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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Announcements and Press Releases => Topic started by: Bobsonsirjonny on November 03, 2002, 04:12:44 AM
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AmigaAnywhere is to be marketed and distributed by Microsoft. The Amiga name and boing ball will feature heavily on the packaging. Amiga/Developers get the royalties.
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:|
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NOW we're talking!
That's THE PR-machine of the world after all.
I wonder how AInc pulled that one off... Let's wait
for actual quotes of Fleecy's speech.
(By the way, why didn't anyone post about this until NOW? Were you all sleeping on the show or what?!)
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SlimJim
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Wow if this is true then... what does this mean for Aos5. This will have the power to link with everything out there and surely that makes windows look pants... surely M$ aren't going to let it get in the way of .Net or is this a way to keep their hands on our crown jewels. :-o
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I'm..... confused.... must fight revulsion..... Microsoft bad? Microsoft good?..... Time for Guru Meditation.......
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Yes......Thats whats buggin me. What does M$ get out of it. If Amiga developers get the royalties then surely more people will move back towards Aos.!!!
Why would M$ help us come back unless Gatesy is a closet Amigafile....No ....it's late and I'm dreaming again. :-?
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Ok, where's the winking eye emoticon. I didn't see this posted elsewhere.
Maybe someone forgot the 'Entertainment Pack' after Amiga Anywhere. Planet Zed all over again.
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Someone explain to me what M$ gets out of all of this? There's something missing. I don't know what to think. I guess it's good, even though I hate M$ as a company.
:-? :-?
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Whenever M$ is involved I get rather jumpy and this won't be an exception...
I just hope Amiga Inc. know what they're doing... (ok ok bad use of words :-P )
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Wait till the transcript comes out :) Or go into general discusion and read the WOASE threads.
I'm off to bed - cos I have a big drive tommorow :-) Night night everyone zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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I assume MS get good PR. You know that whole convicted monopoly thing... Not that they probably aren't thinging 5 or so years ahead.... ;-)
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What does M$ get out of it.
Content for their Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms, which makes them more attractive to consumers. Amiga OS is a desktop OS, so Microsoft will not lose out there, as this is in a different market. Microsoft needs content to help kickstart their platform and compete against other OS's in that space. Amiga Anywhere is a good way to provide that content.
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Oh no...me scared!
Mommy told me there wasn`t any real bogeymen...but I`ve seen Bill Gates on the TV so they are real! ;-)
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Fleecy said that Microsoft expect to shift 7million XDAs and 30million smartphones over the next year or two. Thats a BIG market. All of which will be able to use Amiga game packs.
Microsofts marketing muscle will ensure that these are in stores alongside the MS based hardware.
Retail giants such as CompUSA and Walmart will have Amiga branded goods on the shelves, increasing awareness of Amiga. :-)
MS on the other hand get fast, good quality content.
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This sucks big time! The Amiga brand name on Microsoft products... How low can you go? I'm proud to have been an Amigan from 1986 to end 2002.
Maybe some should wake up and get a bit realistic here. Microsoft has so much money that they can afford making deals with EVERYONE. If they produce a console (the xbox) then they can afford to buy half of the game production houses to make exclusives to their ####ty console. Do you really honestly think that AmigaDE is important for MShit? It's just ### peanuts...
Here in Belgium, they once invested big (well big in normal people's view) money into a speech company. And everyone thought: Wow, they must be good as mshit is putting their money in it. They will survive for sure. Later, the company went bust. But did mshit care? This is just a daily routine for them.
And i still wonder: where are all these good programs developed for AmigaAnywhere which are going to be published by the "wonderful" MS?
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Poster: L8-X Date: 2002/11/3 9:12:05
Oh no...me scared!
Mommy told me there wasn`t any real bogeymen...but I`ve seen Bill Gates on the TV so they are real!
(http://users.volja.net/habatter/gates2.jpg)
:-D
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@z5:
This sucks big time! The Amiga brand name on Microsoft products... How low can you go? I'm proud to have been an Amigan from 1986 to end 2002.
Big difference between Amiga name on Microsoft products and Microsoft marketing behind Amiga products, you know. Or maybe you don't.
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@Elektro
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
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@olegil:
Big difference between Amiga name on Microsoft products and Microsoft marketing behind Amiga products, you know. Or maybe you don't
Well, olegil, we can't all be soooo smart as you (or at least as you claim to be ;-) ).
Cool, ms marketing behind fantastic DE products. Woooow...
