#Fat Lady!
96 messages in this thread
I would like to say something here before the wake begins and all the
nonesense on usenet goes into full tilt.
Let us try to be a bit different here. Let us try to wait until the fat
lady leaves the stage before we all cry in our beer, Dr. Pepper, or what
have you.
I think the people on CIS are of a higher caliber and can see the positive
side to all of this. I may well be wrong and it is "over". Then again,
I could be right and there is some hope for the Amiga computer.
So here it is. Liquidation of assets has the possibility of meaning
someone picking up the technology without picking up Commodore's debt.
Something that any perspective buyer would _want_ to avoid. Commodore
publically stated they were over 140 million in debt, many people believe
the debt to be much larger. If this is true, no one would buy Commodore
with it's debt load. It just wouldn't make sense when it was clear they
were a sinking ship.
Doing it this way allows the 'purchaser' of the technology to get it with
no debt-load.
It is not quite over yet… lets try to look for the silver lining for a
bit longer ok?
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark-
I am deeply insulted. I, for one, would never EVER cry in my Dr. Pepper.
Why, the very idea makes me sick. I demand that you apologize
IMMEDIATELY. This kind of crass allegation cannot be allowed to stand in
a public forum such as CIS. I don't even DRINK Dr. Pepper, and if I did I
STILL wouldn't cry in it.
Paul – Minus Pins!
Hehe.. your not a pepper then?
Sigh.. I am a pepper.. wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?
Drink Dr. Pepper…
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
I'm a pepper! And it doesn't taste any better with tears in it! 🙂
Prune juice, yuch… 🙂
I'm a diet pepsi man myself…
Except warm Dr. Pepper does taste pretty good on those cold days!
(I don't drink coffee or tea)
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Retreat, carbon-based life forms!
— from a Mountain Dew-based life form.
I've been to partake of the Dew every once in awhile myself.
That is, when I need a caffeine/sugar jolt! 🙂
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Good taste, tastes good!
Diet Pepsi here, 12 per day
Today is thirteen though 🙂
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
Yah, I used to shoot those down myself. Not 12, but maybe 5 or 6. <g>
Lost the habit a while ago, though, and now they taste awful. Dod they
change the recipe or something?
Paul – Minus Pins!
I thought I was going nuts with the taste change thing. Addicts like us
are very sensitive to "cutting the product" 🙂
My spies in PepsiCo say they only changed the storage containers, but it
only happened when federalis poked around some of the independant bottling
companies. Was it done on the demand for chemical content?
Or was it just coincidence?
Hmmmm…..
I could of swore I saw burlap sacks from Columbia 🙂
Hmmmmm…..
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
Thta's about how much I drink of Diet Pepsi too!
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
My Corona got warm while I was reading all the bad news.
But I think I will drink it after all.
-Vree in Vigina.
Sorry, but when I'm down and out IBC Root Beer is the way I go!
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Clap On! <clap clap> Clap Off! <clap cla{%& NO CARRIER
Umm what is a Dr Pepper? (I think it's drink but is it another cola?)
I agree with your summing up – there's an excellent chip set and some
great work which would save some company a lot of R&D.
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder
LB >>Umm what is a Dr Pepper? (I think it's drink but is it another
cola?)<<
Urr… it is a carbonated soft drink, and it is a blackish color, but cola
drinks use a mix of orange, lemon, & cinnamon as the flavor base. No one
knows what is use for Dr Pepper, but there was a theory involving prunes.
Ron.
– ap'ing with AP. (Eagles may fly, but weasels aren't sucked
into jet engines.)
re: Dr. Pepper and prunes: anyone know the original name of the concoction
that later became known as CocaCola?
Answer: Carbonated Prune Juice. Good thing they changed the name. God only
knows why CBM didn't call Amiga the C512, guess noone thought of it.
Oklahoma City, OK
And some blue smoke fromm CPU's is in it too!
Only last week, I visited the Dr. Pepper Museum at the place where it was
first made, in Waco, TX. They assured us that no part of prunes was ever
used in Dr. Pepper.
