1) the Apple Mac and MacOS (in it's various problems) have been around and continue to live in the face of overwhelming Windows competition... Mac games most of the times come out later than windows, but still sell profitably.
You know, I went into CompUSA one time to check on MacOS game software. They had all the games I would want, and they didn't have all of the Mac games. This arguement about no games or no software doesn't really float very well. How many Office applications does one need for biz apps to type a document and create a spreadsheet; an office suite along with Solitaire is adequate for the majority of Corporate America, and I know because I've provided tech support in Corporate America for several years. Most don't even know how to use MS-Office to its potential, and the majority only need a dumb terminal with downloaded apps and a network drive to save their work (but this is another thread all together).
2) The original Amiga 1000 sold a ton of machines before the "low cost" version came out (i.e. the A500) and was positioned very well as a business and creative home solution and it was priced well above the Apple's and IBMs of the time. It wasn't until Atari with the ST came out and started UNDERCUTTING them that they released the A500..
Yeah, I do recall that an A2000/A2500 was about $2000 when it first came out, and the A4000 was a bit more when it came out, and it along with the Video Toaster, helped to propel the platform until its current barely surviving state. So someone make a modern Video Toaster equivalent for AmigaOne (and compatibles) so when AmigaOS finally works on a G5, I'll have a good machine for video editting.
3) Apple must think there is a market still there on the low end too, to release a "new" low end machine..
So does Dell if they sale a low grade PC for $399 (after rebates, of course). So an A1200 would still sell well with an 040 or 060 processor.
4) Why did people buy Amiga software in the first place over the other machines out there? It probably wasn't the revolutionary market. You can have the best hardware in the world and it won't sell without software behind it.. The simple fact is that it sold because of what the software let the machine do. Small time developers who weren't writing for the platforms of the day were gravitating towards it.. This could happen again, if the OS can still generate some unique software.
It was simple, had good software (even though there wasn't a lot of software for the Amiga--same "not a lot of software" argument as often applied to MacOS), had a target markets (such as art and entertainment), it had true multitasking, lots of simultaneous colors on display, and some other advantages which Amiga owners know about.
5)Did you ever buy Amiga software in anywhere but a mail order or a place that sold software for other machines? Probably not.. There is a reason for this..
I bought my A1200 from a catalog because it was cheaper than going to the store to buy it. I did buy the software from my local Amiga dealer in Springfield, MO at the time. Then I went down to my hometown of Corpus Christi and spoke with the Amiga dealer there, who told me I got ripped off; I was not happy then.
I think people would look for an alternative platform that's different from what they use at work, if the software was unique enough in a solution..
My above comment about Corporate America is a good reply for this, too. Entire departments could still use an A1200/040 (or even Pentium3) for their work machine. I'd pick the A1200 because it boots faster than a P3 with Windows on it. Give them an A1200, a mouse, and an LCD monitor, and they have a computer workstation including keyboard. Would sure beat those dump door stop CPU tower hogs. I would have bought A1200's when I was IT manager at a company in Fort Worth had they still been manufactured at the time.
Actualy 3rd world countries could still use the A1200 computer. An A1200 with an 030 would still be cheap to manufacture for less than $200-$300, wouldn't it?
Also I think if AmigaOS ran on standard hardware, people might see it as a good alternative (provided the software support was there, which could happen over time). While people don't wanna change their hardware (that's why they may not be an A1) they are more likely to change their software if it works better..
Better software was one of the good points about Amiga. It's one of the reasons I bought an A1200.