Well, if you wonder how Amiga Inc achieved this, then maybe you should keep in mind that MS has the money to buy or partner with anyone.
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> Here in Belgium, they once invested big (well big in normal people's view) money into a
> speech company. And everyone thought: Wow, they must be good as mshit is putting their
> money in it. They will survive for sure. Later, the company went bust. But did mshit care?
> This is just a daily routine for them.
M$ aren't putting money into AInc. They are putting AInc products into shops, and taking a share of the income from sales. This means that AInc will sell more units. Possibly vastly more. Which means more income. All this without MS gaining any direct control of AI. I understand how the word "Microsoft" can give one the heebie-jeebies, but having their marketing department pushing your goods can NOT be a bad deal for a relatively small and upstart company like AI.
Kay
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Ok, and where are these products they are going to market?
Game pack 1 and 2 which each 4 games...that's it? Or have i missed something?
IF Amiga Inc had some mindblasting cool games waiting to get advertised, then they would probably sell more this way...
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@z5
> And i still wonder: where are all these good
> programs developed for AmigaAnywhere which
> are going to be published by the "wonderful" MS?
Hmmm... you don't think MS might have asked the
same question at one point? You don't find it a little
telling that they obviously was content enough with
the answer to strike a deal such as this?
What do you think?
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SlimJim
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The Amiga brand name on Microsoft products...
Actually it is the other way around. But Microsoft has been an Amiga developer/publisher before (http://raggedtiger.tripod.com/amiga.html).
This deal only makes sure AmigaDE developers will have access to a very viable consumer market and widely available retail channels.
Other companies will take notice of Amiga as well, as IMO most computing related companies suffer from a tunnel vision syndrome (what are the folks at Microsoft doing today?).
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This deal only makes sure AmigaDE developers will have access to a very viable consumer market and widely available retail channels.
Good point...but i do keep wondering why the DE developers haven't managed to make any software yet. Where is all the software that MS are going to promote? Productivity software anyone? What about the next developper kit promised by Amiga Inc some years ago? Is it still coming... Are there any DE developpers out there anyway?
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ignore me ;) "The WoAse2002 show " report I found online turned out not to be for this show!
-Bridge
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Uhm, that must be pretty old.
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I hate M$ :-(
I hope that is a nightmare.... :-x
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Hoya!
ERK!
M$ NEVER team up with anybody just for fun!!!
They do so just to ASSIMILATE the company they're teaming up with!!!
They've prolly thought: Blimey! That Amiga thing is cool!
LET'S EAT IT!!!!!!!!!
I don't think that's good, really...
:evil: :evil: :evil:
M A D
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but i do keep wondering why the DE developers haven't managed to make any software yet.
There are two different kinds of AmigaDE developers (although there is some overlap). Those who add technology enhancement to the AmigaDE and content developers.
The first entertainment pak is pretty good IMO, the second one will contain 4 other good games as well. For a review of Crossword Evolution read further here (http://www.getboinged.org/gbnews.asp?A=194) at GetBoiged. These two "paks" and soon 2 more, will be sold through Microsoft's retail channels.
There have been several teasers for PDA/cellphone targeted software titles currently under development by the AmigaDE developer community. Among them there are very suitable games for future packs, i.e.
Brain Teaser (http://www.getboinged.org/roundup.asp?A=112) or Jackpot!
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Perfect, M$ get content for PocketPC and smartphone ( used to be incompatible AFAIK ) and DE/AA developers get a larger market. Now we only need a PalmOS version of DE/AA and Amiga will get really big!
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@MikeB:
So in conclusion: 8 games will be sold and later 8 more. That's 16 games (8 of which have been on sale for a long time). That's it really...nothing more is for sale?
I have respect for the few DE developpers out there but i don't think this will set the world on fire...MShite or not...
To sum it up: there is NO DE, no decent developper kit, no software... I'm still trying to figure out how 8 games will generate a huge cash income for Amiga Inc?
The executive update is another bubble of air, with nothing in it. OS4 versions soon to be announced...yeah right...AInc being split into Desktop and DE? What have they ever done for OS4?
I'm not buying it anymore. My only hope is on Hyperion, because i believe they will succeed. Amiga Inc? Who are they?
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but i do keep wondering why the DE developers haven't managed to make any software yet
Don't worry, we *have* managed to make some software :-) Be patient, and you will see...
Where is all the software that MS are going to promote? Productivity software anyone?
It's coming...
