I saw the A1000 in a store I guess in 1985 or so and I was totally blown away by it. I wanted it so bad. But I could never convince my parents to get me any kind of computer, even though I wanted one since I was probably 10. So when I finished high school I got my first job delivering pizza, and saved my first paycheques and got an A500 as the first thing I ever spent my own money on. I guess that would be 1988. I really wish I could have gotten one earlier, as I was pretty good with computers and wonder if I could have gotten ahead better in the early days of computing when you could actually invent something unique and gain market share pretty easily. I had a keen interest in developing audio software (that's what I do for a living now).
I sold the A500 and upgraded to an A3000 some time later on... I can't quite remember, but maybe a couple of years later. I loved it, but a year or so later I traded it for a new PC and $1400 as I needed the PC and cash for computer studies. I really wish I never had to sell it, but I guess I had to. Wish I could buy it back now. It was just such a huge part of my life being my first computer, and I always compare every other computer to it, and never feel the same magic. It's the stuff like pull down screens and amiga-n/m that I miss.
Luckily I forced my wife to keep her A2000HD (we actually met and eventually married by meeting on an Amiga chat BBS). I just broke the A2000 out after a 15 year hibernation, and I was surprised how well it still works. I expected the Amiga experience to not be as fond as I remembered given getting used to contemporary systems, but it still does the odd thing better than the stuff I have to use now. Amazing how serviceable it is for a 20 year old system.
I still have a soft spot for the A1000 that I never could get my hands on at the time. Wouldn't mind owning one just as a collector piece.
Maybe one day if I no longer have to work I will get involved in Amiga coding again. I know it's totally pointless but at least you can write some software that fills voids, where other platforms are just flooded with too much software. So it might seem more rewarding and fun, and remind me of those simpler times. I always wanted to do it back then, but didn't have the skill set, but there is still time to fulfill those dreams =). It feels like the only computer I owe something to.
