CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[Darrin]

Damn you are a nasty person so no, that is not correct.

Actually I'm a very nice person.  Ask anybody who has met me.  Probably because I'm an honest person and honesty is something you appear to know very little about.

So, what YOU said and what I interpreted from it is absolutely correct.

[Darrin]

I agree....all this bickering is stupid, but maybe necessary so we can see/discuss how things are/could work out.

You know how.  Stop the lies and just bugger off and sell you Linux PCs without the Amiga logo.

[Darrin]

Also there's one last thing I must correct you here about CUSA and that is, Barry DOES ship different power PSUs for the different required specs. He has acknowledged this was a mistake with the specs page they published as he has confirmed here, so you/others who have ordered the Amiga Mini have nothing to worry about.... > http://www.commodore-amiga.org/en/forum/27-commodore-usa/14400-any-news-to-share?limit=15&start=15#14511

So someone who has the reputation for telling "porkies" has told you that he sells different PSUs for different configurations and we shouldn't worry about it.

Wow, I just get that warm fuzzy feeling all over.

[Darrin]

There were over 6 million Commodore 8 bit and Amiga users/households world wide while Commodore was alive. There were 250,000 c64DTV solds. I think worldwide, 10,000 is reasonable.

Most bought it because they can have a computer that does real co,puter work to contemporary computing needs not 30 years and not half-ass. You got WYSIWYG with 16 million color word programs. What is printed is usually close to what you see. Mostly ink to light differences. In any case, you can do real stuff but most of those may have bought it for having a modern pc in a c64 style case with a good flavor of Linux with real computing and programming capability BUT you don't have to program Linux to use it. They have user interfaces like every other major OS like windows and mac osx. It is also produced by respectively legitimate licensee of the trademark and brand.

This is the same sales pitch Bazza gave us when he first appeared.  What the real Commodore managed to do with tehir resources is not an indication of what C-USA could do or are even capable of doing.

Stop trying to take another company's success story and stable it to C-USA.

C-USA is simply an LLC start-up who have bought the rights to borrow the name (along with anybody else who also wants to buy the name).  In reality they are "Joe Bloggs who resells computers he buys cheap off teh interenet for a higher price".  They're just one step above an eBay store.

[Darrin]

Every one of those first 10,000 were sold because they had to get a second batch. The $6-8 million figure accounts for also sales of the other products as well. CommodoreUSA got a lot more media attention and public awareness and ultimately purchases then every current hardware developer in the Commodore and classic Amiga community has ever been able to muster.

Thank you for this pearl.

First you state you have no connection to C-USA.  Then you admit you met Barry and now you try and tell us that you have detailed information regarding their sales.

So, are you lying that you have a business (or soon to be) business connection with C-USA?

Are you lying when you say you are certain they sold all 10,000 units (unlike teh 100,000 figure they had thrown around)?

Let me give you the benefit of the doubt here.  I think you're lying on both account.  I believe you are hoping to open a Commodore franchise and I believe you have no proof whatsoever that 10,000 C64x computers were sold.

In short, you, Middleman and Dammy are here under orders to try and do some damage repair and you're urinating into the wind.

Still, at least you're entertaining.  Every post you guys make just opens up more and more holes in the C-USA sage of lies.  Keep it up.  Everything you say will be taken down and used in evidence against you.  

[Darrin]

You are all arguing tiny points of anal detail about how, where, when and what he did wrong without realising that Commodore USA has completely and utterly missed the point by a country mile. Analysing every bit of propaganda back and forth won't get you away from an inescapable truth; Barry couldn't sell water to a man on fire and still insists on trying to sell freezers to Eskimoes.

LOL.  A brilliant summary.  

[Darrin]

Oh, and I should point out that while I'm certain that C-USA is currently a money-pit and the losses are substantial, Barry is absorbing a lot of this ebcause he can write-off the LLC loses against his overall taxes for the year.

The problem you face is that year one is over and now we're in year two.  IIRC you can only write off your company losses for 2 years and then they're your problem (I'm not sure of the exact period because I've only ever owned 2 comapnies and neither of them has ever made a loss).

The clock is ticking to CONvince people to invest, before it has to be shut down.

[Darrin]

If there's this much arguing about how many units sold and how much money went where and on what, I bet the IRS are going to need Stephen Hawking to explain Barry's accounts to them....

LOL.  Christ, I bet an audit of the accounts would tie up the entire IRS for years.

[Darrin]

Whether you think it's reasonable is entirely irrelevant to the question of what actually happened in the real world, sales-wise, in the past year. Do you have any insight on that question that the rest of us don't? Unfounded guesswork is not a convincing argument.

and don't forget those C64 joysticks were sold on QVC and were extremely cheap.  I know because I bought one off QVC at the time, used it a couple of times, gave it to my kids who then threw it in the closet once the batteries ran out and went back to their Windows PCs, PS3 and Wii.  

Let us also look at the C-USA expenses.

The Tron advertising must have cost around $20,000.  Their "business center" (tiny shop in a mall) must run them $1500 a day, their employees are at least on minimum wage (so 1 guy at $10 and hour), the C64x design, protoypes and production run couldn't have been cheap.  So, take what few sales they managed and deduct their costs and you end up with a figure that probably rivals the economy of Greece.

[Darrin]

Millions isn't alot and is easily doable. First, Barry isn't someone with no money connections and financing. You think Barry is completely financed this out of dollars in his wallet? No. It is business venturing and numerous financial arrangements.

