CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[spirantho]

Very long, so i only glanced over a few questions. Seemed to be pretty well written and thought out responses. Doesn't change anything for me though.

It starts off talking about how he bought more 64s than anyone else, and then quickly descends into marketing speak about how great it is that Commodore and Amiga brands are reunited.
I just read 32 pages of marketing and don't know anything I didn't already.

Nothing to see here, move along please....

p.s. have the servers gone down yet?

[spirantho]

My overriding impression on what he's saying is this:

1) C64s and Amigas rocked in the 1980s.
2) We want the name to once again be seen to represent creativity and power.

However, what I never saw in any of that was:

"We still like to use Amigas".

Leo was mentioned as having a couple of Classics for gaming, but that doesn't constitute anything to do with why some of love our Amigas, which is: the OS, be it AOS 3, AOS 4, MOS or AROS.

In other words, all they're interested in is the name. Whether that's to genuinely make the Amiga famous or to line Barry's pockets is down to the eye of the beholder, I suspect.

I think that's the fundamental difference between Amiga users and C=USA users - Amiga users have chosen Amiga-like OSes because they don't want to use Linux or Windows. C=USA users can't see the difference between Linux/Windows and AmigaOS except that Linux/Windows has more features and more software and therefore is "better". And that is why I - as an Amiga user - will never be interested in anything C=USA has to offer as our goals are just too different. Amiga is many things, but it was never just about the name until C=USA came along.

Edit:

Besides, I actually think that some people here might be interested in what they have to offer. It's a fact that to some people here, the Amiga(tm) trade mark is far more important than merits/spec/qualities/etc of the product it's trying to sell, the biggest selling point of them all! Which is crazy...

And that - unfortunately - is basically hitting the nail on the head.

[spirantho]

What he *did* say, was more in the lines of "We would like to use real, useful for real in 2012 computers, not museum hardware running an OS that completely lacks the following which we are considering as basic features"

...which would be:

"1. The ability to utilze the latest hardware
2. An advanced graphical API
3. SMP
4. An advanced software stack
5. Mature software development options"

All of which is great for a mainstream OS, but for a hobby OS there's one really important question to answer:

Do I enjoy using it?

If I don't enjoy using an OS then it doesn't matter how many bells and whistles it has it will never be my hobby, and that's what Amigas are to me.

[spirantho]

Someone explain to me how he could make anything more Amiga-like while using the Amiga name after the AOS legal fiasco?

It sounded to me like every time they even try to make it look or feel more Amiga-like, they risk losing the name and being sued by Hyperion.

If it would sell another 100 units to hard-core Amigans, you don't think he'd have slapped AROS on there too?  Sure he would, but he can't.

Thanks to Hyperion and AI, what CUSA is doing is pretty much all that's legally possible without building a custom outdated PPC board, yet CUSA gets all the hate.

There is plenty of hate to go around here, but I think a lot of it is misdirected.

Barry has stated quite clearly he has no interest in using AROS or AmigaOS or anything like it as he wants to bring the brands Commodore and Amiga back to the mainstream - which we all know he can't do with those OSes as they just don't have the software base.

Hyperion is irrelevant here (except for being used as a scapegoat) - if there was no lawsuit, there is still 0% chance he'd use AROS in place of Linux, he basically says as much in his answers.

[spirantho]

Leo, you have my respect for coming here to answer critics, really you do. But you must understand that what you're saying is at odds with what we've seen from CUSA - or, more precisely, Barry.
Until CUSA do SOMETHING to further AmigaOS, even if it's only 10 bucks in a bounty somewhere, then all we see are promises and pipe dreams.
Just a token contribution would go such a long way.....
Speaking as a company owner, if I could buy that much good P.R. for so little, I'd be all over it in a flash.
You have here an audience who *want* to believe, but CUSA are just not using that untapped resource. That's what I don't understand.

[spirantho]

I don't think any of us here are under the delusion that the Amiga in any way - be it AOS, MOS or even CommodoreOS - is ever going to be a serious contender in the professional market. That market is completely sewn up, even attempting to is equivalent to corporate suicide.

The Amiga has long been about being a hobby platform, that's all. It's about enjoying using a computer. And no C=USA platform will do that for me, as it's all Linux, which I don't enjoy.

The serious market can keep their Windows and Linux boxes, and I'll keep my Amiga box. The two need never cross over. You don't need to be a big fish if you're in a niche market.