Will Amiga ever live again?
Depends what you mean by live, and based on that definition you may even find that it never died.
(Amiga = the Amiga platform.)
Will Amiga systems be successful?
That depends on how low your expectations are. I look at the new systems as life preservers, enough to keep the community afloat until........until we have a cunning plan.
Will Amiga reach its former heights?
Well, obviously no. You'd need to sell millions apon millions and Eyetech are even fretting over a measly 10 thousand units.
Will Amiga ever have the number of users it once had?
No, of course not. Lucky if you get 1% of old users back and even then out of curiosity.
Will it ever be as powerful as other systems?
No. Eyetech and Genesi will never be able to keep up with even PowerPC chips, and the PowerPC chip will be lucky to even keep up with x86 clones.
Will it ever be a cheaper alternative to other systems?
No. Unless it sits on the shelf for a couple of years.
Then why get one???
Well this all comes down to the Amigan philosophy.
IMHO Amigans consider themselves the underdog. Amigans identify strongly with the prominent computer of their youth sorta like musical taste. Amigans triumphed over the ST and the PC owners in many aspects in the early nineties and considered themselves unique. Amigans identified with the underdog and the success story that was Amiga. Some people think they can do it again, or at least have fun trying. If its a matter of being a mini-me-too, then that's just fine as well. Everything old is new again, and exciting times playing catch up can be had.
That's why I think people use Linux too, they identify with their community and are willing to put up with its shortcomings, while attempting to bridge the gap and beat Goliath. We all know Windows is good enough, but I'll be damned if I knowingly make Bill Gates richer. You can get close to Windows, on a miniscule budget, which says a lot.
Will Amiga ever have a decent browser, a decent Office Suite and decent development tools?
YES!!! Because when left to their own devices and unshackled by corporate considerations Amigans band together to make what seems impossible, possible. It wasn't Amiga that made it possible, IT WAS AMIGANS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE!!! Its only a matter of time, and a final OS4 release combined with new uA1 hardware may just prove the catalyst.
I think that the only way to get ahead of the pack in terms of hardware, is to jump onto someone else's proprietry hardware, and build a new Amiga based on one of the next gen PowerPC consoles, like Sony's or Nintendo's. In this case the move to PPC was merely step one, ie Amiga ONE. I want Amiga TWO on kickass console hardware(with higher specced options). With a single hardware base we wouldn't be in the gfx and sound support mess we have now. I wish the companies would get out of the hardware game altogether and leverage what is already out there more. I know, x86 is out of the question, almost like conceding defeat for some, but there must be other PPC alternatives. Surely, Eyetech and Genesi can't be the only people making PPC hardware. I don't care if they're just resellers. Let others with the muscle produce the hardware and leverage it.
I think we should just support the current hardware on the A1 TO THE MAX for now and not expend too much effort on supporting everything under the sun, for instance, the uA1s built in sound and graphics, as well as 3d, and that will be fine until we can figure out what to do about producing a killer Amiga TWO in a couple of years. It'll be fun for a while just to see what can be done with the new machines, even if we can't directly hit the hardware.
If you buy a new Amiga, intend to join in on the fun, because we're in for quite a ride, bumpy or otherwise for many years to come. And in that regard THE AMIGA AIN'T DEAD!!! It really can't get any worse than it has been either.
