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Author Topic: CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers  (Read 124931 times)

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Offline Middleman

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Re: CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers
« on: April 28, 2012, 02:06:11 AM »
Quote from: Akiko;690768
Which reminds me, wonder whatever happened that middleman fellow?!


Talking behind my back eh? Don't worry, I'm right here! :p

Hi folks,

Sorry, but I've been away for a while (call it my personal break away from forums/anything Commodore-related if you will - I think I suffered burnout from read the last discussion), so haven't really seen what's happened. Just catching up now and reading up on Barry's and everyone else's answers....


Here are my thoughts on the subject:

1) I think Barry has given a fair and balanced interview. He is being pretty honest here IMHO and is hiding nothing here save any legal trade agreements they have with their business partners AFAIK….

2) He is being realistic about the market situation and for the company in general - that for a reborn Commodore to survive, it has to make products that are relevant to the market and on-par tech wise with the best that is out there. Being Linux and Windows-compatible is one way to secure that future (or at least the funds for that future). Though not agreeing with 'legacy Amiga purists' going the x86 route now is the most logically sound route for the company at present.

3) Had made some points which are very logical from a business perspective (which again may upset some Amiga fans here) but is the truth. Computers have come a long way since the Amiga days of producing customized chips, and the parts today are pretty much commoditized. To go against what the general market wants is financial suicide.

4) interesting points have been made in regards to how 'he sees' the Amiga brand, namely that it is a performance brand, and the old ideas were simply 'a concept'. In this day and age somehow he is right about it I feel….you don't see people using customized chipsets anymore save retro sites like A.org…..

To be fair, after looking at the answers after his reply, I think the Amiga community in general I think is being too harsh on his company, and being too pessimistic about certain things a little too early. He has said he is a small company slowly working to rebuild the Commodore and Amiga brands. As  Leo has mentioned many times before Rome wasn't built in a day…..

CUSA I believe is doing things right - it's not doing anything 'wrong' except maybe have slightly more expensive offerings in some product lines to Apple? But even then it's coming down cheap.
I just heard they launched the new Vic Mini the other day….and that's a completely new product to the last one (which I remembered was similar to the Amiga Mini)….
 

Offline Middleman

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Re: CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2012, 02:27:20 AM »
Quote from: Duce;690772
Let me get this:

New guy comes in, tells us all we're a bunch of dottering old farts wasting our time on our old computer hobbies.  x86 is the FUTURE!  CHANGE NOW OR DIE!
We've heard that for nearly 20 years, Skip.  It's old hat.

Banters back and forth, insulting people telling them they need business training to "understand".  We don't need business training to have fun with a hobby, Champ.  Claims no affiliation with C-USA in every post - not that anyone asked.

Things come full circle, he's now an enterprising up and coming dude wanting to work with C-USA and the retro scene and provide us what we want, after he for the better part of the day called you all *******ed idiots (or worse).  He's now all ears on how to make our lives better, and suddenly a big wig in the world.  Still with no C-USA affiliation.

This place is getting worse by the minute.  Very little is anything Amiga related, and mods seem completely driven by pageviews or something.

Enjoy your CommodoreUSA-Amiga.org ****box, boys.


Duce,

I've just literally read your post. To be honest, I'm pretty upset with your statement there. Because if you're a dottering old fart as you think I make you out to be, then you might as well include me on it! Because NOTHING is going to change that fact that I WAS EXPOSED TO THE AMIGA, LOVED the AMIGA and I ALWAYS WILL....IN WHATEVER SHAPE OR FORM IT HAPPENS TO BE IN. Including its current incarnarnation from CUSA as a Linux PC if you will....

Also to clarify (for you) I am not Barry and this is not a fake account I am using. I am a real person who is based in Asia, who just happens to have an besotted interest in the Amiga, and have a great interest in what the CUSA offerings could turn out to become, as it has been a LONG WHILE the brands have been officially 'back on the market' as it were, and I'm interested to see where it all leads. To this date I have had no financial dealings with CUSA other than buying their C64x for my birthday last year. Although I stressed interest before on their forums last month about being a potential dealer (because I thought maybe it would be an interesting thing to do, and introduce people in Asia to the Commodore brand), ultimately I'm not going to go selling computers as a business because (I know) it's too much work. I've worked at a software distribution company before for a short while when I was younger, so I know what it is like. I prefer a much simpler life to be honest....it's fine to use it for work/hobbies but running it is something else I feel...
 

