CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[nyteschayde]

Thanks Barry for the time and Q&A. You stated

                                 

Why did you use name AMIGA for a PC computer that neither its operational system, architecture nor a case even in the smallest way has any connection with Amiga?
          I think of the Amiga more as a concept, rather than it must be this hardware or that software. I believe the Amiga’s essence is encapsulated as a beautiful, high-performance, home computer for creativity and entertainment. The VIC line is represented as something more affordable and more compact.

   
The funny thing is he is an Amiga and Commodore fan with a realist approach to which hardware will be useful. The annoying thing for most Amiga fans is that it really offers very little difference from running UAE on your own home Windows PC. The reason this is annoying is that we so dearly want the Amiga brand name to stop being reinvented by companies who buy it and have no interest in existing Amiga operating systems that most Amiga fans still want to interact with.

This is a really strange state of things. We'd like someone with money to burn to fund further development of what we like to use on original Amiga hardware or derivatives that emulate or work with original Amiga software. Part of the dream and memories of the original Amiga for many of us, was the software more than the hardware. Jens of Individual Computers for example, and the Natami and Minimig  teams all want new hardware to accurately and quickly run the old  software. For most Amiga users, the desire to run modern OSes on their classic or neo-classic hardware is not a concern. We have modern PCs for that.

With CUSAs reinvention of the Amiga and Commodore, Barry is recreating the hardware and not the software. Therein lies the conundrum. Therein lies the source of anger, angst and misunderstanding. As far as business goes, he is taking care of himself while trying to be polite. Most of us are angry because, once again, someone is taking the Amiga name and promoting it without keeping the essence of most of us consider to be the spirit of the Amiga (i.e. the software).

As frustrating as it is, it's hard to fault Barry for his efforts and ideas. If I had the money I'd have gone a completely different route, but I don't and therefore can't.

[nyteschayde]

Again, sorry but that's not what came across to me at all!

Trust me, I don't like what he's doing either. But in his own way, he see's it as though he is honoring the Amiga and the C64. He didn't realize and doesn't care that he is hurting our vision of the Amiga and Commodore because truthfully it's not a profitable market. He is running a business not a fan shop.

Again, I hate the approach he is taking but it's his money.

Does it bother me that the name is being tainted? Yes.
Do I wish he'd support the Amiga OS? Yes!! Will he? No.
Can all my whining and complaining do anything other than make me look bad? Probably not.

The guy is in a business to make money. He doesn't really care what we want to happen. He has offered to make a machine for us if we make it profitable for him. There was never any real quote for the unit prices he kept talking about in his offers, but nonetheless money is his bottom line. From a business stand point, it makes perfect sense.

It just also happens to hurt the image of the Amiga OS and our feelings. It also just happens that we're the ones keeping the Amiga OS alive and kicking. What that means is we should simply find a way to persevere like we have thus far. When the Natami is available for widespread consumption we can blog, post and advertise to the best of our ability that machines like that preserve the spirit of the Amiga; it's OS.

[nyteschayde]

I know what you're saying and I agree. I said above I would never do what he is doing even if I had the money. I don't have 9K to burn on making a better Amiga (by that I mean a real one that actually runs the software).

Because of some of the points he made as to not being able to use the OS for day to day work, which for me means a fast standards compliant web browsers with modern programming languages and development support, I cannot justify even spending 9K on the best Amiga OS machine out there. The X1000 doesn't even do what I need to do on a day to day basis (but it does cost less than 9K).

The thing that sucks the most is that he really is replacing the memory of these great machines with his vision which is semi-modern hardware in a box with a name on it. That's it. Yes he has some skins on Unix and/or Windows but that's nothing really. It's a half-hearted attempt at pleasing people like us; which it never will.

He is not recreating any hardware, these are off the shelf Wintel components and a lightly [badly] skinned Linux DVD-R.

I have $9000 spare, a better skinned version of a more popular OS but I don't feel like.....

