I think the real problem is not the money, it actually is the contradictory philosophy behind it. On the one hand we see the decision for a much better hardware architecture, but on the other hand, the unwillingness to consistently look forward. In the long run was just that in many ways a tactical mistake. So I think the X1000 would be particularly for potential programmers a much more interesting business field, if one were to focus solely on the actual hardware, rather than remain permanently backward compatible.
It's always about money. With the money, you can do anything including breaking from the past as Apple did when it jumped to PPC and then to X86. Without it, you stuck in quicksand, sinking as the rest of the world moves forward.
Yes, Hyperion landscape is littered with tactical mistakes that have come back to bite them. Perhaps they will be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat at AmiWest as the clock ticks toward them becoming irrelevant.
