New Hyperion Entertainment Website http://a-eon.com/ - The Mystery Continues

[chiark]

In today's market, computer makers dont only compete to make computers better, but also cheaper. So I hope Hyperion will be following that too...
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I personally hope Hyperion don't compete on price: they can't.  And neither did the Amiga.  They can compete on value though.  The A1000 was hugely expensive...  The next machine, "for the masses", was expensive compared to other "home" computers such as Spectrums or 64s.

Let's see what Hyperion have come up with, understand what it costs and then work out if it's worth it.  They're not daft, they know they need a business case for this and if they've got investment in this day and age it means they've convinced someone!

I'm intrigued as to what this will be, and am hopeful.  if it's something that can put the fun back in computing, I'm behind it all the way

[chiark]

What if this machine comes along doing something that no other machine can do?  That would be utterly gobsmacking, and is teetering on the very edge of possibility...  And what if the machine could also run everything people know and currently tolerate, becoming the first computer in the home, not the fourth?

Don't ask me what that "something" might be, because I don't know
...but it's what the A1000 did.

If it doesn't do something exceptional (which is the word they use), then it's all just marketing and bluster.

Market share is critical, for sure, but what's the market: is it every computer user, every geek, every former Amiga owner?  The value proposition is different for each, and that can radically skew the perceived value and acceptable price point.

Fun debate, and at last some possibility of something that's a spiritual successor to the Amiga, maybe?

[chiark]

Using which OS? :-)

In all seriousness, does it matter?  An Amiga traditionally is an OS tied closely to hardware so perhaps it does...

That's just it, I don't think there is a "something" in 2010.

I'm hoping it's just down to my lack of imagination rather then there being no room for innovation/revolution in the computing marketplace... I am prepared for disappointment

Port OpenOffice, get flash and java working, without those three there's zero chance of being a "first computer."  Even then it's a long road.  I'm still in contact with a lot of ex-Amigans, none of whom are in a hurry to remove the "ex," another ridiculously overpriced machine like Sam isn't going to bring them back.

Agreed wholeheartedly.  Hopefully Hyperion are aware of this, otherwise they've been deluding themselves and their financial backers.

Something in the netbook price range might, if it did interesting things...

I'd pay more for something that was revolutionary, or even significantly evolutionary.  (Yes, I own a mac and I'm aware that makes me an idiot in some people's eyes )

But the OS is going to have to give up a lot of the anachronisms Amigans like to be popular...

Possibly.  But if it works, who cares?  it's a tool...

[chiark]

With $400 you get one hell of a PC motherboard.... You think this Nemo thing or whats it called will be as powerful for that price?

But they're not selling you a motherboard - there's plenty of others that will do that.  As I understand it, and I am probably wrong , they're selling you the whole shebang much like Apple does.

People complain apple is expensive, but it does what it does very well.

It will be interesting to see what this does.

Part of me thinks that the difference is that this really is a reconfigurable computer (FPGA) which is why they're excited to see what people will do with it...  But I guess it's got some power to back it up too, and the OS to support such a thing?

Tomorrow will be interesting, that's for sure.  I just hope it's not too much of a disappointment.

[chiark]

I have to disagree that the Amiga never competed on price. It always did. Comparing it to the Spectrum/64 - still available at the A1000 introduction is unfair.

True, but people are saying that they'd only consider investing in something at netbook money...  netbooks are in my view crippled pcs, and like an 8 bit computer compared to the amiga at the time of launch (ok, that's hyperbole, but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say )

There will always be a low end with a price point.  There will always be a high end, which will have a more varying pricepoint IMHO...

Alas, that was then, and this is now. ;-/  The marketplace is different. A new machine has to be able to support all the media standards on the web - a huge software requirement right out of the gate... tricky....

Fully agree: if this thing doesn't support a decent browser and multimedia - and in some people's eyes the browser is the OS - then it will be tricky.

Interesting views, interesting debate!

[chiark]

Back in the period 95 to 00, people laughed at the price of prelude sound cards, picasso iv, cyberstorms, a1200s and a4000s. They were never cheap. It was the software and OS which made it worth it.

It was the complete package that made it worth it, like the Mac does nowadays IMHO.

Indeed...  I remember reviewing the Cyberstorm 060 and Cybervision 64 for CU Amiga (Aug 1995): the CyberStorm was £949, and the Cybervision was £329.  At the time, a graphics card for the PC with the very same graphics chip and memory would have been about half the price...

Nigh on £1300 for a processor and graphics card.

And that was fifteen years ago!

[chiark]

I don´t agree with that. If you are focusing on portability, netbooks are unbeatable.

True.  They changed the market radically from ultra portables being ultra expensive to being ultra affordable almost overnight.  I've been a fan of ultraportables since the Libretto 50...  Full disclosure - I collect the libretto series and have from the 50ct through to the U100

But should Amiga be a netbook competitor?  Should that be the primary marketplace that Hyperion aims for?  I personally think not.  That's not to say I wouldn't *finally* love a portable Amiga!