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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Martin_Lee on April 17, 2008, 12:13:59 PM

Title: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Martin_Lee on April 17, 2008, 12:13:59 PM
http://amiga.com/news/index.php?art=28

Forgive me if I'm being stupid here, but where are they?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: swift240 on April 17, 2008, 12:21:35 PM
This is probably the usual b******t.

We are going to do this, we are going to do that.........
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.............
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Martin_Lee on April 17, 2008, 12:24:50 PM
I just don't see how they can keep on making these finite claims and then not doing anything. Any other company would've gone out of business by now, how the hell are they still afloat. The cheaper of those two new bits of kit was spose to be out last summer!
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: odin on April 17, 2008, 12:40:06 PM
I still say A.Inc. simply is a money laundering operation, I can't think of any other logical explanation why they'd still be afloat after so much incompetence.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Andeda on April 17, 2008, 12:44:55 PM
The ONE person who was behind these new amiga computers got divorced or something  :-)
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Boot_WB on April 17, 2008, 12:58:19 PM
Quote

Andeda wrote:
The ONE person who was behind these new amiga computers got divorced or something  :-)


Yes, from reality, quite some time ago...
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: monami on April 17, 2008, 12:59:49 PM
i think amiga inc is owned by ms. that would explain there ability to put the good stuff out! :roll:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: redfox on April 18, 2008, 12:22:20 AM
@Martin_Lee

Of course, the official excuse is related to litigation over who owns OS4.  Please read "An Open Letter To The Amiga Community" in the news section at amiga.com for some more musings by Bill McEwan.

In my opinion, Amiga Inc made several announcements to create the illusion that they had a legitimate business that was being hurt by Hyperion.  This was just part of the preliminary setup required before they could launch the litigation against Hyperion.

It's a false front, an illusion, smoke and mirrors, nothing else.

---
redfox

Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Terse on April 18, 2008, 12:52:26 AM
Quote

monami wrote:
i think amiga inc is owned by ms. that would explain there ability to put the good stuff out! :roll:


"There ability?"  Is that a kind of telepresence?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: A1260 on April 18, 2008, 12:55:50 AM
Amiga Inc is a money laundering operation, its as simple as that....
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: redrumloa on April 18, 2008, 01:03:55 AM
Troll!! :smack:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: persia on April 18, 2008, 02:44:32 AM
(http://www.mnwxchaser.com/beating-a-dead-horse.gif)
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: TjLaZer on April 18, 2008, 02:54:13 AM
It was a smoke screen for when Amiga, Inc. was going to pay for naming rights to the Amiga Center in Kent.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: jiminy on April 19, 2008, 07:29:15 PM
All we need is someone with an excess of money on our side.  I think one of us bachelors is going to have to take one for the team: Liliane Bettencourt (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Liliane-Bettencourt_F6EZ.html)
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: TiredOLife on April 19, 2008, 08:10:45 PM
The are all in my garage.
Just putting the on the finishing touches to AOS5 and then I will be releasing them together.
 
There will be a big presentation in Atlantis delivered by Elvis.

Anyone wishing to attend should book tickets for the Titantic, due to set sale on the 30th of February.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: nasty on April 19, 2008, 08:25:25 PM
@ TiredOLife :lol: but......

Quote
the Titantic, due to set sale on the 30th of February.


Think theres more chance of buying the titantic than buying an amiga from amiga inc!

and its set sail  ;-)
 
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Trev on April 19, 2008, 09:07:36 PM
Tax shelter is probably a more diplomatic description than money laundering operation. Offshoring software development, particularly maintenance of established applications, is still popular, despite the lack of supporting evidence for its effectiveness. Amiga, Inc. could be doing quite well (or at least breaking even) on that front.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: HopperJF on April 19, 2008, 09:18:02 PM
Quote
suggested retail price of $1498.00 and be a complete offering excluding monitor



Seriously, who on Earth would pay that anyway.

Quote
Power level product ready for Customers Winter 2007


Just two more weeks  :lol:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: monami on April 19, 2008, 11:20:33 PM
""There ability?" Is that a kind of telepresence?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepresence

i had to look that one up!