One thing you've got to understand, is that the slowdown that affected Amiga has also affected many of the DE developers. How many of us do you think could afford to full time develop content for the Amiga DE when there has been very little revenue coming from there? We still have to pay the bills, put food on the table, and all that. Things are changing, however, and this MS deal is going to make things a *whole* lot easier for us.
Are there any DE developpers out there anyway?
Yep, quite a few on the SDA list...
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@ z5
That is your opinion, IMO having AmigaDE products available through major retail channels is a major milestone for Amiga products during the last 8 years.
Amiga will gain more brand recognition, and with regard to AmigaDE you are IMO just plainly wrong. Both the Amiga team and Tao (http://tao-group.com) have come a long way to make intent/AmigaDE suitable for developers and consumers solutions. Actually they have done an amazing job.
BTW here (http://www.templeoftech.com/articles.cfm?ArticleID=58&PageID=1)'s a half year old interview with Fleecy if you are interested. Also note that Hyperion are also supporting the AmigaDE technology, and AmigaOS4 and the AmigaDE will share common APIs and other source code. Seamless AmigaDE integration into AmigaOS4 is also planned for future AOS releases.
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That is your opinion, IMO having AmigaDE products available through major retail channels is a major milestone for Amiga products during the last 8 years.
Ofcourse it is...i agree...if you HAVE any products available...which, apart from 8 games, theyhaven't. It's just so simple.
And i still can't figure out which benefits AmigaDE integration into OS4 would give us. Playing Planet Zed on our desktop Amigas? No thanks...
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And i still can't figure out which benefits AmigaDE integration into OS4 would give us.
pJava and J2ME support for instance, and lots of other dev tools and technologies like i.e. Renderware or CodeWarrior. When the AmigaDE and intent take of in a great way, AmigaOS will likely greatly benefit from these advancements as well.
Playing Planet Zed on our desktop Amigas? No thanks...
Why not? Planet Zed scales perfectly to higher desktop resolutions, as demonstrated (http://www.aminet.net/pix/mpg/BillTechTV.mpg) by Bill McEwen on TechTV.
Personally I love classic 2D shoot 'em ups, I would love having Planet Zed for AmigaOS4. Actually I am hoping to see a good new Turrican clone for the AmigaDE in the future as well.
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whabang wrote:
Now we only need a PalmOS version of DE/AA and Amiga will get really big!
It seems like the chances of ever seeing that happening are severely reduced with these "news". If that would happen, that would probably result in MS saying "no thank you, we're not interested in distributing your stuff any longer."
"Amiga Anywhere" is not interesting to MS, "Amiga on MS PocketPC/Smartphone" is. The whole idea of AInc adapting Tao's stuff was to allow selling/running the exact same binaries on any platform with the DE/AACE installed. Clearly MS have no interest in selling someone else's apps to people who use platforms from MS's competitors, like Palm users. This distribution deal must be regarding AACE apps/games for AACE-on-MS-platforms. Bye bye "platform independence."
Also, while this is a potentially good deal for AInc, and the developers whose games/apps they distribute, it has nothing to do with AmigaOS. There's no funding or development of that from the trademark licensor AInc.
"The Amiga name and boing ball will feature heavily on the packaging." OH YEAH, ejaculation is imminent, how utterly fantastic news! :-รพ
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As most people seem to have taken this out of context I will try to recount the speech from what I can remember (the speeches wil be out today so you can all hear it from for yourselves)
Simple fact the PDAs and Smartphones on sale at the moment (the PocketPC ones) are very high spec (if you compare to most amigas that people have at the moment)
Eg Ipaq go up to 400Mhz and 64MB ram,
This is to make up for the crap that MS have (in terms of games and other content).
Amiga managed to show the AmigaAnywhere content to MS (I am sure you will here the full story from the speeches but its too long to talk about here).
They loved it as you could just use the same memory card in most of their devices, and the other memory card (they have Compact flash and a Secure digiatl version - IIRC),
not only that but the content was so much better in terms of quality and speed compared to what they have, that they made an agreement to get it out in the big wild world.
SO they get better content which will help sell their PDAs (they will be bringing out their own PDAs and Smartphones at really cheaper prices as they think the other major companies sell them for too much and so they dont get to the ordinary people who like playing games - which is what most of the AA content is at the moment).
One example of MS Smartphone can be found on the Orange (http://www.orange.co.uk) website. look out for the SPV near the bottom of the page.
This will run the AA content as it has a Secure Digital slot and as it runs PocketPC you can us the current AA game packs.
SO MS DO THE SELLING AND NOTHING ELSE (for the moment).
Amiga get royalties for each pack sold (and so do the developers).
