An alternative approach to re-launching classic computers...

[Duce]

Dammy, to be entirely fair - your non news "news" posts on C-USA happenings have kicked up more of a storm here from "the haters" than any threads said "haters" ever took the initiative to start.  While I dislike C-USA, I'm far too lazy to openly instigate and start a smack talking thread against them - give me some credit.

Your news threads.  Yours, Dammy.  You, a moderator and unofficial spokesman for C-USA.

All I desired to see prior to the launch of their products was a review by an independent source of these machines once they were released.  Engadget type reviews, not "Joe gets his new 64x unboxing on YouTube".  Sadly I've not yet seen one.  For a product a company is so apparently proud of, I do find that odd - and by God don't link that Tom's Hardware blurb and try and pass it off as a review, lol.

[Duce]

The hysterical thing is how oddly defensive people are about their particular views.  It's not about C-USA, or "the grand lineage of the Amiga" really, is it?  And before you know it, people are pulling the old "freedom of speech" card.

Enjoy what you got, buy what you want - and you SHOULD be able to voice your opinions in a sane and civil manner here.  If you feel C-USA is the future of the line, I'd love to hear a civil conversation about it that doesn't parrot a bunch of PR hype.  If you're of the old school camp and feel C-USA's offerings are the equivalent of raping you of your fond childhood Amiga moments, you should be able to point that out.  We are all capable of ignoring threads, and users, and at times I can see now that I have not helped situations with my contributions to threads.  I'm trying my best personally to not fuel the flames, but it's often hard to refrain from when people sweep blatant facts under the rug, you know?  One of the first times I ever spoke out against a certain camp, the one time I asked a few questions - I got personally harassed via PM for it.

That garbage doesn't matter to anyone with a brain.  It's filler.  I could sit here and pull my usual troll routine of pointing out hideous business management tactics and it likely won't keep anyone from buying a machine they are interested in.  If you are an old school Amigan, you know damned well the idea of a $ 25,000 x86 PC in a case is ludicrous.  If you are convinced said offerings from Commodore Usa, LLC - whether they be a 64, VIC or Amiga are a true revolution and not just a badge on a Linux PC (they admittedly are atm, even by C-USA's own description, I'd love to hear your angle on it.  I hope anyone that buys the Amiga of their choosing enjoys it, old, new, or otherwise.

We're all big boys and girls, capable of discussing hot button topics rationally - and I admit myself that I have fueled flames when I should have, which is a habit I am trying to break unless someone is outright lying about blatant facts.

Know who the true victims here are?  The little guys - the guys like the Natami guys, guys like the FPGA Arcade dudes burning their fingers with soldering irons, making what is as close to a modern day next gen, daily driver Amiga for all of us at likely very little to no profit.  Hell, even the PPC Amiga (and AROS on the other side, of course) guys should be entirely applauded for their efforts - MOS, OS4, etc. for keeping the boat afloat this long.

We can have civil debate here, and we can all ignore threads that offer differing viewpoints.  But for God's sakes, let's not ignore the above mentioned "little guys".  I'm sure we can all agree that aspect is extremely important, even if you are a next gen or non traditional PPC/Motorola fan.

Without the little guys we wouldn't be as far as we are.

[Duce]

The positive thing about CUSA being American based is that it has created some jobs here in the USA and brought some money into this country.

To some extent I agree - and while I am Canadian and not American, kudos for them for keeping some things on our shores on this continent.  But I am not about to give too big of a round of applause for selling the VIC computers at 4x price buff when there isn't a *******ed thing "American" about it.  You can find one of them for $130 online, and you are paying $300+ more for a box and a rebadged Linux distro.  I am not their market, I suppose.

They still share contact numbers with a furniture dealer and a therapist, so lets not get ahead of ourselves and think for one second they have anything but a boxing/packing facility going on.  There's no Jony Ive of the future sitting there with pen and paper in hand, whipping up the next world shaker bit of tech in a back room.  If tours are given at the place, I'd be happy to visit them next time I am down that way, in fact - I'd love to be proved wrong, but no NDA or "no photos" nonsense, lol.