"Just two more weeks"

there is a running joke in the film "the money pit" starring shelly long and tom hanks. which is about how long it will take for the builders to get their house finished. i don't know how many years it ended up being... "Just two more weeks" it always makes me laugh when i hear that said.

 :lol:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Psy on April 19, 2008, 11:52:53 PM
Quote

HopperJF wrote:
Quote
suggested retail price of $1498.00 and be a complete offering excluding monitor



Seriously, who on Earth would pay that anyway.

Yhea, I think the whole competing with modern existing PCs is a huge mistake, you could get a nice Mac for that much.

I really don't know what they hope to accomplish, it is painfully obvious it will take mountains of capital to successful launch a new hardware platform in the modern computer market.

Companies do make profits off making clones of classic game systems some even adding extra features that the original system didn't have. Maybe it just me but I think this probably would be a far more logical place to start, creating a cheaper system that mostly competes with souped-up classic Amigas then modern PCs.  Yes people would moan about it being weak but odds are more people would actually buy them.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Zac67 on April 20, 2008, 11:48:35 AM
Quote
So what happened to these new Amigas?

Anyone here who actually isn't surprised that nothing showed up?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: danwood on April 20, 2008, 03:56:45 PM
I agree they'd be mad to come up with high-end propriety hardware in this age.

However, a great new Amiga that runs on PC hardware, and a great new version of Amiga Os could be a hit!
But why develop your own motherboards, chips etc. when you can get them off the shelf for pennies?

It worked fine for Apple, running on x86 architecture.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: AeroMan on April 20, 2008, 05:30:59 PM
Quote

Psy wrote:
Quote

HopperJF wrote:
Quote
suggested retail price of $1498.00 and be a complete offering excluding monitor



Seriously, who on Earth would pay that anyway.

Yhea, I think the whole competing with modern existing PCs is a huge mistake, you could get a nice Mac for that much.




IMacs costs aroud US$2000 here.... You can have a Mac Mini for that amount. Or a super hiper turbo freaking PC :-D
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Psy on April 20, 2008, 05:35:30 PM
Quote

danwood wrote:
I agree they'd be mad to come up with high-end propriety hardware in this age.

However, a great new Amiga that runs on PC hardware, and a great new version of Amiga Os could be a hit!
But why develop your own motherboards, chips etc. when you can get them off the shelf for pennies?

It worked fine for Apple, running on x86 architecture.


Well the Nintendo Wii only has a 729MHz Broadway PPC, so the PPC 600MHz used in the PegasosPPC and AmigaOne was not a bad speed for a hobbyist machine, by now it should be fairly cheap to manufacture and in a Amiga 1200 type case it probably be a decent alternative to the class Amiga hardware if in decent quantity at a decent price.

Also Apple does make its own boards, it just switched from using PPC to Intel.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: TiredOLife on April 20, 2008, 06:12:11 PM
Quote

nasty wrote:
@ TiredOLife :lol: but......

Quote
the Titantic, due to set sale on the 30th of February.


Think theres more chance of buying the titantic than buying an amiga from amiga inc!

and its set sail  ;-)
 


:lol:
It did set sail but there is more to travelling to a destination than just starting.
There is arriving as well.
The Titanic didn't excatly reach it's destination.
Although to shoot myself in the foot, it did sink which is probably the best way to get to Atlantis, therefore making my arguement defunct.
Doh

Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: amigakidd on April 21, 2008, 08:23:44 PM
I just wish someday I will find my local Best Buy or Circuit City carry real Amiga Desktops with OS 4. They should really start producing machines or at least an Amiga game console similar to CD32, but better than PS3 and Xbox 360.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Martin_Lee on April 21, 2008, 08:47:24 PM
 :crazy: lmao
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: amigakidd on April 21, 2008, 08:56:30 PM
Bill McEwen should start getting up on his lazy behind and get the company to start making Consumer Amiga Desktops instead of fight court battles. We all need Amigas that we can buy straight out of the box. It's all ahead of schedule is all I hear from Amiga Inc. Where's the product?