All this marketing with hardly any work (other then developing more content and supplying it - IE NO MORE LOOKING FOR NEW CHANNELS TO SELL THE STUFF).
With the (hopefully) money rolling in, they can also concentrate more on AmigaOS and getting it to be the best host for AA (or should that be DE).
Theres lots more too it but as it will be out on the web soon (as mp3 I think), your just going have to wait.
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@ Seehund
"Amiga Anywhere" is not interesting to MS, "Amiga on MS PocketPC/Smartphone" is.
Of course Microsoft will not use its marketing muscle to promote rival products, but Amiga Inc isn't tied to Microsoft neither. There is more stuff in the works, stay tuned. :-D
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Well if they can get Amiga DE (and its content) on Palm OS powered PDAs, I'll support the Amiga Anywhere initiative, but I surely ain't going to buy no Pocket PC powered PDA!
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Amiga will gain more brand recognition, and with regard to AmigaDE you are IMO just plainly wrong. Both the Amiga team and Tao have come along way to make intent/AmigaDE suitable for developers and consumers solutions. Actually they have done amazing job
You got that right. While we may not be seeing alot of info out of Amiga directly regarding DE/AA, Tao sure has an impressive line up of partners, including a number of gaming companies. Who knows how many of these companies are also looking at using the extra stuff in AmigaDE (is is still called DE or just AA???)
http://tao-group.com/partner_links/partner_links.php (http://tao-group.com/partner_links/partner_links.php)
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Now I read most of this stuff, I'm very excited by this Micro$oft thing. When I first saw their name, I was unsure but is seems like a win-win situation. M$ need Amiga's content and Amiga and developers get money. Lots of it hopefully. Who better than to push your products that the World's biggest PR machine?
(is is still called DE or just AA???)
This is the only thing that bothers me now. I'm a bit lost as to what exactly AmigaAnywhere is. Is it still the 'DE?' Is it still platform independant? If I write a game using the DE SDK, will it run on all these M$ PDA/Smartphones as well as on a desktop machine using the DE Player? Basically, can I 'Write once, Run anywhere?'
Cheers,
J
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what exactly AmigaAnywhere is
AA is an AmigaDE derivative.
AA/DE content is usually platform independent, like for instance Planet Zed being demonstrated, running on both Linux and PocketPC powered PDAs at the WOASE show.
The "Paks" Microsoft will be distributing will only include a PocketPC version of the AmigaDE derivative. So you cannot simply plug such a card into a Linux PDA, at least not without this PDA having the needed AA player pre-installed.
The PocketPC player is a couple of megabytes big, small enough to bundle with 4 games. Ideally target devices would all have the needed AA/DE player pre-installed, as you would then have a couple of spare megabytes on the card to use, and you could easily plug any AA pak into any AmigaDE compatible device, just like Bill demonstrated on the TechTV show.
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It's a joke? A silly joke? Why anybody is saying me that is a very silly joke?
:-?
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Hey guys, remember that Apple teamed up with M$ when they came back from the dead under Steve Jobs. Jobs introduced a "special guest" at a MacWorld Expo, who turned out to be Bill Gates on the big screen. A lot of attendees thought it was a stage act & booed loudly.
Look at Apple now. Teaming up with M$ could make Amiga a stronger company -- and, unlike Apple, we're not getting IE6 rammed down our throats.
Although getting IE6 and Office wouldn't hurt OS4's chances, either. :-D
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How about IE7 on AOS 4.X, PocketPC, PalmOS and Smartphone???
:-D :-D :-D
No wonder Amiga Inc begged people to not port Mozilla... :-P
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Well, IE for Mac isn't half bad. It's a completely different product from IE for Windows. Probably because IE for Windows isn't portable in that way. So they just got someone from the original team to do the rewrite. Opera has also done this in the past. Opera for different platforms had _completely_ different bugs in the rendering engine.
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You guys sound like you've been asleep for the past decade.
MS developed MSBasic for the Amiga and did not buy it... even when it was on sale!
Like all new hardware their PDAs and Phones need content to sell them. MS seriously need AA and AA get a good distribution deal quicker than anyone thought.
Even though MS have the Xbox they still sell dev systems to companies that support rival consoles.
As the retail outlets increase it will look more attractive to other developers. It may also help AI get old Commodore/Amiga back catalogue onto PDA/Smartphone.
With the government watching them MS cannot force the same agreements onto other companies like they used to.
Wake up!!
