Amiga.org Exclusive Interview with the CEO of CommodoreUSA

[vox]

To each his own, but Im not sure droning on the current "amiga" options is worthwhile. To my knowledge theyre not legally allowed to offer an amiga style os.

In fact they are not allowed to do so under current Amiga Inc licence but can extend their rights in new contracts with Hyperion, MorphOS team etc.

Since they have claimed they have tried to do so, question is what plans and offers CUSA had when (unsucessfully?) approached Hyperion, AROS and/or MorphOS team

[vox]

been following and supporting CUSA for the past year....because I believe they will come up with the goods. But my view is, the community has to be realistic with what can be approached from a production perspective.

Off course x86 and ARM are viable targets offering best price/performance ratio and wide userbase. However, as independent IT pro (meaning not employed or paid by C=USA) how do you rate "goods" and "innovation": only new thing is the C64x case. Rest is available at much lower prices from any OEM rebrander, Linux of your choice and Amiga Forever.

There is little hope in bright Amigan future with current no development high profit C=USA policy - they don`t really develop anything new.

The question for Leo is:
Does C=USA have plan to DEVELOP any new hardware or software or to licence (outsource) any h/w or s/w development and if yes, what?

Next batch:
4. Is Amiga x86 going to have fully licensed Amiga ROM in order to legally emulate previous systems?

Yes, if you buy C=USA 64x or C=USA "Amiga" Mini, you get COS with legal Kickstarts and UAE (essentially Amiga Forever licence). If you download free version you get none. In that way COS is free and not free "new" OS.

[vox]

As far as I know, CUSA is planning some work on software (AFAIK). Leo & Dammy has stated that they plan to bring an online store soon for Commodore OS that will allow users to purchase/download classic Commodore apps and games online (as D64/ADF files perhaps?) sometime in the future - so expect it to be Commodore-themed for the retro geek.

A lot was promised, but what is to be believed is just what was delivered: C64x case. And as you have experienced, a lot of unprofessionalism was displayed not only on the community communication side, but even in the hardware choices itself. Licence for Amiga computer was also for All In One computer, but yet it will not be it in despite of Mac Mini factor.
Calling C=USA products good price/performance x86 ratio you should really check what you can build on your own, higher quality components, better performance and money for some pro apps is guaranteed.

If above anything else, C=USA products are to survive in x86 competative world Barry and Leo should do some estimation
of how many e.g. i7 boards they can sell as C64x ultimate, VIC Pro, Amiga Mini, whatever they decide and buy them
from manufacturers, making profit out of difference to retail sale, not such extreme. They dig their own grave with pricing
trying to present their products as different, while they are not (excluding C64x in outside look)

Online store is website, not really a new software in classic sense of it, just another easy source of profit since Amiga games are quite abandonware by now. Lots of them can be legally downloaded already for no price. Again, its repeating the same policy of as less possible investment, illusion of CBM, maximazing the profit while developing nothing new.

Back on topic, question is:
Why the price of C=USA branded hardware is not lowered by contracting manufacturers? This kind of prices looks like
reselling small end user priced quantities + C=USA costs and idea of profit = extreme low price/performance ratio

[vox]

I have to remind you that CUSA is not the CBM of old with tonnes of money to spend. Like any other small-medium sized profit-based company they have to carefully consider their investment options as to whether it is worthwhile to make certain products, and balance this with a cost and price point that is fair and acceptable to us, the public. If it is too costly they have a right not to consider it. And they shouldn't if it is...

Surely, small to medium business with big representation. Hower A1200 look a like was promoted from very first ("scatchy") website and mentioned in licence purchase. Playing on MacMini is just lucky opportunity that it needs laser touch.

They should keep better relations with Loriano to have nice A500 like cases, and next thing the community project might be some existing PowerPC board (that runs AmigaOS,AROS,Linux or MorphOS, AROS and Linux) + such case + laser engravement. Not much more effort would be expected if 500 people prepaid it. But the name would be Commodore Amiga 1200X.

Triple boot was promised from first BigAussies videos with earlybird Phoenix.

Surely small company can`t do much, but they could outsource job to someone. Like Linux Mint boys to maintain their distro up to date, and support various "Amiga" boards worldwide any time soon  :-)

[vox]

Double Duce`s post  and add a bit of British style humor:

SinclairUK news

Introducing the new Sinclair QL mini

Real image, not photoshopped
SinclairUK are proud to announce the immediate availability of the first Sinclair QL computer in about a billion years or something, the QL mini.  We did intend to launch yesterday but feared that it may be seen as an april fool joke and not an actual real product so delayed for 24 hours.

The new Sinclair QL mini is the only computer with comparable specs in it's price range, no other computer comes close and no other computer at any price allows you to do so much with an official Sinclair sticker on the front.

The new QL mini is only available in traditional Sinclair kit form as it reduces the cost to the consumer and to save you even more money we have decided that you would be better off sourcing the parts yourself as it means we don't need to pay for a huge warehouse to store everything, therefore passing the savings on to you.