Bill McEwen is such bull.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: HopperJF on April 21, 2008, 10:24:32 PM
Quote

AeroMan wrote:
Quote

Psy wrote:
Quote

HopperJF wrote:
Quote
suggested retail price of $1498.00 and be a complete offering excluding monitor



Seriously, who on Earth would pay that anyway.

Yhea, I think the whole competing with modern existing PCs is a huge mistake, you could get a nice Mac for that much.




IMacs costs aroud US$2000 here.... You can have a Mac Mini for that amount. Or a super hiper turbo freaking PC :-D


Yes but unlike these Amigas, the iMac comes with a monitor  :lol:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: billt on April 21, 2008, 10:33:10 PM
Quote
Forgive me if I'm being stupid here, but where are they?


Exactly where most of us expected by the time that announcment was made. They're in some fantasy universe imagined by some guy, of which the rest of us have no access to.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: billt on April 21, 2008, 10:37:04 PM
Quote
Bill McEwen should start getting up on his lazy behind and get the company to start making Consumer Amiga Desktops instead of fight court battles.


He has no motivation to do that right now. Such hardware would run an OS that he claims ownership of but does not have. He's surely not going to do something which benefits his "enemy", as he surely sees them.

Unfortunately, even if he wins the legal war, he still will not approve or make or encourage anything on the hardware side. I seriously believe that McEwen and friends specifically do not want to be in the business of doing anything whatsoever that we the people consider Amiga related. If he wins OS4, he will kill it. And then we will have nothing at all happening again.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: HopperJF on April 21, 2008, 10:53:45 PM
Yeah, AInc are just as bad as Gateway before them, killing Amiga by simply doing nothing.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: NovaCoder on April 22, 2008, 05:14:50 AM
Quote

billt wrote:

He has no motivation to do that right now. Such hardware would run an OS that he claims ownership of but does not have. He's surely not going to do something which benefits his "enemy", as he surely sees them.


I have a different perspective to most of you guys because I’ve only recently starting getting into the whole Amiga thing again.  Reading up on what’s been going on since Commodore went bankrupt is quite ‘interesting’ to say the least.

I find it amazing that you cannot find anything about Classic Amiga’s on Amiga.com (http://www.amiga.com).  If I were them I’d be plugging the whole retro thing as much as I could.  There’s no reason why they still couldn’t make some money from the classic market, you only have to look at the eBay prices of old accelerator cards etc.

Why not commission a ‘modernised’ 1200 & 4000T….nothing  too revolutionary, just something with built in DVD drive, easily expandable memory, and a processor that will run OS4.  It can’t be that hard can it :-?

If you've got the HW available to buy, a regularly updated OS, and some official software development going on (think WiiWare) then you’ve got a nice healthy retro platform and everyone is happy (well, almost everyone :lol:).
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: mike- on April 22, 2008, 05:59:03 AM
Thats what happens when a guy with about as much business sense as a senile old monkey gets behind the wheel of your "Ferrari". If he had a boss, he'd be fired long ago. Thats my opinion anyway.

Quote

However, a great new Amiga that runs on PC hardware, and a great new version of Amiga Os could be a hit!


Sorry I just dont see it happening, its basically a emulator.. Emulators are free these days. Thats probably why they tried stopping cloanto, since they probably have a better product then they have.

Quote

I just wish someday I will find my local Best Buy or Circuit City carry real Amiga Desktops with OS 4. They should really start producing machines or at least an Amiga game console similar to CD32, but better than PS3 and Xbox 360.


Yes they should, shouldnt they? But the fact is that they are so blatantly ignorant of the direction the community wants to go that it must actually hurt to get up in the morning being ainc. I'd be outright so ashamed of myself if I was billmc that i'd remove my name from anything that had to do with Ainc.

And I dont _think_ there is much to worry about when it comes to ainc getting the OS, name and everything, mcewen basically took a wee in his own beer drawing up and signing that contract then going bankrupt.

The fact is, the only company currently supporting “the direction of the amiga community” is bbrv. And acube. Billmc probably doesnt even know where to find us.

Quote

 Yeah, AInc are just as bad as Gateway before them, killing Amiga by simply doing nothing.


Please dont forget that billmc was ceo of the amiga operations of gateway until he got fired in 1999
http://www.cucug.org/amiga/aminews/1999/990901-cucug.html
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Terse on April 22, 2008, 06:12:20 AM
Quote

amigakidd wrote:
I just wish someday I will find my local Best Buy or Circuit City carry real Amiga Desktops with OS 4. They should really start producing machines or at least an Amiga game console similar to CD32, but better than PS3 and Xbox 360.


Yeah, I'm sure whatever Amiga Inc could come up with would blow RJ Mical's little Pee-OS 3 out of the toilet.

And don't get me started with the Xbox 3iffy.  That thing needs 3 3.2Ghz PPC G4 cores and a half-gig of DDR3 ram just to boot!  Imagine what an Amiga game console could do if it 'kept it real' and stayed with a nice 900Mhz G3 and outsourced the hardware, OS, and game development to India.

 :roll:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Atheist on April 22, 2008, 07:27:03 AM
Quote
HopperJF wrote:

Yeah, AInc are just as bad as Gateway before them, killing Amiga by simply doing nothing.


Yes. Amiga Inc. think that everything could be outsourced and they'll sit back and make billions....

That's _exactly_ what they did in 2001. BUT, they thought they could OWN all that was outsourced as well.

So, outsource at a minuscule $ amount, then own, but NOT produce anything, and rake in wads of cashola?!?


Now there's a business plan!


(Yeah, I vote for them money laundering too.)
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: mike- on April 22, 2008, 07:34:15 AM
Ditto, who owns that law firm anyway?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: hsv5000 on April 22, 2008, 12:10:07 PM
Apple figured it out why can't Amiga? use the hardware that everyone else is using!
Focus on the OS...... Its that simple enough? :idea:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: bloodline on April 22, 2008, 12:18:56 PM
Quote

hsv5000 wrote:
Apple figured it out why can't Amiga? use the hardware that everyone else is using!
Focus on the OS...... Its that simple enough? :idea:


Amiga do use the same hardware as everyone else... their DE was specially designed for that purpose... and other than the use of a PPC CPU... an A1 is just a regular PC...
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: yorgle on April 22, 2008, 01:36:20 PM
Quote

monami wrote:
there is a running joke in the film "the money pit" starring shelly long and tom hanks. which is about how long it will take for the builders to get their house finished. i don't know how many years it ended up being... "Just two more weeks" it always makes me laugh when i hear that said.


You're not going to die, I'm holding the ladder.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: amigakidd on April 22, 2008, 03:32:03 PM
The minimig or some FPGA on a chip is the closest thing to emerge in a Amiga Consumer Market.

Amiga or some developer in the community should market a Kit called Build-Your-Own-Amiga, just like Lego NXT that you can build a A1000, A500, A500+, A600, A2000, CD32, A3000, A4000 from sold-separately parts or buy a complete kit, but you must assemble it. All should come with an SD Card as standard and modern off the shelf PC components.
Plus, a Wifi component to connect to a modern BBS.
And, Morph OS, OS 4 compatible and can connect to Standard RCA. Open Source components.

Amiga Forever Compatible with ROMS. The Games and OS can just be used interchangably with UAE and connect via Amiga Explorer as well.

I can see $199 for a Entry Geek Kit (Basic A500),
$299 for Premium Geek Kit (A500-A4000)
But both versions can be upgraded to your specs, $199 is much easier and for the casual hobbyist.

Who ever invents this should also sell the extra addons at Radioshack, Best Buy, Frys, Circuit City, and other small electronics.

We all have to dream.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Terse on April 22, 2008, 07:38:09 PM
Quote

amigakidd wrote:
... you can build a A1000, A500, A500+, A600, A2000, CD32, A3000, A4000 from sold-separately parts or buy a complete kit,...


That is a description of eBay.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Andeda on April 22, 2008, 07:45:03 PM
@Amigakidd

Is it you Starke?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: GreggBz on April 22, 2008, 09:41:50 PM
1999 called. They want their thread back.

I'm going to go cry now.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: mike- on April 22, 2008, 09:47:32 PM
"In 1997, prospects brightened when the PC manufacturer Gateway bought Amiga and promised to bring out a new, more powerful computer. Mr. McEwen said Gateway had mostly been interested in Amiga's 40 or so valuable patents, for video and sound card technologies.

