jtsiren wrote:
Are you really claiming that the Amiga 500 was not an exciting piece of technology when it came on the market? Insane. This is exactly what the Amiga was about. Excellence and elegance. It had the best technology and "therefore" the best software. And that is why it sold.
The AmigaOne, on the other hand, is not particularily excellent or elegant. Compared to the current computer market, it is expensive and underperformed. Since this clearly is the case, the point I was trying to make was that perhaps we shouldn't try to associate the name Amiga with this mediocre hardware anymore and instead rely on its strengths such as the operating system and perhaps, if one chooses to think so, the AmigaDE.
But surely, if we are considering the benefits of trademarks for the majority of people, then it is better to choose something that makes the machine seem good. Ie, a name that makes them think of something with decent affordable hardware - even if it is no longer true - rather than a name that says "Well actually, this machine is a bit crap, but you might still want to buy one, maybe". If we're talking in the long run, then remember that most people won't remember the AmigaOS as being good in anyway, and most people don't give a damn about what OS a machine runs.
That the strengths of the platform have changed over the decade is not really that different to other platforms.
Calling a mediocre piece of hardware (and I do appreciate their work in creating it) Amiga just to make it a bit more interesting is, in my opinion, potentially harmful for the trademark in the long run. Short-sighted thinking.
I can see the argument that associating bad hardware with the Amiga trademark is not a good idea. But I don't see something with an 800MHz G4 as bad or even mediocre - the biggest problem is its expense. But I don't think that necessarily harms a trademark, if the 'expense' is associated in some way with 'better' (eg, consider Macs).
and if we must use the name Amiga on hardware, reserve it to some special designs that excel in other merits such as things like the new iMac or many things the Apple does - they use standard hardware too, but at least they preserve their trademark qualities by making it unique in other ways.
Um, Apple use the Mac/Macintosh trademark for all their computers [that run MacOS], and not just odd ones like the iMac. And then when they released a different OS, they called that MacOS too. The AmigaOne will be just as "unique" from most computers as Macs are.
Do we really want people to think yesterdays expensive hardware in a standard PC box when they hear the word Amiga?
Do people think this when they think of Macs? Some do, certainly, but plenty don't..
[/quote]