—Betty
BC >>Only last week, I visited the Dr. Pepper Museum at the place where it
was first made, in Waco, TX. They assured us that no part of prunes was
ever used in Dr. Pepper.<<
Yes, but did they tell you want was used???
Ron.
– ap'ing with AP. (Eagles may fly, but weasels aren't sucked
into jet engines.)
>> Umm what is a Dr Pepper? (I think it's drink but is it another cola?)
Doctor Pepper… So misunderstood…
> Doctor Pepper… So misunderstood…
While a teenager in 1980 my church youth group stayed in a beach home which had
not seen much life since the early 60's.
I found many old "Life" magazines from that era which had Dr Pepper ads which
proudly stated that Dr Pepper was now available in stores and no longer had to
be mail ordered!
How times change!
—- Andrew
Unlike the Amiga! <G,r,&d>
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Is it significant that my spell checker doesn't know "Quit"?
I,m willing to wait to see the out come but how long do you think
this will be. It took a couple of weeks of rumors before this
came out, now how long before we find out who buys what and what will they
do with it. not only do I feel sorry for the amiga users out
there, especially those without a modem, but I really feel sorry for
Newtek, GVP and all the other companies that put their neck on
the line for the amiga. Here is a prediction-
sooner or later you will see the things that we liked about the amiga
being done on the ibm and macs and only we will know that it came from
the amiga the rest will think it's new.
but seriously how long do you think until we find out who gets what
and what are their plans.
Maybe we can buy a small tactical nuke from North Korea and hope the new
management at C= will put the resulting insurance money to good use….
What's the name of that movie where the guy is riding the bomb as
it was being drop from the plane…does ali like heights.
Well, if we can't get enough $upport from our fellow Amiga FANatics, we could
go on the cheap and hire a disgrunted ex-mailman, who happens to be one of the
few remaining Koresh clan, and tell him the Anti-christ is a top C= exec and a
devout atheist with a passion for new gun control laws…
Sorry… wouldn't work, I heard one of the top C= exec is his
father.
It was Doctor Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The
Bomb.
… or something along those lines.
– dan
Dr. Strangelove.
The movie was "Dr. Strangelove or how I learned to stop worring and love
the bomb". The guy was Tennessee Williams, I think. Also stared the late
Peter Sellers.
Why am I talking about movies? I must still be in shock. My 210mg HD
crashed about 9 months ago, I guess my warrinty isn't much help any more.
Steve Thompson –> AutoPilot
"The guy was Tennessee Williams"
Ah. No. Wrong. By a long shot.
The actor riding the bomb down was Slim Pickens, one of the finest character
actors to ever hit Hollywood. He was also in "Blazing Saddles", "The [original]
Getaway" and a lot of other great movies where he left an indelible impression.
Jerry
Steve,
The actor who rode the bomb was Slim Pickins, best known for westerns.
Mark A. Freese
Nope! wrong…it was Slim Pickins, he also thought that the survival kit would
be useful in Las Vagus for a week end!
and it was the CRM that self distructed…
Slim liked to ware his white hat in to battle, and don't for get Sgt,
BatGaunno…who respected the Coke-a-Cola company.
🙂
Lee@Radiace Softwre
The guy was Slim Pickens. Tennessee Williams is the palywright who is
obsessed with wacko southern belles who think the only thing in life is
getting a man, but don't have a clue how to do it…
wmc – via Autopilot!
I think the guy was Slim Pickens. Several of my favorite roles in that
film were played by Sellers!
Tennesee Williams? Try Slim Pickens (slightly deader than C=). He got the part
because Peter Sellers (even deader) hurt his leg and couldn't ride the bomb.
-Vree in VA
Many will tell you "Dr. Strangelove"… us younger pups will say
"Cinemaware's SDI"! <g,r&d>
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Clap On! <clap clap> Clap Off! <clap cla{%& NO CARRIER
"Dr. Strangeglove"
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Charles,
>I,m willing to wait to see the out come. . .
Well actually we no other choice. But then again if anyone feels like
panicking and selling me their A4000 for 10 cents on the dollor I'm ready!
😉
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
I'd take one too! Any one want to sell me one?