Barry knows how to run businesses and isn't someone who has never ran a business. He may not be the brightest individual in the world but experience and knowledge goes hand in hand. The other business like anything is equity to start up CommodoreUSA. Lets put it mildly, it is business and as such he is not going to run it like anything other than a business. Whatever issues or supporting of Commodore and Amiga classic has to be isolated from running down the revenues and incurring liability on the CommodoreUSA business end.

Otherwise, blowing $150k on making a bunch of boards for which only 50 on the planet will ever buy isn't going to be prudent. Investing $2k-3k.... Maybe but there is no paying for labor. So, $1k in labor maybe for $129-159 price. This way, you can reinvest and have profit and pay for time.

That is why the price doubling the cost is the strategy. You must nave a profit margin but bring cost down so the price is competitive.

If one is going to have real R&D then for one guy doing the job, we are talking $50k-100k for 20-40 hours a week  to bring a product to market. Do yourself a favor and look up what hardware engineers make at major companies for their time. An honest company would endeavor to pay their staff and contracted developers reasonable amount competitive to anyone else. We are talking $55k to $100k. If you got a $1 million is staffing expenses and 2-3 million in other expenses of operation. You need to make $5-6 million to break even to also address taxes. At this scale, we are talking to be viable - $10 Million revenue is a necessary for on-going operation and growth and that needs to increase at least 5% to stay up on the leading edge of inflation.

$10 Million may sound like a lot but that is still small.

$10 Billion is when you are up there with the big league.

You must be wearing thigh-high rubber boots to be wading through that much BS.

Want to names some of these "business arrangements" so we can call them and check?  Thought not.

Remember, here's the pic that was "supposed" top be C64X mobos:

[Darrin]

@ Wildstar128

In summary:

How C-USA views the Amiga community:


How the Amiga community views C-USA and its henchmen:

[Darrin]

How about actually read what I said instead of changing it. Quote exactly what I said.

I do not work for them. What does that say? I am not an employee of CommodoreUSA. I said I talked to Barry. Talked can mean over the phone. I talked to him because of 1) curiosity, 2) get an idea of how things are going, 3) as it maybe, I may endeavor to do business with. NOTE: Don't make assumptions as nothing is decided on and additionally, Don't assume what that maybe.

For me, this is not about me making money or being paid. There has never been a paycheck of any kind.  I simply don't support the ignorant, distorted statements from this forum.

The fact is, you distrorted what I said. You made claims out of what I said that is not what I said.

I have challenged you guys to make a serious proposal that makes sense business wise to support Commodore and Amiga users that can answer concerns of bank lenders and the likes. Do any of you ever done that? I am pretty sure the banks aren't just going to willy nilly give you $10k, $100k, $1 million, or $10 Million for R&D research unless you answer some serious questions on a financial level. This is what is known as speculative. Your investing someone elses money in hopes of more but at least break even. Doing this is akin very much to speculative housing development. Some of the same financial framework is involved. Certainly there are differences in the technical aspects but on the overall framework, it is a gamble. What do you have as equity to offset if you fall short. These are big deals and this is also where the lawsuits comes into play.

If you understand that, then I would expect there to be some sort of real, serious and professional proposal documents with cited research.

How about you listen to us instead.  95% of what you type is irrelevant and you've now passed the point where we don't believe a word you say.

[Darrin]

I am not leaving this forum because you guys distort everything everyone says.

I have listen to you guys bull**** since 2003 since Tulip, Yeahronimo, and all the other guys. You guys can't ever be happy unless you owned the brand yourselves and will be literally killing each other. Grow up you sweaty, buttcrack showing, eating cold pizza and drinking jolt with your 1980s punk hair do while growing a beard techno-washouts.

I know you are tired of companies using the brand. If you want it... Buy it and do as you wish. Until then, play with your toys and be content. This forum and the whole Amiga community doesn't need anymore bull**** rants about Commodore USA.

Mods lock this thread. Lets agree to have no more inverviews on this forum about CommodoreUSA. No more discussing them exceptmfor within the designated subforums.
Ok.

Again Mods, lock this thread.

Either support CUSA or don't. Just stop being *******s to them.

LOL.  Is it 3am again?

I think you mean that we've caught you out (just like the rest of the C-USA drones) and now your teddie is being thrown into the corner.

Thanks for coming.

Thanks for trying to insult us.

Thanks for putting C-USA deeper into the poop.

[Darrin]

The rest of the Amiga community that is doing something other then making b.s. Noise, congrats to you for keeping out of the noise and actually doing stuff.

I thought you had gone.

[Darrin]

Wildstar, Middleman, Dammy and Leo say "Goodnight boys and girls, we don't want to play anymore."

[Darrin]

Duce,

Show me what the price is for the FPGA and all its components and the PCB at volumes production at 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 unit batch order volume.

I want to see a viable and sustainable business plan for running a full operating business supporting the Commodore and Amiga classics. I have not seen anything that allows for paid employees or even paying the owner a salary of any kind in a long time.

On a mainstream level, I am trying to figure out a way to get the volume produced at a price that won't cause it to be market designated into the console market or the desktop computer market just as the C64DTV was. If I was in charge of Commodore USA, I would need it to be in the market with the Atari Flashback 2 in order to sell without having to have the CPU clocks per cycles and memory in terms of MBytes per $1 as a modern PC and game consoles.

Of course, if you can seriously contend with a PPC Amiga x1000 type system that can be sold for under $199 and compete with every game console on the market or soon to be on the market within $2 years then maybe it might work if you got the games.

Maybe but there got to be modern software and games or you have a worse issue then the CD32.

Why are you asking Duce?  Ask aCube as they have already done it (I have one).  Ask Jens as he's already doing it (I have one).  Ask MikeJ as he is actually doing it (I have one of his prototypes).

But then I've already explained this.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz