CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[Digiman]

I read the whole thing and sadly only one fact is now completely apparent.He is quite literally just selling the name 'Amiga' for an exorbitant sum.Anyone could just rebadge a pc and it would be the same exact thing.I really don't see anything of note coming from this company at any point in the future which is made all the more apparent by his answers. I doubt that the name 'Amiga' stuck on a pc is enought to make any headway into the pc market either.These guys will be gone in a short few years.What are they offering over a regular pc to entice new users.So why would anyone want to buy the amiga mini or whatever it's called.Eventually another company might spring up calling themselves commodore and the cycle will continue...

I also got the impression he thinks C=USA is like Apple. Someone should tell him Apple....

1. Use a bespoke unique in-house exclusive OS.
2. Use a bespoke unique in-house designed case.
3. Offer bespoke unique in-house exclusive services to integrate iPad/iPhone/iPod
4. Were around as a company during the birth of the PET and VCS/2600.

C=USA was just some company that used to import furniture from Asia last decade.

[Digiman]

The rainbow coloured ticker has huge appeal in the gay
communities, I know this first... hand... after visiting bars and
nightclubs in Amsterdam and San Francisco, wearing nothing
but a... wearing a dark purple T-shirt with huge Amiga ticker on
the chest. Are you considering the market appeal for "Amiga"
and rainbow ticker in the LGBT communities?
That’s funny. Maybe we should create a line of Amiga clothing
especially for them. I’ll talk to our Director of Social Media and get his
take on this.

Download the linked RTF format doc I converted to search easily

[Digiman]

I guess most of us agree it was a waste of his time given he has spent hours typing up what effectively is confirmation that C=USA Amiga will only ever be branded stock Wintel machines without Windows licence in the box.

I know for a fact if they had produced a replica case with [micro] ATX mountings of say the 1000,500,3000 or 1200 it might have held some interest. That was the only reason 64x sold at all.

VIC Slim and Amiga Mini will be a very rude awakening for C=USA.

However this is not the first time. Anybody remember the Commodore gaming PC line? And remember what happened to them.....

[Digiman]

I'm a linux noob. I've tried a number of linux distros over the years. I find the commodore OS Vision distro fun. Sure, it's not a spectacular feat of engineering but it have the old commodore feel of fun for me.

I just bought an iMac today for $1600. I could have built a similar spec'd x86 machine for half that. But I didn't. And millions of others didn't.

Do you think Dell engineers their own computers? Why hate against a company with enough balls to pony up to pay for the license for the commodore and amiga brands? They have already done more than Amiga inc ever did with it. Sure, it's not the classic Amiga or a new amiga but that will never happen.

I hope they do well. They are no Mehdi Ali or Gould. All profitable home computers these days run on x86 architecture. Macs and PC's. Mobile computing is the future. There are 3 major OS's available these days. Cusa does not need to re-invent the wheel. Just create something that has a sense of style customized with the spirit of Commodore.

A few differences here regarding VIC SLIM & AMIGA MINI (put C64x to one side for now, at least it is unique looking) .

1. They have done less than the producers of x1000 and the SAM460 based 500 thing. Their machines run OS4. They have done less than Hyperion and the MorphOS team on software side. They have done less than Bernie (Amithlon) or AROS team to integrate Amiga OS into regular x86 architecture.

2. Apple iMac $1600 vs MSI Wind AIO $750 is not the same situation. Apple have a unique in house OS with in-house bespoke apps and have a unique case styling. All supported by cloud based services that instantly allow access to say photos taken on iPhone to appear on your iMac via proprietory mods to their OS. I can buy the Amiga Mini case for £75 and an identical motherboard and run Linux on it. Even run XP with an OS4 visual style see?

3. Even going down this x86 route an Amiga in 1988 did MORE than a 286 PC costing twice as much and was nicer to use with superior creative software and far superior games. Now their Amiga costs twice as much and runs the same OS and apps as everyone else.

If he was serious he would offer the same gaming performance as a DELL XPS PC but at significant savings in cost say 33% all in a bespoke unique case. This is nothing more than a quick buck operation raping the brand names from our cherished memories.

His ideas are poorly executed. The VIC SLIM should be a cost reduced Intel i3 2100K based computer in a white C64x case!

[Digiman]

Why stick an "Amiga" sticker on a x86 computer running Linux?  It makes no sense now and never did.

To a business it makes sense (profit selling PCs with Amiga stickers - cost of licensing brand name).

What nobody here appreciates is the lies! Raping the Amiga brand is all C=USA will be doing until they go bankrupt with overpriced tat.

As for the 500 pre-sold finance [held in Escrow] well look I know companies that could recreate boxes/poly inserts/plastic case designs so if people even want that and will pay a deposit you just let me know fellow Amigans

[Digiman]

You know... that one of the things that puzzles me... why hasn't anyone started an open source version of Amithlon. I always thought of Amithlon as the way forward to x86. You have instant compatibility with old software and the means to convert everything to x86 over time. If only I had a clue how to do it...

I guess very few people know both Amiga and x86 Linux in such detail required to replicate Bernie's work in full.

[Digiman]

If Hyperion were involved with Amithlon resurrection I would not purchase it. It is 100% their fault Amithlon died and why Bernie will never release source or update it ever IMO.

[Digiman]

You might want to read how Bernie describes the situation

in his own words

You might want to Google the interview he did just after Amithlon was removed from market.

[Digiman]

Yeah, because paying $10 for the basic version of Amiga Forever is such a hard decision to make.  God help C-USA actually pay someone for their OS content.

If (big if) C=USA have Kickstart included in unit/volume licensing they don't need Amiga Forever legally.

However on the other hand they need to supply digital copies of the ROMs with each computer rather than hosting the existing piratey ROMs out there for downloads or condoning Google searches for unencrypted ROM downloads. This is the quagmire of legal emulation description however and why, as I understand it, Cloanto had to encrypt ROMs they supply so they could not be used by people with no right to use them with freely available [WIN]UAE and only licensed Amiga Forever.

Obviously not having UAE installed and configured on each machine sold is Ostrich head in the sand 'solution'

[Digiman]

Funny, the Amiga online community couldn't get 500 people to agree on a specific item for C=USA to make for them but you complain about C=USA holding off on making a decision on AF?

IMO, C=USA should include AF in the installed COS systems.

Asking customers to design product scope & specification without an accurate description of technical solutions C=USA has the competency to design and build is NOT a viable business plan. Asking them to pay up front is also lunacy.

It is 100% down to C=USA to define their ability to legally, technically and financially be able to potential deliver the following....

1. C64x style bespoke identical replica Amiga case + keyboard + mouse
2. Ability to license existing/build new PPC motherboards with OS4 compatibility
3. Feasibility of x86 Amithlon+OS3.9 or AROS system being developed.

All I saw was a $500,000 attempted scam.

[Digiman]

@Vox. As Commodore USA is still a small company it is not currently possible to make everyone's (including ours) dream come true in regard to fulfilling various things the community wants that would denote more of the Amiga's heritage. This is regrettable, but unavoidable at the moment. We have stated the clear intention to do so. Barry even did so a few times in the interview. There have been various miss-steps of course, and all sorts of things were either promised prematurely or stated as plans in the euphoria of the moment of having secured usage of the trademarks. So what? Sometimes things don't go to plan. Stuff happens. But why that should in any way cause such consternation I have no idea. No one is forcing you to buy our products and nothing in your computing life has changed really. You just have another entity with the same goals as most of you, that can't do it all right now, but hopes to.

Incidentally, that magazine(?) article is incorrect. Amiga ROMs for game emulation are under our license from Amiga Inc. Because of this, after many months of discussions, we are still on the fence as to whether it is worth our while licensing Amiga Forever.

If C=USA can't produce replica cases of classic Amiga cases and replica keyboard+mouse designs with Wintel innards inside at the very least then C64x must be a commercial failure that didn't even break even therefore.

There is no other reason to try pimping a $50 Chinese HTPC case that neither looks anything like ANY Amiga EVER sold 1985-94, or is of a similar concept, with a copy of Linux running on standard Wintel silicone. There isn't any business sense in this.

Why anyone at C=USA thinks Amiga Mini has any value to people who are/were interested in real Amigas or OS4 compatibles is beyond me really.

The Amiga Mini in a business context is a waste of time and brand licensing costs.

[Digiman]

The idea of having "someone else" organise it and hold the money was a cleaver ploy to protect themselves legally.  Kind of like offloading their product assembly and technical support onto the "dealers" they're trying to recruit.

Well they off loaded the case design and hardware+OS specs to us so might as well have someone else deal with the finance issues too eh?

[Digiman]

Very true, although as Vox (and C-USA) have said, they did announce that agreement.  Once again it was to try and add "value" to a product that has none.  

C-USA announce a "new" OS included in the price of their machines so people think they're also buying a $100 Operating System like Windows or MacOS.  Instead they get free Linux.

C-USA announce a partnership with Cloanto so people think they're getting a $30 software package included in the price.  The package silently vanishes.

Customers think they're getting "real" tech support.  Instead they play roulette and hope somebody happens to be near the telephone when they call.

The list goes on...

True. Very worrying that Amiga Mini is a real turd of a product to start with mind.

OK C64x, price and OS aside, was a viable niche product. Had the price not been $1000 more than dead C64+keyrah+i7 micro ATX m/b it may have sold well enough.

They were supposed to improve product line not go back to branded unrelated PCs as sold before C64x

[Digiman]

LOL.

Perhaps when you order from them you're expected to fly to Florida, walk into their shop, assemble your own computer, box it up, address it to yourself and then drop it off at FedEx on your way back to the airport.  

They would probably charge extra for the privilege of visiting their factory as a 'deluxe tour' option :roflmao:

[Digiman]

Then the community needs to get a petition together asking C=USA to lower the required number of units.  Five hundred is not that significant number of units, it speaks volumes on the real world potential market strength of the online Amiga community.

It is C=USA's job to design the product outline, if C=USA don't tell us specifics as to their abilities, contractual restrictions of OS and CPU architecture or their total engineering R&D resource then the discussion is closed. I explained the problem in detail already...

"Asking customers to design product scope & specification without an accurate description of technical solutions C=USA has the competency to design and build is NOT a viable business plan. Asking them to pay up front is also lunacy.

It is 100% down to C=USA to define their ability to legally, technically and financially be able to potential deliver the following....

1. C64x style bespoke identical replica Amiga case + keyboard + mouse
2. Ability to license existing/build new PPC motherboards with OS4 compatibility
3. Feasibility of x86 Amithlon+OS3.9 or AROS system being developed.

All I saw was a $500,000 attempted scam."

[Digiman]

It's not a scam, it's a way of ending the discussion.
 
If I had people constantly asking me to make something that I didn't think I was going to make money at then I'd ask them to put their money where their mouth was.
The money was basically a pre-order, if CUSA failed to ship the product then I'd expect the money to be refunded. Of course you should make sure the contract was drawn up correctly to avoid any future disappointment
 
There is nothing to stop anyone from producing a PPC motherboard that fits one of CUSA's cases. An overpriced motherboard in an overpriced case is a perfect match.

It was a shil. Like I said they needed to tell us what they can achieve in detail.

Legally possible to pursue Amithlon?
AROS improvements donated by programmers/bounties they finance?
Technical skill to develop G5 based motherboard from scratch?
How much profit/mark up would they sacrifice on cost price of replica A1200 keyboard and case.

REAL businesses also would give all this information and produce a working prototype before asking for a small 20% deposit not 100%.