-Tom-
I'll take an A3000 or an A4000/040 myself if wnyone wants to sell it
cheap!
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
I second that! anyone wishing to sell their A3000 or A4000 at a cheap
price come on with it. If prices start dropping on hardware & software
this could turn out to be a good thing.
What a vulture I am.
Here's an idea – maybe we could all visit the NewTek area of the Amigavendor
forum and barrage them with requests to buy, at a minimum, C='s tech
copywrites. Logic would tend to indicate that they are probably already
considering this, yes?
Also, is anyone out their planning a 12-step program (for worst- case senarios,
like no more Amiga technology EVER). Some people are starting to show signs of
depression, artificial elation and denial. I'm kind of into the denial thing
right now (maybe Biill Gates will buy Amiga from C= and put all peecee profits
into Amiga R&D and build us all neat Amiga 6000s – but it can't just stop NOW!
IT CAN'T!)
What Liquidation? What are you guys talking about? <G>
-Tom-
We all got really p*ssed at C= execs and liquidated them in a huge vat of acid
(g).
Seriously, you must know by now. –> have a hanky ready and look around if not.
I guess I'm a Vulture too…
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
>I'll take an A3000 or an A4000/040 myself if wnyone wants to sell it
cheap!
Put me on that list too, I'll take anyone's 3000T or 4000/40 just call me.
Guess the liquidators will be selling them for next to nothing eventually
anyway though, so it doesn't matter I'll scarf up one then. I suggest the
4000 with an Emplant and Jim's 68060 multi processor board is a way to go
for anyone wanting to stay in Amigas a while longer. I hope to see it.
Tom
Oklahoma City, OK
Just add a good graphics card and you've got a dream machine for a couple
years!
Paul – Minus Pins!
Oh, yeah, right – NOW that the company is out of business EVERYBODY wants to
buy an Amiga… I think some of C='s business sense has worn off on us, guys.
Well, we could always hope that Newtek buys it up. It would be in their best
interests, after all. There is some poetic justice to this situation. Centaur
FINALLY released the video processor module just in time for Commodore to go
belly up! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kinda makes up for all those months of waiting,
doesn't it? Hmmm, wonder if there will be a price drop on those modules… 🙂
>>Well, we could always hope that Newtek buys it up. It would be in their
>>best interests, after all.
I don't think that is correct. I'll admit it depends somewhat on the
price, but NewTek has no means to produce the chips, board, cases etc to
manufacture complete machines. Their assessment will lead them to either:
Sell NewTek to a Sony/JVC/Panasonic as a video do-dad company
OR
Use the money to move to a different platform.
wmc – via Autopilot!
She might not be singing yet, but she sure has been writing the song. I
haven't given up hope, and would like to see a white knight come along to
save the poor Amiga, but we will just have to wait and see if this faery
tale will come true. Even if not, I figure my 4000 has a couple of good
years left in her. By then, we should know how the Power PC will do as an
alternative platform.
// John (Speeding on the Information Superhighway)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
No, I'd definately say the Fat Lady has sung. Whether she has an encore
or not remains to be seen. (Maybe a sequel or two as well!)
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Clap On! <clap clap> Clap Off! <clap cla{%& NO CARRIER
REMEMBER CHRYSLER CORP! (Hey, I can dream, can't I?) By the way, put me down
for one of those 4000's! What's going to happen to AmigaWorld mag?
I asked Amigaworld just what they would do:
>You can rest assured that AmigaWorld will continue to be publish
>and will support the Amiga market well into the future. Commodore's
>financial problems will have little impact on AmigaWorld, since
>we've traditionally relied on 3rd party developers, not Commodore,
> for most of the magazine's content.
>Thank you for your interest in AmigaWorld and your support.
>Tim Walsh, Senior Editor
Richard -> AutoPilot on the A1000
Well, piece of good news number 1.
Anyone shooting for number 2?
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Clap On! <clap clap> Clap Off! <clap cla{%& NO CARRIER
Chris,
That's bad news. You don't know how to read publobabble. There won't be
any third party developers of note by the end of the year left doing
anything other than bug fix updates and many will be gone to other
platforms by then. All that AmigWorld statement did is get AW off the hook
and 3rd party developer on the hook for AW's operations cease when it
comes (I predict no later than March, next year).
