 she has helpped me out of more jams than I
can count I may be short old and yet I'll stick up BETTY!!!!!
haha
I like Betty, too – and obviously this message was intended for someone named
Mike …
hehe
(And I thought I'd kept it secret all these years!)
—Betty
Well, that puts one more big nail in the coffin. (One of the few things
that could be worse is for Motorola to announce that they will no longer
produce the 68030/40 and will not bring out the 060.)
If Amazing doesn't pick up the slack, then we are really going to be in
trouble. With no dealer network, if there is no magazines, then it will
be about impossible for the dealers who still are in the mail order
business, to reach customers. No customers, no sales, no nothing.
Well, this will probably help Amazing, actually. They'll pick up some
subscribers (I haven't read AC in years, but I plan to subscribe now), and they
should get a good influx of ads as well.
There's always a teensy bit of coverage/awareness of the Amiga platform in
Video Toaster User…
Looking for plusses…
Trent/ReAnimators
I am truly truly truly sorry to hear that. Both for me and for you. And for
everyone else. I hope you find some alternate column income.
Mr. Zombie – now 76375,1776 – no longer Warped
Tough news, Denny. I too enjoyed your columns! I knew they couldn't keep
on shrinking…
Trent/ReAnimators
Denny-
I just called AW's 1-800 subscription service number, and strangely enough
they've heard nothing about the ending of the magazine. I guess maybe the
people who handle the subscriptions – the guy I talked to sort of implied it's
a seperate company, but I didn't actually ask, though I guess maybe that's
standard in the magazine industry nowadays – said his supervisor was going to
give AW a call to see what's up.
Mr. Zombie – now 76375,1776 – Warped again?
Paul,
Yep, for the majority of magazines published by big publishing houses, there
are a couple of companies in Harlan, IA that handle subscription orders and
fulfillment…
(If you remember all the complaints about folks getting the wrong edition of
COMPUTE, it was actually those guys screwing up… We were one of the first
companies to go with a lot of targeted editions, and it confused the bejeezus
of out the fulfillment house.)
Of course, some companies still do things the old fashioned,
keep-in-touch-with-your-customers way… Just today I ordered a subscription
to Amazing Computing and the editor himself took my order. 🙂
…Denny
Geez… If the editor of Amazing himself to your order for the
subscription, that either means that they are waaaay ahead of deadline
this month, so he was helping man the phones for something to do, or the
subscription orders were coming in so fast that he was drafted to help
out, or they are really in bad shape and can't afford a clerk to answer
the phones….
Denny
Damn.
> Yep, for the majority of magazines published by big publishing houses,
> there are a couple of companies in Harlan, IA that handle subscription
> orders and fulfillment…
And I thought the nice young lady who called me three times last month to
remind me my subscription was overdue, and whom I finally re-uped with,
was an AW employee who really cared. So they are responsible for
FULFILLMENT eh? I won't hold my breathe too long for that orgasm.
I was a subscriber from the first ever issue to the last. I guess we sing
a course of Auld Lang Syne and move on. Amazing is a worthy team to take
the baton and continue, we should be happy they are still here for us. My
sub with them has some time yet to run fortunately, at least "two more
weeks". The demise of AmigaWorld is like seeing the flag run down though.
From a poem written in the deep south after Lee's surrender: "Fold that
flag, fold it sadly, though ten million wildly gladly swore it would
forever wave…now fold it to be seen no more."
Tom
alternate: jonest@hfsi.com
I never met a man I didn't like…Will Rogers
You broke my heart. My concern as that this is the definite first sign
of the true fall of the Amiga. I don't want to be glum but it looks like
"That's all folks" for the Amiga. I'll keep my Amiga until it's
ridiculous at any point to do so. I've also had problems obtaining
software. Software that's not even a year old is already unavailable
through most sources. What do we do now? The thought of having to by
a worthless MS-DOS/windows PC makes me want to puke.
Thanks,
Stuart
NO!:-(
Rats. I've really enjoyed your columns, and I hope you'll let us all know
where you end up Amigawise…
Urrrgh!
Thanks for the help, and Viva Amiga (?) !
Well I knew is was going to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately, it just
drives another nail in the Amiga's coffin. Now with no American Amiga
magazine for advertising, the third party developer's and mail order
companies will be hurting as well. So it won't be long until they abandon
the platform and move on to greener pastures as well. I just hate the
thought of having to go to a PC!!
// John (Warp 4040 & Emplant Quadra 840)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
The news about Amiga World really broke my heart. You mentioned something
about an Amiga news letter you were thinking about publishing if Amazing
Computing fell through. Why not publish anyway? I know I would subscribe.