AmigaKit Named AmigaOne X1000 Distributor

[vidarh]

The AmigaOne X-1000 can only create a niche for itself if it can be shown to do something better or different than any competing computer, and that has not been demonstrated yet (I hope it will be shown).  Just running AmigaOS4.1 faster than a SAM or Pegasos2 is not going to be enough to make it a success.  More developers and software is a must, I agree!

Define success. Will it compete with cheap PC's? No.

But neither does Macs, and they still sell. My 350 GBP laptop is faster than 3-4 times as expensive Macbook Pro... Yet I can still see why people buy it: For the experience.

I'm not expecting the X1000 to give Apple a run for their money. But it doesn't take more than a few thousand sold units before it'd be a tremendous success for such a small community.

I want one for the experience; the X1000 got me "back in the fold" (currently with a Minimig + UAE on my laptop + AROS on my laptop, but waiting to get an X1000, and hopefully also either a Natami or FPGAArcade whenever they're ready...)

Don't underestimate nostalgia, btw. A large part of ex-Amigans are now in our 30's, with disposable income and closing in on midlife crises My brother was over last weekend, and I handed him a retro pack from Amigakit as a birthday present and he told me he'd just been looking at Amiga stuff on Youtube the other day, by pure coincidence...

Keep in mind there are about 5 million ex-Amigans. If just 1% can be convinced to give a new machine a try, whether for nostalgia or other reasons, that's 50k. Even 0.1% is 5k. Some of us will be developers (I am).

The more competitive (in terms of performance) machines will come *if* machines like the X1000 and the new SAM 460 sells well enough. In the meantime Hyperion will keep bringing the OS closer to modern expectations. One step at a time.

[vidarh]

And for 99.9% of those nostalgia would be playing the old games they played on their A500's, and the PPC-machines can't really offer them that. And the current incarnation of AmigaOS/Workbench doesn't look anything like the old 1.2/1.3 version, so no nostalgia there either

I'm not so sure. I'm a hardcore geek so I'm a special case But my brother is not, and while he mostly played games, what he's been looking at again was the whole experience. He can play the games under UAE, but that was not enough.

And while AOS4 doesn't look or behave exactly the same, our memories tend to be rose-tinted too (it took me a while to get over the shock of just how primitive even 2.04 was when I got my Minimig set up...) but most of the things many of us *do* fondly remember are still there.

Anyway, even if you're right, as I wrote, even 0.1% is more than 5000 people.

Personally I think the potential is higher - many people are willing to spend a *lot* of money to get back that feeling of computing being fun. A PC doesn't deliver that.

[vidarh]

You have to crawl before you can walk after all.

I agree. And the thing is, *if* it manages to get to even 5k, there's bound to be some new developers deciding to release stuff, even if just because they enjoy it.

That's my excuse for starting to code for the Amiga again anyway, even if so far I'm just playing around - I do hope to release some small bits and pieces as time permits. My 350GBP laptop is faster than the X1000 will be, at a fraction of the cost, but my laptop is a *tool* where my old Amigas also were a fun hobby.

I don't take it'll take all that much to make it a sufficiently appealing platform to coax a few more people to take the leap at this stage.

In any case, I don't hold my breath for some massive resurgence, but we don't need massive numbers to have a viable platform for hobbyist use.

Lets for starters just hope the X1000 sells enough to make sufficient profit to start cutting prices and/or releasing one or more updated models to keep the newfound momentum going.