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne, you are such a pessimist. You seem to get some perverse pleasure
out of shooting anyone down with any type of optimism. Is your amiga any
less usable today than it was last week? Sure spare parts will dry up
sooner or later, so will 3rd party vendors. But why panic now…hell it
hasn't even been decided(publicly) what will become of all the assets of
CEI. While I doubt therewill ever be any new amigas, it doesn't make the
current crop useless.
As far as AmigaWorld and Amazing computing, look at Run magazine, it
lasted at least a decade after the demise of PET and C64's. The amigas in
the world are a force that is doing some unique work RIGHT NOW, that has
not changed and until some other platform can offer what the Amiga can at
the same price range the used and aftermarket still has some blosseming to
do.
Do you think Seaquest and Babylon 5 are going off the air this week?
They have need for faster, more powerful amigas, can they change their
production over to Macs or Indys in the next month, I don't think so. If
Jim Drew still decides to release his multi 060 board, I think he will
sell oddles of them regardles of wether C= is alive or dead.
I think over the next few months we will see a whole bunch of new
exciting peripherals for the amiga, as companys rush their current
development project to market, that will increase its productivity
manyfold.
Sure the liqudation is bad news but it is not the end of the Amigas
use. I have canceled my plans to buy a 4000 or 4000T, but my souped up
2000 will provide for me all the tools I need (with the help of the
aftermarket for at least a couple of years. And still be FUN to use.
Let's just wait a little while before we bury the machine and see what
happens.
<getting off soapbox>
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
You, and I, will need to hunt down a A3000/4000 in order to use the
proposed UU mutli 060 card.
Stephen Bailey
Sawyer & Bailey Film & Video CIS # 72773,2451
Stephen, from what Jim says the multi 060 card will not physical fit in a
3000, but he did not say about a 3000T!
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
I thought he said it would not fit in a 3000 as a CPU slot card. That is
why he made it a Zorro card. Am I incorrect?
..DonovaN
I think Jim said that the 060 board wouldn't fit in the processor slot of
an A3000. It's supposed to be a Zoro III card, and I think those slots are
the same on all 3000's and 4000's.
If this board comes to market I'll be up grading from my current souped up
A2000 also.
I think most of the other platform guys don't realize, I don't want to
have to buy another computer twice a year just to stay on the cutting
edge. But I do want to be on the cutting edge :^)
….John
John,
>>I think most of the other platform guys don't realize, I don't want to
>>have to buy another computer twice a year just to stay on the cutting
>>edge. But I do want to be on the cutting edge :^)
I have had my 030 2000 for 6 long years and it still amazes my Dos friends
with the speed of screen updates, and general computing abilities.
I actually had a friend a few months ago that bought a 50 mhz
486/windoz/SVGA ect ect. that heard I was a computer nut come over for
some help and general intructions, after me putting the Amy through it's
paces he made the remark about him buying outdated technology!
…Steve
CBM: The end of an era (or is that error?)
Steve –
I agree 100%, was just about to say somethin' to Wayne, but you steped
in nicely.
Wayne will probably try to cut ya down just like he has everything and
everyone else around here. This is the only subject the fellow has be
negative on.
OnLine since 1982
Roy Pahnke – Casper WY
>>Is your amiga any less usable today than it was last week?
Absolutely. My Amigas are what my business is based on. A platform that
is dead-ended cannot grow with the business. And, as an asset for
assessing the value of the company, those Amigas just became nearly
worthless, so that part of the business plan that details the equipment
trurn-over and upgrade now has to be reworked from the perspective that
there will be no income from sale of Amigas when equipement upgrade is
planned. Additionally, several products that I had been tangentially
involve in that were planned to show up in QTR4 this year, and were
developed with the "power/professional user" in mind will probably be
scrapped.