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My own company has had a so-called partnership with Microsoft. Given that our product is heavily ActiveDirectory-based, you'd think that they would back us, particularly as LDAP is one battle they haven't won.
But when it came to the crunch, Microsoft couldn't resist going in with their own, inferior solution. I should say that not everyone in my company thinks like I do - this is just what I see.
Partnership with Microsoft seems to come with a lot of psychological pressure - some of it comes from Microsoft and a lot of it is from within (how can you not think about how your actions will be judged by the biggest software company in the world?)
But while I saw little reward from MS, they wanted to know, for instance, why we still had a partnership/OEM agreement with this other company. That partnership was solid and historic and Microsoft didn't even have a product that could really compete.
So after a while, you start asking "should we be selling this? should we be doing this? What will they think if we do this?" Our J2EE-based product was certainly a victim of that.
So when it comes to a company like Amiga, however subtle the pressure from Microsoft, how can they not question supporting or partnering with Microsoft's competitors in the real heart of Microsoft's world?
If, as a company, you start to restrict your decisions, and limit your horizons based on another's influence and your own paranoia, you lose sight of what's best for yourself.
I'm happy to say that we've changed our strategy and sanity has returned, but there's one less J2EE product on general sale as a result.
Of course, being Amiga should come with a strong sense of identity, but they need to have a REALLY clear idea of who they are and where they are going, and be prepared to stick to it.
Chris
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Think of it like this - by encouraging a potential competitor they are trying to show that they don't have quite such a monopoly on the emerging hardware platforms that Amiga Anywhere targets.
No monopoly no expensive court bills.
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Are there any DE developpers out there anyway?
Yes, there are more active DE developers than you may suspect. Some of their names you probably recognize, others of us hope to become recognized as time goes on.
As for the Microsoft announcement; I am extreamly excited. As a software developer for a major US corporation, the possiblity of forming my own company to develop software that "I want to make" is very exciting. Amiga is providing that opportunity for me and anyone else who wants go along for the ride. Microsoft is providing one of the avenues down which we may travel and hopefully prosper.
NOW is the time stop bemoaning past mistakes and get involved, in any way you can, in creating Amiga's future. It's either that or get out of the way so the rest of us can do it ;-)
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"AACE porting to OS4 started" now, that would be BIG NEWS. Too bad that it's just my hallucination...
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Seem's to me, something that I've read or heard, that Bill gates had something to do with the original Amiga OS way back when(in the A1000 days) that may apply today, legaley or whatever. Sorry for any misspellling.
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M$ developed th OS for C=64, but that's OT.
What does M$ get out of this? A percentage (Or maybe AI is paying them a distribution fee?). They also get some credibility in a new market where they had none before. They also get what they got from Apple: More proof that they are NOT a monopoly :roflmao:
Still, I was watching that new version of "It's A Wonderful Life" with Bill Gates as Old Man Potter and Amiga Bill as Uncle Billy. I remember the scene in the bank, as Uncle Billy sees Old Man Potter near the tellers
UNCLE BILLY: "Well hello, Mr.Potter! How are things today? Have you heard the latest from those Amiga boys? They're pretty hot stuff! Here, hold our entire product line for a minute so I can show you what's in today's paper! Looks like content, Mr. Potter, content in areas you never could have gotten into on your own. Well, just goes to show that you just can't keep those Amiga boys down. Come and see us if you need a loan in the future! Good day, Mr. Potter!
(Wait... Now where did I put that product line?)"
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Sorry. Must've nodded off in front of the telly again.
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>Someone explain to me what M$ gets out of all of >this? There's something missing. I don't know what to >think. I guess it's good, even though I hate M$ as a >
company.
good promotion, they show that beside Windows still other operation systems are existing.
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Poster: mos107 Date: 2002/11/3 6:37:04
As most people seem to have taken this out of context I will try to recount the speech from what I can remember (the speeches wil be out today so you can all hear it from for yourselves)
Any idea where we can get these mp3's? I'd like to play them for my non-Amiga buddies. :-)
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Maybe this is the last chance for Amiga to survive, but even that, I don't like the idea of my monies going to M$ pocket, direct or indirectly speaking. :-(
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Man, the RAM chip in my computer goes bad and I'm offline for 4 days and look what happens.
Well, I for one am wary of M$. They have a track record of pulling the rug out from under companies. But on the other hand, this can be a god thing.. a VERY good thing for AI. Shelf space in CompuUSA and "WallyWord" (Wal*Mart)? Hmmm... Can't beat that.
I support the idea, but would say be cautious and watch them.