Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse  (Read 7445 times)

Description:

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« on: June 06, 2005, 12:51:46 PM »
Amigaworld has posted their 20 questions with Alan Redhouse on the subject of the future of the AmigaOne motherboard.  Fairly straight-forward.

You can read it here
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2005, 01:10:07 PM »
First and foremost, thanks to the guys at Amigaworld and Alan himself for taking the time to assemble the questions and responses.

Personally speaking though, I don't see anything that's surprising.  It can (for me) be summed up as follows;

1) The AmigaOne has no future as there's no one left to buy the product.  There will be no more new AmigaOne designs.
2) Alan and crew wish they'd never taken the project in the first place. (as stated by the comment that they'd have been better off to pay the A1 owners $500 each than to create the mobo)
3) They are only building motherboards when they want because everything has devolved to "a hobby" and they have no ability to make money from it.
4) Alan apparently blames the dealers for a great deal of the current situation, per the numerous references to "not being paid by the dealers".
5) There are no plans to support the repair issues, as Alan doesn't really (apparently) accept that there ARE any hardware repair issues.  The famous UDMA bug isn't a problem, it's your fault for not running "a $3 USB hub".

Curiously missing is any real confirmation of what we all already know (the apparent death of MAI).  I know these questions were written months ago, but now, even more questions exist.

In the end, with a great amount of respect and thanks for "sticking it out", it just sounds like they jumped naked into cold deep water (well over their heads) and just couldn't get their business-related ducks in a row fast enough to stop the shrinking Amiga market from falling out from under their feet.

In short -- and strictly in my personal interpretation of this interview -- the days of Eyetech are coming to an end, and the only way that OS4 will survive is to be ported to a supported hardware platform (such as the Mac) the way that Yellow Dog Linux was.  I'm all for it.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2005, 01:56:29 PM »
I'm not "sure" of anything.  As you conveniently fail to realize, I did say "apparent death", because by all appearances, MAI is dead.

Quote
And how can Hyperion/Amiga Inc. support OS4 on a platform (Mac) when they'd have to hack it to make it work?

How does Yellow Dog Linux support their product on a Mac, when they had to hack it to make it work?  

It wasn't until after YDL was working that it gained ANY measure of acceptance by Apple themselves.  Likewise, if porting AmigaOS4 to the Mac were done and Apple saw that they could sell 2000 additional devices, they'd be ok with that.  Hyperion simply couldn't expect Apple's blessing until after they can prove the concept.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2005, 02:12:13 PM »
Of course all of this about the Mac is subject to the pending expected announcement today that Apple is going with Intel.

Please note that no one has said that Apple is going x86.  Intel might simply start building PPC chips as well, since there is a hell of a lot of competition in the x86 world.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2005, 02:22:30 PM »
@merl,

Thank you.

Quote
We are "Amiga Enthusiasts" nothing more, not now - not ever will we be a thriving market place and more importantly a healthy community.

That's fine, and dandy even.  The problem is that there are those who want to demand to treat the AmigaOne (and the Pegasos) as "the potential savior of the universe".  If it's a hobby, and if everyone will simply compromise and treat it as such, the idea of getting so upset over things would become much much less prevalent.

It's been confirmed folks, the Amiga is just a hobby.  Now that the AmigaOne issue has been officially settled (with Alan's interview) can we please get back to just enjoying the Amigas we have (the classics as well as the AmigaOnes and Pegasos boxes) rather than pretending that everything new is so critically important to the success of the platform?

Just a reminder that the classic Amigas are still here folks.  They've just been shoved into the corner by the zealots clamoring for something new.  Let's take a step back, get our breath, then get back to what matters, and that is enjoying whatever we've got without all the political stupidity.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2005, 05:28:50 PM »
Quote
In this day and age what spec will catch the eye of the user.

To their credit, this is one thing that Amiga Inc understood but ignored.  The correct answer is "none".

People who buy machines these days (game, servers, or desktop) don't care what hardware it's running.  They simply care that it works and does the exact job that they want it to with a minimum of fuss.  Good examples of this include the XBox, PS2, Tivo, and others.  

If Amiga Inc could have built a box that I could buy, bring home, plug in and have it "just work", they might have stood a chance.  Instead, they went with a closed-end, outdated, and expensive PPC solution that got us nowhere, even FIVE YEARS LATER.  (I tried to explain this in 2001 and was kicked out of their little club, but hey, at least several good people's lives got ruined in the meantime)

The future is the same as it always was.  The classic platform.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2005, 05:37:13 PM »
Quote
Was not a personal attack against Alan Redhouse.

I beg to differ, as would most people here.

I'm not AT ALL suggesting that Alan didn't play a pivotal role in the problems here, but coming out in a public forum saying that he should just "go away and die" (paraphrasing) is, in fact, a personal attack.  

I'm NOT suggesting that we should kiss anyone's a*s or even to sweep things under the rug.  There are (and have been) MAJOR problems with their chosen direction for the Amiga platform, but direct personal attacks on Alan himself (who did apparently try to succeed despite all odds) or anyone else is simply bad form.

If you wanted to say "Eyetech sucks" or "Hyperion blows" or even "Genesi sucks", that's fine as long as you share with it real reasons for your opinion, but saying "Alan sucks" is a personal attack.

I can't believe that I would need to explain the difference :-)

Wayne

Note: Edited by Ltstanfo on 060805. Reason... Language
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2005, 08:30:14 PM »
@Unisys

Hi Mr. Paul Gadd.  You could have simply used your original account rather than violating the terms of service and creating a new account.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2005, 08:54:13 PM »
Not according to the management screen it's not.  That doesn't give you the right to ignore the posted rules though.  I've confirmed your account works, but if you don't change the e-mail address and your signature immediately, I will begin actively banning you again for trolling and violating the TOS.
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2005, 06:34:30 PM »
Paul,

We all know what's going on.  We all know the truth of the situation.  There is simply no point whatsoever to standing on top of the corpse and beating your chest as though you've won some amazing prize for pointing out the obvious.

In short, let's just get back to enjoying our hobby and forget about all the strife caught by all this sillyness and feudalism.  We're all "Amiga Enthusiasts" (A term I greatly prefer to "Amigan").  End of story, so go.  Enthuse..

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2005, 10:12:20 PM »
@seehund.

It'd be nice if you read what I posted prior to your post.  There is no point in "I told you so" at this junction.

Wayne
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2005, 04:41:10 PM »
Quote
I'd wager they make MOST of their money on it.
Actually?  No.  Apple make far more money on their ancillary products such as the iPod and music service than they do on Macs themselves.  I'm not suggesting Apple make NO profit on the mac, simply not "most of it".
 

Offline SystemTopic starter

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2003
  • Posts: 199
    • Show all replies
    • http://amiga.org
Re: 20 Questions with Alan Redhouse
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2005, 02:39:01 PM »
"single largest", yes, but 54% of their income comes  from the ipod, music service and "other".  The sale of OSX Tiger this last few months certainly helped to swing that number.  My point, and I guess we both have a point, is that the iMac is no longer providing the majority of their income.

That being said, I expect the x86 mac to violently sway those figures the other direction on it's introduction next year for at least one or two quarters (depending on price).

The scary thing now is whether mac hardware sales will survive the next few quarters waiting on the x86 mac to arrive.  No one wants to buy a product that Jobs declared both slow, underpowered, and dead-ended.  (Maybe Eyetech and Genesi could have taken the hint there as well).

Wayne