So the professional value and utility of the machine has definityl been
degraded. As a hobbyist machine, it won't degrade until it breaks. But
that is not my use for it. My hobby machine has wings and a prop…
As for the magazines, aren't you forgetting the relative size of the
c64/pet user base as compared to the Amiga user base? I think you better
revisit the numbers and start thinking like a business person who has to
profit from the Amiga instead of use it. Now, in that head and
considering the nmumbers, how much longer do you suppose there is a decent
profit/effor ratio in the Amiga? And remember, proefessional users need
support, near real-time. You won't get that from garage/afte day job
developers. So who is left to spend money on Amiga applications? All
those 500 owners still running 1.2 and 1.3?
And as for Amblin, etc. They don't need the Amiga. They need lightwave.
They have the Raptor, screamernet and I'd be willing to bet Mr. Hastings
has already prototyped some non-Amiga based Lightwave for just this
reason.
wmc – via Autopilot!
OOOHH YEAAA! well if it was up to you seaquest would have been
canceled and charlton heston and roy scheider would have been
banging on your door….heston would probably have a flashback and
you'd be like that guy who the horses ran over.
Wayne,
You are telling me that there are things you can not do now that you
could do last week? You'll have to prove that to me.
The demise of C= will cause imedeate constermation among people who
SELL the amiga. But the vast majarity of Amiga owners use the amiga for
profits other than selling them, THEY USE THEM, and will continue to use
them.
Please get off this negativity. What good is it doing? Sure it is Bad
news, everyone knows this but we don't need you rubbing it in.
This is not intended as a flame, but I'm sick and d#$% tired of all
this doom and gloom. I have a brain and I know full well what the
consequences may be of this liquidation. Let just wait and see. 4-5
months from now we should all know where we stand.
<G>
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
Steve-
If you'd read Wayne's post you wouldn't have written what you did. He
did not talk about current capabilities, he talked about FUTURE growth,
migration patterns, and depreciation. All legitimate concerns.
Furthermore, he has a right to think and say what he wishes. And
finally, this forum is filled with optimism, people saying Amigas are
still perfectly good – true in very many ways – saying that it will be
picked up, etc. There's nothing wrong with a little balance.
You act as though Wayne would somehow be =HAPPY= if everything really
went to hell. I -know- I speak for him, as well as pretty much evryone
out there, myself and you included, when I say this is not true.
Paul – Minus Pins!
Paul,
Wayne was assuming the Amiga is a dead end. I disagree with that
viewpoint at this point in time (6 months from now I may change my tune).
Look at all the new exciting product announcements in the last 60 days,
and rumor of more in the pipeline! Sure if you make your living selling
the Amiga, your in hot water right now, but the vast majority of us can
bide our time for a couple of months before we leap to another platform
and declare the amiga a waste of money. With all the rumors flying and
very few facts I see little point in all the negativity.
He has every right to express his viewpoints (as do I). I have no
delusions as to the possible future of the Amiga, but will remain as
optomistic as I can. I have cancelled my decision to purchase a 4000 for
the time being but that doesn't mean I am going run out and buy a powerMac
instead. Wayne has been a long time member of CIS and I respect his
opinion on a number of topics discussed here in the last few years, but
anybody can predict doom and gloom and frankly I'm tired of hearing it.
…Steve
CBM: The end of an era (or is that error?)
Gee, this sounds like the same lecture I got when I mentioned in January
that C= would probably be out of business by the end of the year….
You don't have a good feel for business either. A good business person is
always operating 5-6 months ahead of the calendar. That means dealing
heavily in potential in order to have a strategy and be able to follow it
fairly closely. Many times the potential promised for 5-6 months out can
be utilized more fully if certain arrangements get made in the present.
When the potential is cut off as it has been here (AAA, DSP, 3.x/4.x,
RISC, etc etc) then money spent to day to prepare for that event is
wasted. Time spent is wasted. And because some useful
equipment/device/program was not aqcuired as part of the sacrifce to
prepare for even greater potential down the road, today your machine is in
effect less useable with no compensating pay-off downstream. And the fact
the corrective action (selling some items to 'reconfigure') is now ALSO a
lesser options exist (for some items, the market has just become Amiga
hold outs, not the public in general who might otherwise have been
convinced that an Amiga could be a good long term path…) The overall
value functionally, monitarily and potentially took a mjor nose dive
Friday afternoon.