Offline Middleman

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Re: CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2012, 06:59:46 PM »
Quote from: CritAnime;690817
Ok I am seriously lacking sleep. I have been up nearly 24hr and this might not be the most sensible post ever written. So appologies up front.

What I don't get is why Barry, or anyone from Commodore USA, officially affiliated or not, feels they need to come and try to convince us that they are the next best thing since sliced bread. Especially as how barry has stated in the past that he is not interested in the opinions from our "muddy little pond".

At the end of the day people will buy these machines. Regardless of what we or other people would say. Why?

Maybe they believe the hype. Maybe the think that this is the real return of commodore. Hell they may be influenced by nostalgia alone. But people will buy these things regardless.

So let them. Let them spend their money on what ever they feel like. Just please let's stop this silly bickering now. As much as I like to pick faults in their products, like woefully inadequate PSU's, I feel its getting to the point were its become more a personal attack rather than sensible discussion.


I agree....all this bickering is stupid, but maybe necessary so we can see/discuss how things are/could work out.

However there is one vital issue nobody seems to have picked upon, and that is the IP holder's role in all of this, in this case Hyperion and H&P. I know that they've done a lot of work over the years to improve the overall compatibility and user experience, but truthfully they have been holding back the community by sticking with the PPC route, holding onto their IPs so tightly and not going onto x86 or even ARM which have more powerful chips. As someone said had Bernie been given the money to port over Amithlon properly to x86 perhaps we would have had our dream machine today...


Also there's one last thing I must correct you here about CUSA and that is, Barry DOES ship different power PSUs for the different required specs. He has acknowledged this was a mistake with the specs page they published as he has confirmed here, so you/others who have ordered the Amiga Mini have nothing to worry about.... > http://www.commodore-amiga.org/en/forum/27-commodore-usa/14400-any-news-to-share?limit=15&start=15#14511
 

Offline Middleman

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Re: CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2012, 02:25:20 AM »
Quote from: Darrin;690909
You know how.  Stop the lies and just bugger off and sell you Linux PCs without the Amiga logo.


Yeah I should shouldn't I……and if I do I'll probably make a tonne of dosh out of it and get my own villa in the Caribbean by the time I'm finished…..
Honestly, you got such a great imagination Darrin it has to be commended! I mean, seriously……it's so good you could be a successful writer! :D

Anyways you'll be glad to know (or not) I'm just staying right here for a little while longer because…….a) I don't like being intimidated and NOONE is going to force me to leave just because they disagree with what I say, so I'm not leaving and b) well I'd like to make use of my $30 bucks I donated to the site (or at least whatever's left of it).

Quote from: Darrin;690916
In short, you, Middleman and Dammy are here under orders to try and do some damage repair and you're urinating into the wind.


I came to the forum on my own accord in my own time….it wasn't an 'instruction' from Barry or anyone else. I came here because I enjoy the old machines just as much as you do, albeit maybe a bit forward looking on the hardware side as a fan. Plus I have tried to keep my posts here on CUSA as minimal as possible so not as to 'upset' anyone. So if anyone wants to keep the threads 'CUSA clean' as it were, don't ask me questions directly or quote my name in anything about them, and I won't bother to answer them in return….deal?

Quote from: Darrin;690916
Everything you say will be taken down and used in evidence against you.  :)


Wow deja vu, I thought this was supposed to be a democratic site…..



Also I would like to say something about this interview, especially to Duce, EDana and others who had doubts about Barry. It was YOU GUYS who was asking these questions about CUSA and the future of Amiga (or leadership as you call it), as well as from Transition etc. for an interview, so I did the favour and passed the message on to Barry. And now that you've got the answers from him where it's currently headed I'm just spellbound why there's all this vitriol and saying it's in deeper dodo than before. I just don't understand the logic…..

Also one thing about the 'Final Challenge' is that…….Barry messaged to me earlier during the interview, he wanted to make the dream come true for you guys in putting together your 'dream' vintage New Amiga ie. an Amiga with whatever spec you wanted in CUSA custom case as a one-off commemorative product that is not an Intel Amiga. But it was your failure to come up with the 500 orders from the community that led it to not work. If you said to Barry 'I want this with a PowerPC/FPCG board with a A1200 case, AmigaOS4 and this and this' and the numbers registered for the project were there including the needed deposits he would have happily obliged. And he still does. It still stands as far as I am aware….