amiga potential 13 of december, 1998 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

If you have been following these stories, you are probably aware of Gateway computer’s purchase of the Amiga technology rights. In recent months there have been supposed leaks from the team working on the next generation of Amiga equipment. Whenever any product has as emotional a following as the Amiga community has for it’s beloved computer, there is always considerable rumor and speculation. Some of these rumors have even been discussed by some rather well known computer columnists. No doubt some of the substance being written about is true, and there is equally little doubt that the bulk of it is not.

Recently Mac the Knife of the MacWeek web site took a shot at predicting what a new Amiga system would look like based on the rumors he heard. Of course, that picture of the Amiga future was quickly refuted by Amiga Inc. staff. Whether any of what was written is true is not nearly as important as the fact that the mere thought of a new Amiga gets all technology buffs talking.

A year ago, I would have dismissed all of this chatter as meaningless, however. The Amiga, albeit an impressive computer ten years ago, is for all intensive purposes dead. Sure, you can browse over to the Amiga Forever web site and download a full Amiga emulator for your WinTel machine and run your old Amiga software. Yes, you can skip over to SoftWare Hut and still purchase an Amiga computer. There are still places that sell Amiga software and upgrades (although most Amiga publications spend their time these days reviewing software that was released years ago). Bottom line, with the exception of the remaining Amiga radicals out there, the platform is dead.

Or is it?

The computer industry climate has changed dramatically in the last year. In fact, it has changed just enough to give Amiga fans a small glimmer of hope. Microsoft is fending for it’s life in court, trying to keep the Feds from cracking the Redmond campus, potentially leaving part in Seattle, and the rest in crumbs all the way to Pensacola. Then there is Microsoft’s competition of Sun, IBM, Netscape/AOL, and Apple. All four of these players, for very different reasons, are looking stronger than ever. Sun is winning their dispute against Microsoft on the Java front, and seems to be pushing ahead building their strategic plan. IBM continues to quietly take over the corporate sector of Internet computing. Netscape/AOL just struck a deal that they hope will be a Microsoft killer (even though the true value of the merger escapes me, it still looks good on paper). And then there is Apple who has done nothing short of proving to the world that an independent OS computer can not only turn a profit, but thanks to iMac, can capture the imaginations of the world.

What does all of this have to do with Amiga? Well, everything and nothing, of course.

Everything because these companies are proving that not only can a computer company give a middle finger salute to Microsoft and live to tell about it, but they have shown such a salute can actually help your business. The remaining non-computer users out there are the group of people that not only want nothing to do with IRQ conflicts and DNS configurations, but they also want nothing to do with that rich one-man-monopoly. Today’s first time computer buyers resent Bill Gates and everything he stands for. Hence the competition’s sudden wave of power. When you add these points with the Federal court case, and suddenly this market is prime for some NEW competition.

Well, that is the ‘everything’. The ‘nothing’ relates to the substantial progress (or lack there of) by Gateway and company. The Amiga, for all intensive purposes, is still in the same spot that it was when Gateway purchased the technology. Certainly there is a team working on doing something with that Amiga technology. However, we have little to no idea what that something is. We have no idea of when we will see the results of their work, or whether those results will unveil a mass marketed consumer level computer. Gateway clearly has not been spending any sizable portion of their dollars on research and development for the technology. And I can not help but feel concerned that there is a strong possibility that I have seen my last commercial centered on a mass marketed personal computer based on Amiga technology.

Although I am cynical about the Amiga’s chances, there are few as hopeful of Gateway’s success with the technology as I. My hope is our friends working on the new generation Amiga recognize that the opportunity to catch the eye of the world is now. The market is already aware of other choices thanks to Apple’s brilliant introduction of the iMac. If potential shoppers take a second to consider a Macintosh, they would be considerably more likely to take another second to look at an even more impressive machine based on Amiga technology. Who knows how long this opportunity will remain. Perhaps in a year the Macintosh will be once again out of the public’s eye. Perhaps it will be so successful that the public will be reluctant to consider anything but a Mac or WinTel machine. With a potential breakup of Microsoft, perhaps the public will only consider a Mac. (Okay, I just threw that in there to make certain you were paying attention.)

My point is that the opportunity for a new player like the Amiga is today. Amiga history reads like a who’s who of blown opportunities. For those familiar with that history, imagine where the technology would be if the 1200 and 4000 were released instead of the 3000. (Supposedly the AGA chip set was ready.) Imagine a company in charge of the technology that focused on that technology and actually did something with it. Imagine what a successful and well-funded advertising campaign would have done for the Amiga.

None of this has happened yet. Commodore only released new Amiga’s when the company had no other choice. The countless organizations that have owned the technology since merely have tried to make a quick buck off of the loyal Amiga public. None of the Amiga owners have truly taken a chance on the technology, and I am left to wonder if anyone ever will.

Even today that Amiga technology is still something that amazes me. I set up an old Amiga 1000 in my guest bedroom as an email reader, small word processor, and game player. Well, I mainly did it for nostalgia. Still, I start that sucker up every so often with it’s whopping 512K of RAM and single floppy drive, and am amazed at what it can do. I swear the sound and animation on that little computer is still more impressive than the Pentium 450’s I install at work. Yes, it is even more impressive than the iMac. Sure, the animation has lost a lot of its edge, but for a computer built in 1985, the core technology behind it is absolutely outstanding. And the fact that the sound quality on that system is still more impressive than anything I have heard on my AWE sound card surely must mean something. (Not to mention the fact that the amazing sound takes up little or no CPU cycles.)

Any Amiga fan could write forever about how impressive the core technology is, even when put next to today’s consumer level machines. Anyone with significant Amiga experience would be a fool to refute the possibility such technology has for a next generation personal computer. But, potential is only that. Potential. Unless something is done with that technology while the opportunity for success is here, that potential will never be realized. It will remain locked in an Amiga 1000, playing animations and music while collecting dust, in my guest bedroom.