To obtain your new Sinclair QL mini please follow these instructions.

1,  Purchase these parts from your favourite vendor.
* ZOTAC Z68ITX-B-E
* intel core i7 2600K 3.5GHz
* 1TB SATA hard drive
* 2 x 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs
* intel mini-PCIe wireless card
* wesena HTPC ITX2 case
*Sinclair Badge for the front of the case (only available from SinclairUK for just £1000+VAT)


2, Assemble all the parts, training courses should be available in your area if you don't know where to start.

3, Send the receipts for the parts you purchased to SinclairUK so we can verify that your new computer meets the QL standards.

Once all these steps are completed, you have affixed the Sinclair sticker to your case (this is the most important part) and installed Sinclair OS you will now be the proud owner of a brand new Sinclair QL mini, the greatest mini desktop computer with a Sinclair badge available today.

You will receive a Sinclair UK welcome pack containing warranty information (only covers sticker peeling) and a CD-R disc containing a couple of emulators we downloaded.


Why buy a bog standard PC that doesn't say Sinclair on it when you can have a Sinclair QL mini that does.

[vox]

Hi all,


To answer your question this is a video of my C64x running tripleboot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZYLJwSVI5o

Nice GRUB customization. But that is Ubuntu, Mint and Win.

What was ment was Win, Linux and AROS. But you answered the famous "blame Hyperion thing".
Hyperion did threatened publicly, but only to expose "no bundling" clause of court case settlement.
C=USA could still aid AROS coming out of Alpha stange and having it as optional download and install.

Commodore Phoenix Triple OS Boot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzsmiuEYUQY

Serious Q:

"Were AROS Team and Hyperion approached for further negotiations of bundling and development of AROS
Broadway or IcarOS (now AEROS too) or is there any plan to do so?"

[vox]

Only the best questions will be submitted to Barry.

Please let us know of the list of questions (incl. mentioned all and off the table ones) that has made it, as well as method of selection (quality analysis?).

Probably a numb answer (another way to say "C=USA has its own way") exists no matter what is the question, as well as many PR override to tricky questions, so there is a little hope interview would reveal anything new, stunning or honest.

[vox]

CUSA has never given even $1 to Amiga.org

Has CUSA ever invested in anything?  COS is distributed via torrents, not FTP, it took years to have decent web site, most of purchases were kind of pre orders?

[vox]

In fairness it would have cost quite a sum of money to get the C64 replica case into production.

One must agree it is the only innovation so far. Presumably will return by the C64x barebone price, or maybe not since all other AIO projects seems to be cancelled or delayed.

[vox]

With quality of this thread in mind, don't forget to ask her for a six pack of beer.

Maybe even more for C=USA announcements.

Qestions:

a) When will the policy of "product first" "pictures and announcents later" be adopted by CUSA? Just for example, "Amiga comeback" was promoted at least year or two before AmigaMini launch.

b) What is the meaning of phrases like "There are all manner of estimations out there that we neither confirm or deny."?

c) Do you consider a PCI PowerPC card like Varisys VS145 with AmigaOS 4.x could be interesting expansion for your "Amigas" and could it hold interest for contemporary wider market if it could have AmigaOS 4 / MorphOS support?
Would you be willing to participate and negotiate such project that would be "Amiga card for all"?

[vox]

I can't wait to hear where their 30 million dollar advertising budget went. Or why no tv ads ever happened, only ****ty home made youtube videos.
Steven

Even answers to such questions are that hard if one is honest e.g.
"we used 30 million dollars advert campaign as promotional purpose only,
but failed to fundrise any. So we had to rely on cheap and accessible adverts such as YouTube and hardware review websites that don`t ask for actual machine but copy/paste our announcements. Thanks for the Internet, it saved our ass and is perfect for viral mambo jumbo. Only problem is that hype on net is shortlived"

But that is not a business PR

[vox]

LOL.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  

Why not? One user here, one for AW.net, at least two YT promoters ... and Italian blog about c=usa success story and X1000 failure (not the article).

In october 2011 SinclairUK has made a "fanboy call"
http://sinclair-uk.weebly.com/forum.html#/20111021/fanboys-wanted-to-spread-the-word-948247/

Fanboys Wanted to spread the word
posted Oct 21, 2011 by thedukeofawesome
SinclairUK is looking for fanboys to help spread the word about our new computer systems and do their best to troll on other Sinclair enthusiast forums all over the internet.

Any interested parties should reply in this thread stating why they are suitable for the position.

[vox]

Have you seen the contract between C=USA and Disney?  No?  I didn't think so.
Back on topic:
My question is what the long term vision for the new Commodore Amiga and a OS to go with it.

What was publicly presented was licence to ship Tron DVD with C=USA products, merely an sales integration which any company would accept.

So far, there have been many "visions" (including c=OS titled "Vision") bust mostly has proven to be "no vision"

Question is what does C=USA think of the "image in the mirror" website SinclairUK? Is it fan to read similar themed humor and what C=USA could learn from it?