Commodore USA's Final Challenge to the Community

[amigadave]

Nice thought on Leo's part, but it will never happen.  Who in this community thinks that there are 500+ members left that can;

A. Agree on the specifications, both hardware and OS for such a new Amiga that does NOT conflict with the legal agreement with Hyperion that prevents Amiga Inc. or any of it's licensee's from selling Amiga branded computers that run AmigaOS1.x to 4.x.

B. Are willing to pre-order such a system from a company that most of the remaining Amiga community dislikes (big under statement).

C. Believes that CUSA has the ability to produce a new system within 6 months (or 6 years) that will meet the demands of these remaining Amiga enthusiasts.

If there are 500+ current, or former Amiga users that can agree on a design that could be put together in 6 months and there was some way around the legal problems of having the Amiga computer name tied to any AmigaOS, or Amiga-Like OS, maybe something could be done.

The only way I could see this working would be some kind of partnership between CUSA & Hyperion, or if CUSA could fund and produce the Natami project without running into any legal problems from Hyperion, perhaps by selling it without any OS, or if the lawyers could make it work with AROS68k without violating the agreement between A Inc. & Hyperion.

I would love to see something happen, as any new Amiga development that raises the awareness of the Amiga and also meets the expectations of at least 500+ current and/or former Amiga users, would be a good thing.

[amigadave]

Another thing to consider.

For myself, as someone who has ordered a "First Contact" X1000 system and someone who already owns several Amiga computers made by Commodore as well as several MorphOS compatible computers that are fast enough to run it very well, I am about done with purchasing any kind of hardware for my Amiga hobby and general computing needs.

With the many hardware choices we as a small community now have, I wonder how long it will take for many other Amiga users like myself to reach the same point that I am at, and there may be a drop off of new (and used) computer purchases by the people of this community.

I mean, once most of us that are interested in new Amiga and/or Amiga-Like computers buy one or two, aren't we going to stop buying hardware for a few years?

Unless new hardware comes out that is so much better than what we already have bought, why would we continue to buy more of the same with only a small increase in clock speed?  We are not typical PC buyers who will be willing to spend $1,000 to $3,500 every 2 or 3 years, (are we?).

I know that after I get my X1000 for running OS4, coupled with my dual 1.42GHz G4 PowerMac & 1.67GHz G4 PowerBook for running MorphOS, I will only be interested in better software for a long time.

Maybe I am wrong and there will be a sustainable market for new Amiga, AmigaOne systems for many years to come.  Prove me wrong.

Edit:  Thanks for the quick clarification BigBen.  I for one do appreciate the possibility, even though I know it is an outside chance that anything will come from it.  I give you and CUSA credit for at least trying.

[amigadave]

Personally, my first choice would probably be a partnership with the guys doing the Natami, as I have pretty much already decided to purchase one of those in the future as my next Amiga hobby purchase (and probably last in a long time).

A Natami in a retro A1000 case design would be awesome.  I like the idea of the front panel where the memory cartridge fit in the A1000 opening for CD/DVD & memory card device access by flipping it down.  Another neat design feature could be to have the top of the retro A1000 case flip up like a laptop, to make it a compact home computer design with the keyboard below in the "garage" and the monitor hidden while not in use.  Sort of a desktop design that was as compact as a laptop, but not battery powered.  A Natami Laptop would also be a fantastic idea to make happen.

In other words, Leo, join with one of the existing Amiga projects, such as Natami, Hyperion & OS4, AROS, or MorphOS (even one of the FPGA products, like the MiniMig, or FPGA Arcade Replay, or the Clone-A from Individual Computers), instead of splitting the community even further with yet another hardware choice.

The community is already too fractured.  We do not need yet another division of this tiny community.

Edit:  I am sure you could get 500+ pre-orders for the Natami within 3 to 7 days from announcing that you would be producing it.  There are a lot of people watching that project and saving their money to spend on it.  Ask A-Eon and AmigaKit how long it took them to fill their pre-orders for the X1000 and you will see how much interest there still is in this community and that is for a top of the line (read somewhat expensive) Amiga alternative.

[amigadave]

Look, I ain't exactly a CUSA fan either. I've even gone so far as to insult Barry over on the Commodore Amiga forum, but this quote from the first post in this thread:

is not a take it or leave it proposition... no, wait, it is: you can take your money back if you don't like it or you can leave your money with them if you wanna keep their product.

Poor CUSA, they can do no right...

I applaud your efforts in trying to talk sense and make the most of an opportunity, but it is a waste of your time arguing with the few CUSA haters that will never accept anything that they do or say.

I am no fan of CUSA either, but if they really want to make amends with the community, I will let them (if they can).  My doubt is that they will never get 500 people to agree to anything.

[amigadave]

..... I think we need the original poster to say something more here.

It is a waste of time for the original poster to write more here, as there are the same few usual suspects that drown every thread that has any mention of CUSA with so much hate and crap that no sane discussion can take place.

I'm not saying that anything useful might happen, but it can't here with all the crap that is added to any thread that mentions CUSA.

I am quite sick of all of it and very tempted to click the "Ignore" button on every CUSA hater on this forum, just to be able to read threads without all of their crap all the time every day.  Their posts outnumber actual CUSA information about 100 to one.

Of course they will now attack me and say it is all CUSA's fault for using this site for their own free advertising site and they are Forced to post in retaliation.  It is all so very silly and childish.