For home users, or businesses that have no plan and only think about the
minute, well, theres no rush as long as the machine does not break.
Remember, my entire set of messages addresses the BUSINESS user whose
concrete (preferably written) plan calls for growth and who had committed
to try to make it (against a lot of advice from others including former
Amiga users) using the Amiga as the cornerstone of a business. Many of my
cusotmers were hard sells becuase they have to accept stuff in vairous
forms from me. Not one has an Amiga. Convincing them that was not a
problem was not easy. Now that C= bellied up, that sell is going to be no
easier. Also, having to maintian compatibility with their platform formats
will now be much harder since the companies that are teh main format
converters also do PC/MAC/SGI/Unix products. When push comes to shove, do
you thing any of these devleopers is going to forgo/stall a release on
any of these other platforms to do an Amiga version? I doubt it. That
will be something that is done 'time permitting'. And at the rate the
other platforms are diving into video, time permits less and less.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
in that respect, you're right on the mark, although I must question you
having only a six month business plan. You should consider adding longer
timelines, if possible.
The Four Seasons of Southern California:
Fire, Flood, Earthquake, and Riot.
Wayne,
I agree with 98% of what you have said. The big point that I am trying
to make is: for most of us the Amiga is not the cornerstone of our
business, it is a tool we use in order to conduct our business more
professionally. I may be a little different than most, I definetly depend
on my amiga for work, but it is not video or animation based, it is just
general computing stuff, my most used program is superbase, a word
prcessor ect. I do PLAY with the graphics, sound and animation. And that
is fun.
For me the entire Amiga market could evaporate off the face of the
earth and I would still be productively using my machine until it broke.
I DO depend on it to do the job it does though and it is not a hobby.
Your posts (as well as John Foust's) come across as excessively
negative, and it takes no imagination to run around and declare the sky is
falling. All the facts are not in yet, much of what has been said (even
by people who should be in the know) are rumors and guesses as to what is
going on. From the few facts that have presented themselves I do BELIEVE
something fishy is going with Commodore International, and we may not see
the end of the Amiga yet. BUT I am prepared for the worst and will make
my plans accordingly as the smoke clears and the dust settles. Just don't
start shoveling dirt on the Amiga yet.
…Steve
CBM: The end of an era (or is that error?)
Softlogic claims that they will be doing real development till the profits die.
According to them, their Atari market is far worse off than the Amiga, and the
Atari is still in production. (If you can call their sales levels production.)
Most likely, after the current pipeline stuff is released, the new releases
will be ports where original development costs will be borne by other machines.
Well, if next month's copy show up, and it has subscription cards as well,
it may hang around for awhile… but it's demise would also be inevitable.
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Clap On! <clap clap> Clap Off! <clap cla{%& NO CARRIER
A government bail-out…now THAT'S what we need…
The AmigaWorld newsletter?
Chrysler's "White Knight" was the US Government and Lee Iacocca (sp?). I
don't think we can expect them to help out our poor Amiga. As far as
AmigaWorld, I imagine they will stay in it as long as the magazine is
making a profit. How long that will be is anyone's guess.
// John (Speeding on the Information Superhighway)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
Chrysler didn't liquidate, they made things vital to the government
(engines for battle tanks, light tanks, and aricraft) were an American
corporation and got governemt loans. They also did not declare
liquidation (which is even worse the a bankruptcy under Chapter 11 that I
don't believe Chrysler ever did) and thier impact on unemployment would
have been considerable. There is not one shred of similarity to the C=
situation.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Chrysler is also a US company. CIL/CEL are incorporated in the Bahamas.
Lighten up, Wayne. It was a joke… Folks, life will go on.
I don't remember what I said, or to what, but there are not scorch marks
here so whatever it was it wasn't a flame…
wmc – via Autopilot!
I seriously hope that it isn't over!
However, I'm pretty depressed about the whole thing…
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
I would like to share the hope along with you, but lets look at all of the
story.
