A few questions

[Bug_racer]

Ive been out of the Amiga scene for a while now , I have a few questions to ask which a lot of noobs would love to know too . If you can answer 1 question thats fine as long as there are more answers than questions at the end of the day  :crazy:


What really happened to the Amiga ? Ive heard that hardware suppliers didnt supply and it went downhill from there , I want to know in simplistic language what really did happen !


Who owns the rights to Amiga etc . I hear rumours that microsoft bought out the rights to CD32 and based the X-Box on this . Then there is the whole Amiga Basic --- Windows Saga which could be all rumours  :-?

Where is Commodore these days ?

Can you still buy a new Amiga ? If so where ?

Ive been hearing about an OS4 release thats been coming for a while , has it been released yet ?

Can the Newer Amigas still play the old games ?

Does anyone have some numbers on total Amigas sold through the years ?

Now the big question : What is the future of Amiga ?
I know thats a tough question but there are probably millions of old users with fond memories of their Amiga . Many are becoming fathers / mothers and the next generation of kids will be growing up . If Amiga is smart enough it can target this huge deographic that it once had . It doesnt happen overnight but a trickle effect can turn into a flood in no time with the right approach . Amiga was easily the best PC in the mid to late 80s . Im sure that it can reign once again with the right approach  8-)

[maffoo]

Bug_racer wrote:
Ive been out of the Amiga scene for a while now , I have a few questions to ask which a lot of noobs would love to know too . If you can answer 1 question thats fine as long as there are more answers than questions at the end of the day  :crazy:


What really happened to the Amiga ? Ive heard that hardware suppliers didnt supply and it went downhill from there , I want to know in simplistic language what really did happen !

Commodore went bankrupt, got bought out by Escom. Escom went bust, got bought out by Gateway 2000. They sold the Amiga rights to the current owners, who decided the new Amigas would be based around a reference PPC motherboard, which is no longer produced. The OS lives on, but can only be used on said motherboards (although a version does exist that runs on Classic Amigas with PPC upgrades.)

Where is Commodore these days ?

Last I saw the once-great Commodore brand was being slapped on MP3 players.

Can you still buy a new Amiga ? If so where ?

Apart from the occasional dealer who has new old stock (ie. unopened) Amigas, nowhere

Can the Newer Amigas still play the old games ?

Only through an emulator (e-uae.)

Now the big question : What is the future of Amiga ?

Oooh, that's going to open a can of worms :-D

In all likelihood the future of the Amiga will be as it is now, a hobbyist alternative OS. IMHO the best option would be a port to x86 hardware, others have different views (:horse:, I know!)

There may also be a market for Classic-compatible hardware, in the form of the Minimig. This could in principle be used to create an Amiga-equivalent of those C64/Megadrive/Atari-in-a-joystick consoles. We'll have to see on that one though!

Matthew

[Flashlab]

Oh and no the X-Box has nothing in common or based on CD-32. Except for the ugly box ;-)