>You people just have the thickest brains I've ever
> seen.... Exactly what _in your opinion_ do you
>concider to be worthy of being called "Amiga
>Hardware"
?
Well, for the sake of argument, lets just stick to the word Amiga. I will offer you my opinion on the matter, what is worthy of being called an Amiga. Obviously this is not to question the trademark holders legal right to decide for themselves. It is just my personal opinion on how to preserve (and what is) the value of the trademark.
I think the original point in this thread was well made. It is a pity that just about anything can be called an Amiga these days given sufficient licensing. And people readily accept this as well.
What used to make the word Amiga so special was the fact that it used to represent technological excellence. Yes, the custom chips were one brilliant thing. Today they are a hinderance, sure, but when the Amiga was originally sold it was a strong point - but then, on this we do agree.
Some of what I see now associated with the word Amiga is technology that is not interesting nor exciting nor particularily excellent in my opinion. What we have seen of the AmigaDE is mediocre at best. The AmigaOne represents, in terms of its PC related hardware (old AGP, old USB, etc.), adequate but yesterdays technology. PowerPC is nice, but the arguments for x86 are pretty convincing as well. Name one thing the board has special to warrant calling it Amiga. Why not just call it the Teron-CX.
The point? I think Seehund and his petition have one. There are no more Amigas. Perhaps that is they way it should be, if we want to continue to associate the name with technological excellence. Since it is not feasible to develop new custom chips, one avenue of creating interesting hardware is pretty much closed. Another one, creating something special based on standard parts, like the Pegasos Microwave (but that's just silly) or the eclipsis doesn't seem to be really realistically looked into as a new "Amiga". Something I think should be called an Amiga is something like iMac (just an example of a special design) running AmigaOS even if it was based on standard parts since it had special design and thus is interesting and has some innovation and excellence built in...
AmigaOS on the other hand, could run on supported hardware and they could continue to develop the OS into a direction we and the rest of the marked would associate with similar values as the original Amiga - technological excellence. AmigaOS 4.0 may not get us there yet, but it is a starting point. There, I think, the word Amiga still has a meaning. It is Amiga.
AmigaDE, well, who knows what will come of that but it could get better. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, which given their track-record is a lot, maybe it will mature some day into something that we can all associate with technological excellence and thus gladly with the name Amiga as well.
But as for Amiga hardware, well, I'm not sure if they are doing the name Amiga any favours by making it synomyous with hardware that is not excellent nor exciting nor interesting except to a few diehards. I'm not saying it won't sell some, and I do appreciate the effort that went into it, but I still wonder if it wouldn't be better to call it something completely else and just let AmigaOS run on it.
That way the name Amiga could continue to mean something it used to mean in the past. Calling something pretty uninteresting Amiga to make it more interesting seems like a pretty short-sighted marketing decision to me. It may damage the trademark. For some, I'm sure it will damage the trademark.
Today the interest is there. People are looking forward to seeing a new Amiga. It will turn heads. But when they see a standard motherboard with yesterdays specs they will no longer continue to associate the Amiga with such technological excellence as they used to. Or at least this is the reaction I fear many will have. Whether or not I'm proven wrong or right remains to be seen.
So, what exactly do I think should be called Amiga? Something special and related to the original Amiga in one form or another. If all they can manage to do in a special way is software like the OS or even the DE, perhaps they should stick to calling that Amiga and making it as special as possible, not everything they can get their licensing policies applied to.
But then, licensing is about money, so I'm sure these concerns will pretty much fall on deaf ears. I hope it is not too shortsighted a view. At least I know many people who pretty much think of the Amiga as a joke nowadays due to all the efforts that have been assocaited with the name in the past... For some, it has ceased to mean anything special.
And that, indeed, like someone posted up there, is a pity.