1. raping the memory of an awesome 80s computer
2. destroying 68k Amigas to house PC motherboards inside their cases*
3. selling WinUAE running Wintel box as an Amiga

*(which would be worth more than his rubbish HTPC cases)

[nyteschayde]

At the very least they should get Amithlon legal and then update it for i7/Phenom motherboard chipsets.

Nothing would make me happier than that. But again he doesn't even care about AmigaOS at all. Period. It's useless to him. Not to us, but it is to him. If he did that he would only be pleasing us, not the drones out there buying his hardware.

It would be a waste of money. If we could get the talented devs here working on a kernel5 for Amithlon or the likes, that would be awesome!

[nyteschayde]

Very well put. That's exactly what I took from the Q/A as well. It's a shame really, but he has the money and the license. We'll have to wait and see and hopefully build something more noteworthy ourselves in the mean time. I honestly believe that the developers and minds here, despite the fact that many of us are bitter and petty in one way or another, are incredibly talented.

The MiniMig, the FPGA Arcade, the Natami and all the products from Individual Computers, OS4, MorphOS and even, dare I say it, Elbox go to show the talent that was born from the Amiga environment and OS. We rarely all get along and do have an over diversification of "camps" but when even a few of us put our minds together we accomplish a lot.

Barry can't take that away, even if he lowers the price on his cheap Dell with a boing ball and an embossed Amiga stamp.

And this comes down to what each of us thinks an "Amiga" is or should be. We in the Amiga community expect an "Amiga" to provide something of the experience we think of when using our classic Amigas.

To me, that's the OS interface, the way I interact with it. I don't care if it's 68000, PPC, x86, ARM, some weird "custom chips" or standard PCI equivalents, Zorro, ISA, PCI-Express, or whatever. Give me the OS, without some other OS involved, and I'll happily believe I'm using what I consider to be an "Amiga".

Some people think that some weird "custom chip" that isn't present in any other computer is an absolute requirement. I don't understand that today, but they are welcome to their opinion. These people would cry foul if I called my own computer design an "Amiga" because it would lack something "custom". And I'd say they were wrong to discredit my invention because it is designed to run AmigaOS4. (The only thing about my mental design that is NOT a bog standard PC is the PowerPC processer. Other than that I embrace mass market off-the-shelf hardware, and only that because I have no other choice)

Barry seems to think is "Amiga" concept is what he believes to be a high-end PC running modern OS features. Not everyone has agreed that the boards/CPUs he has chosen to sell are what they all believe to be "high end". Barry doesn't seem to think that the OS or user interaction needs to have any resemblance whatsoever to the user experience we remember and desire, and that's my biggest problem with his "Amiga". I'm happy to see that they all seem to have come to their senses regarding the $25000 luxury computer BS. I don't think any of us remember reading about that as a crazy video editing rig any more than he seems to remember saying some of the other BS things that went around.

He has a legal license to go around telling us that his "concept" is indeed an "Amiga". Sure, we can all grumble about it, but we can't really say he's wrong, no matter how much we hate the situation. If your philosophy disagrees with his concept, yes do not buy it. Maybe it won't sell enough to continue, and we'll see the situation change again in a couple years. Maybe enough outsiders will agree with his concept for his business to do well, and they'll all think we're a bunch of weirdos for holding on to 1987. (Because so many are ignorant that "legitimate" things lasted after that)

What happens if we're right and his business fails? Does the name go into legal limbo, with bitter people unwilling to release rights to newcomers, keeping it locked out of anyone's reach? Might we see something new and agreeable come up? We'll have to see.

[nyteschayde]

I feel it's a shame that the Amiga brand could'nt of been attracthed to something more special, if I had to pick one company that deservers the Amiga and maybe even more the commodore name and go back to its roots, it would be the raspberry Pi, cheap, low cost computer made for kids to get back into programing and made for the masses at just £22.

Not to derail the thread, but god I'll be happy when mine finally arrives. Perhaps we can outdo Barry with a distribution of Raspberry Pi / AROS / Amithlon machines put together in Shapeways 3D printed cases for $100. See how many of those get sold vs. a $2000 rebranded Dell.