One of the reasons C= is dead, is because they couldn't manage to sell the
Amiga. While we all know the Amiga is a great machine, and has the potential
to be a fantastic machine, would a party picking up a machine from a dying
company give the public any more confidence in it?
It would also have to be a pretty good sized company, to even try to
manufacture and market the computer. How would they interest developers, beyond
the ones whose products are already available, and weren't enough to keep us
afloat?
additionally, the market is getting tighter. With the release of Pentium, and
the Power PC chips, I think C= knew the writing was on the wall. If anything
gets salvaged, it might be the game system, or the graphics chip technology.
Even then it is likely to be for a dedicated video workstation, or game only
machine.
If C= had simply gotten in trouble due to bad investments, it would be one
thing, but I can't see an Amiga produced by somebody else getting any more
respect by the media, and developers, than it did while owened by C=.
Then again who would be willing to step in? Most companies with any real
interest in fielding a computer, are already selling computers. Sony gets
mentioned from time to time. But do the really want to buck the trend?
I fear the future is Windoze and Bill Gates….
Computing used to be so much fun….. <Sigh>
One positive aspect of your argument is that BECAUSE no one is really
interested (I think some may think otherwise), there will be fewer bidders when
C= is taken to the chopping block. Fewer bidders means lower auction prices,
right? Thereby greatly increasiing the chances that a 'friendly' organization
with an interest in continuing the Amiga line could acquire the necessary
patents/copyrights/equipment.
I don't think so. If the company could have been aquired in tact without
the debt at such high levels, AND the AAA was done, included 24 bit basic
display modes, 16 bit stereo audio, full mem protected mutli-tasking, and
the move to RISC was through prototype, then it might have been an
attractive propostion to build on the existing nich market and "be there"
in the midst of the ever-quickenin DTV/MM revolution.
However, none of that stuff was imminent, just waiting for financing to go
to production, the company has been dissassembled arlready, has virtually
no developer support in real-world terms and an existing technology which
at this stage in its life is rather ho-hum.
The only possible part of the technolgy I see anyone being interested in
is CD32 and possibley only Phllips would be interested from the view of
insuring a competitor stays dead.
wmc – via Autopilot!
>>…only Phllips would be interested…<<
I doubt it. He's busy cutting vinyl signs with his Amiga. Philips probably
isn't interested either.
CBM/UK, CBM/CANADA, however, might be.
Heheheehe
Damn, and all this time I thought Larry would fix things for us :^)
Geeze, Mark, I'm still waiting for Commodore to release that automatic
phone answering device they announced for the 1000! Can't get more
optimistic than that! 😉
Mark,
sacrilege! Adding impure liquids to beer?!!! Never!
However, you are quite correct. We'll have to wait and see
who/what/where the resources go after the liquidation.
The Four Seasons of Southern California:
Fire, Flood, Earthquake, and Riot.
Mark,
You are looking at this as an interested, partial observer. Now look at
it from and impersonal "is there a way to make money" perspective of a
potential buyer.
What were the only remaining assets? The knowledge base. That is in the
heads of the technical guys and gals, and the CATs people. C= was very
good about dismantling the tech devlopement and support function FIRST. It
does no good to buy technology with very limited market window, (as is all
computer tech) when you have spend a year figuring out just how to
use/build/advance the stuff. Add to that the apparent very limitee appeal
of the technology, and you'd never convince CFO, BOD, stockholders in your
corp that this was a low risk, high profit potential for your company.
The Amiga is dead. No amount of goodwill can change that. Only millions
of dollars can, and it is a bad investment that no one with that kind of
money will be crazy enough to make. So let it go and enjoy finding out
about the Windows/NT/Mac/PPC whatever Scala fallback the guys in R&D have
been secretly playing with over the next few weeks.
wmc – via Autopilot!
You know Mark, you may have something here. When Amiga is mentioned
people usually go, "So who makes that?" When Commodore is mentioned they
usually get that pity look in thier eyes and a snicker behind our back.
No one knows about the Amy, so why could it not be passed of as a new
platform to the generally uninformed public from someone other than C=.
Trent
"If in doubt, empty the magazine"