Gateway hired Mr. McEwen, a large, lumbering man who went into computer sales after leaving his family's trucking business in the mid-1980's, as its chief evangelist for the Amiga. Mr. McEwen had not owned an Amiga before but was immediately smitten and soon came to consider himself one of the clan.

But after two years and a series of false starts, a new Amiga failed to materialize.

Last August, it looked as though the end had finally come. That's when Mr. McEwen and most members of Gateway's small Amiga team lost their jobs and plans for resurrecting the computer were scrapped yet again.

Mr. McEwen put a finer point on it. "Amiga was baggage to Gateway's main business," he said. "It wasn't an asset in their minds."

So passionate had Mr. McEwen become about the computer that he quickly proposed to Gateway that he buy what remained of Amiga's assets. It took him a month to raise the money to buy the rights to the Amiga name; the remaining Amiga inventory, which consisted of some 17,000 machines in Germany; and a worldwide distribution channel already in place. Gateway kept the patents and licensed them to Mr. McEwen. The price for everything, Mr. McEwen said, was "in the millions."

Mr. McEwen now has a staff of 20 in an office in Snoqualmie, Wash., east of Seattle. All but two employees got their start in computers with Amigas, he said proudly."
http://www.cucug.org/sr/sr0007.html

So what happened?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: amigakidd on April 22, 2008, 11:55:53 PM
They should start advertising to the non-amiga users.
Look at the Nintendo Wii ads, targeting old people, women, kids, and a broader demographic.

Look at Apple iPod ads, chic advertising targeting again to the the broader demographic.

If I were Billy, I'm going to first get a low-cost modern Amiga machine ready, market it to the masses (see above).
Become a fad for a while (See Above), then Mainstream.
Both companies (Above) used to be in either distant 3rd place in their markets or didn't have mass appeal until they did. I think Amiga can too. Start simple. The problem with Amiga Inc is that they think about these grand plans that are too overwhelming, but they are unable to start it.
They should move away from PPC and start using Intel, it worked for Apple. Keep 68k as emulation. Sorry I'm not a CEO, but If I were him, I'll start marketing Amigas to the community and the masses in general.
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: mike- on April 23, 2008, 12:08:44 AM
Just "moving" to intel would be to "easy".
Not to revolutionary, what was the name of that thing bbrv was pimping that used pci-e as a interface to connect different platforms into one system?
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Dandy on April 23, 2008, 07:59:23 AM
Quote

odin wrote:

I still say A.Inc. simply is a money laundering operation, I can't think of any other logical explanation why they'd still be afloat after so much incompetence.



That's precisely what a friend of mine and I suspected already back in 1999, when it became known that Amino was going to buy Amiga:
We thought its just a tax writedown model/operation...
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Dandy on April 23, 2008, 08:02:50 AM
Quote

Andeda wrote:

The ONE person who was behind these new amiga computers got divorced or something  :-)



So he now should have much more time to get things done much quicker...
 :-P
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Dandy on April 23, 2008, 10:26:24 AM
Quote

nasty wrote:
@ TiredOLife :lol: but......

Quote


the Titantic, due to set sale on the 30th of February.



Think there's more chance of buying the titantic than buying an amiga from amiga inc!
...



Yeah - I can remember a report on German TV about how the Titanic was built (about one year ago). There it was said that someone is planning to build a "new" Titanic until 2012 - the original "Titanic's" 100th anniversary...
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: Fransexy_ on April 23, 2008, 10:42:58 AM
Quote

hsv5000 wrote:
Apple figured it out why can't Amiga? use the hardware that everyone else is using!
Focus on the OS...... Its that simple enough? :idea:



APPLE BUYS PA SEMI  (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/04/23/apple-buys-pasemi-tech-ebiz-cz_eb_0422apple.html) :roll:
Title: Re: So what happened to these new Amigas?
Post by: monami on April 23, 2008, 11:08:17 AM
is there anything the community can do against amiga inc for the way they carry out there buisness? even if it's not in the legal forum. i'd like to petition them...

can you please sell amiga to someone who gives a stuff?