The $500 000 Question: How much is Amiga *worth*?

[stopthegop]

That's the reason I keep tell people to put their money where their mouth is.

I know I have.  2 A1200s, one in a tower with PPC and mediator, another w/ stock case with a P5 1260 and BvisionPPC.  And one totally loaded A4000T with every conceivable upgrade you can imagine.  No warez, all legit software.  Almost all of it I bought new from Dealers.  

If when you say "put your money where your mouth is" you mean toward actually buying Amiga Inc. and starting work on a new hardware design?  For one thing, I don't think its even officially for sale, which makes this whole discussion kind of polymical, doesn't it?  Secondly, I really wish I had that kind of money because if I did, I would.

[stopthegop]

Thats certainly true.

[stopthegop]

A flashy design saving an embattled brand of computing. Can you say Apple?

I want a computer not mother-in-law in a box.  Sorry, I'm just not into that scene at all.  I think Apple has nothing but contempt for its users, frankly.  I have some family members who are recovering Mac users.  Not sure what they have now..  Anyway, I digress..

I'm with you on the philosophy bit..  

[stopthegop]

I fail to see how expertise can make up for the lack of information.Do you KNOW how much Amiga,Inc. paid for the OS writing contracts or the contract terms,or what debts otherwise exist,or any other private information/See a privately held company can keep information to themselves.
I have seen several large building contactors whom everyone thought were riding high turn out to be extremely bankrupt. Their whole operations turned ought to be really leveraged with Other People's Money. REALLY OPM,that they had no right to use.Some of the officials are doing prison time now.
NOT implying Amiga,Inc is in that position,but without information even experts can only make a W.A.G.

This is all in the realm of hypothetical anyway; chill.   Like you said, lots of variables we just don't know about.  The whole discussion is based on "what-ifs", things we don't know and can't predict.  The only real constant I think is that all of us would like to see new, futuristic, differentiated Amiga hardware.  Or maybe we don't all share that desire, dunno..?  Either way, I think discussions such as this are a healthy way of examining the myriad of possible contingencies.  A way of predicting the future by a series of educated guesses.  I see it as a way to identify possible failures, hopefully with enough foresight to preempt them.      

[stopthegop]

if there were more people interested in actual computers and not just using them for mudane tasks, the amiga scene would be much larger.

I agree.  Unfortunately the herds of sheeple seem to prefer mundane tasks to ones which require a cerebrol cortex.