Sorry, all the fancy pictures of their workstations and facilities might just be grabs off Google images just like their "factory" pics and their "prototypes" pic page that they removed credits from the original artists on.  Or the promises that all these machines would be flying off the shelves of Best Buy.  Or the, well - ad nauseum that could go on forever.

That being said, I am anti censorship, here and elsewhere - even in regards to C-USA.  I can ignore what I like, but there's no re-invention of the wheel here, boys.  C-USA has had a fervent belief and history here on these forums, using the free speech nature of it (A.org) is the equivalent of free advertising via sheer spam and such for them, and I just wish they would simply pony up and buy adspace.  The fact they haven't is the sole reason I have never contributed one thin dime to the A.org kitty.  Simple as that.  I love this site, use it a lot - but why should I contribute just to converse when others use it as a viral ad campaign?  C-USA is not alone in doing this, either - the difference is they have been rude, deceptive and outright hostile in the treatment of the community here.  I won't contribute to this great community resource forums while others use it as a backhanded, vehement advertising dropzone.  And anyone saying "derp, I don't care what they have said or done to people, let their products speak for themselves" doesn't deserve the eyes in their heads.  The fanboys have made threats, insults, homophobic slurs, the works - that counts for something, doesn't it?  Would you eat at a restaurant that the waiter says "Have a good day, you a$$hole, I hope you get cancer" when you pay your bill after it happened the first time?

These systems are less American than my iProducts, lol - at least Apple is making the A series chips in the US (Texas) facility soon, and the designers are Americans paying American taxes, the company employing thousands of Americans.

[Duce]

We all saw the videos, and all considered the source of said videos.  For all I know that plastics place could have done a handful of protos of them, and the rest of the case housings were made in China, lol.  Hell, there may have only been 200 of the machines ever made thus far anyways, but I will give them props for using a local source at some stage.

I saw videos from the same company that also posted pics of their manufacturing facilities that later turned out to be some 3 year old pic from some fabber overseas.  I saw videos from the same company that posted "fan pics" of dream machines, in which they removed all credits to the original artist.  I saw videos from the same company that has harassed, slandered, made homophobic rumors up about respected members of the community and tech journalism industry.  The same people who have fanboys that have made outright threats to people here and elsewhere for politely speaking their minds about their differing opinions on products.  See my point, lol?

A pile of horseplop at first glance still stinks, no matter how many perfume bottles I see thrown at it - and I am merely saying "consider the source".

No one ever addresses all the negative and outright hostile, appalling aspects of their business practices, usage of community sites to spam for free advertising purposes, and failure to deliver on a lot of promises, and it's very blind to only see one side of the coin.  The benefit of doubt has been given 1000 times over and we are only told here that "we aren't their target market", and I would have expected them to move on by now.  People keep telling us that the sky is purple, and when we say "ok, convince me, I'm all ears and eyes" they shove their fingers in their ears and shout "LALALALA I CANNOT HEAR YOU LALALALALA, TRON MOVIE! BIG BUSINESS!!11!!1" like a small child.

Like I said 100 times over and I never got an answer once, and in fact got a ban on their forums for it - when is one of these machines going to be mailed to a reputable review site in the caliber of Engadget for a no holds barred review?  The fact that hasn't occurred does not speak well.  If I was making these great machines, I'd be mailing them en masse to review sites.

I was hoping to get a hands on with one personally, after being told they would be in big name retailers on the shelves.  Every big name retailer I have inquired with in many cities, large and small - in North America says "Commodore what, didn't they used to make calculators or typewriters or something?  We don't carry those, we sell computers and modern electronics", like I was some sort of caveman asking when fire was invented.

And in the end, my sincere hope is that guys like the FPGA Arcade crew and the Natami folks put out a product at a price with good performance and they sell so many they simply can't keep them in stock.  That's who deserves the kudos and revenue vs. this mass market commodity stuff.