Amiga has the X factor?

[AndyFC]

Where X = unknown

Let me explain. I think about what I want to do on a computer:
 - Play Games
 - Edit Video
 - Surf the Web
 - Send email
 - burn discs
Now, I can (and do) do all of these, very easily and cheaply on a PC with many outlets selling hundreds of different bits of kit that I can use. To do these on the Amiga is generally more expensive, more difficult (subjective - depending on experience) and the range is more limited e.g. I can't play Half Life 2 or Toca Race Driver 3 on the Amiga, run a Geforce 8800GX, connect up firewire devices etc.

So why does the lure of doing these things on the Amiga seem so much more attractive and exciting?

If I had the cash, I'd have Minimig, an A1, a fully expanded 4000T, a home made and fully loaded A1200T and probably many more pieces. But I just can't explain why.

What are your ideas on this?

[monami]

define the x factor? :roll:

[AJCopland]

For me its because i really liked a lot of the games and tools when I was growing up as a Kid. My amiga was my favourite toy and as I got a bit older my favourite tool for doing schoolwork too. Everytime I asked something new of it it did it better than anything else. Coming home from using a Schneider 286 PC with monochrome monitor to an Amiga was ace! :-D

So now that I'm grown up I still enjoy many, not all, of the same games on my Amiga just as I did then.

Nostalgia in part I guess and a desire to go back to something I enjoy after using a PC running windows the rest of the time.

Andy

[Fransexy_]

monami wrote:
define the x factor? :roll:

[ChuckT]

The Commodore 64 was my first computer and there were magazines like Compute, Compute's Gazette, Run, the Transactor, Ahoy, etc., where you could learn programming and they would print programs that you could type in.  When you typed the programs in, you were learning what other people did.

The PC is a good product but these large corporations don't want you to take away their jobs and that is why Microsoft threatened Linux and it is why Microsoft patented double clicking of all things.  Compute's Gazette published SpeedScript which was a functional word processor and if you bought a $3.00 magazine, you essentially got the program for free.  Compare that to what you would pay for the same services you would get for Word Perfect or Microsoft Word.  I know that people have to make a living and they work hard on their product but it is a reason why they don't want us tinkering with computers.  It is also hard for anyone these days to compete with someone who sits down and writes code for eight hours a day times three hundred and sixty five days a year so when you go to install or uninstall programs on the PC, if you don't walk away during the install, the computer will take away your whole night.  You are paying for quantity instead of just quality when you buy a PC.  You are paying for Vanilla instead of multiple flavors.  I had a problem and called Microsoft and they didn't care because they are all millionares but they basically told me it wasn't their problem, to contact my computer manufacturer and hung up on me.  In a forum like this, you get help from real caring people.

The Amiga was a programmable computer and Commodore's early philosophy was they built computers for the masses while Apple and IBM built computers for the classes.  That is why I would find it easier to program an Amiga or Commodore computer.  In the early days, the PC didn't have plug and play compatibility so it wasn't as friendly as you might think it is today.  The Amiga was an open architectured system but the technology advancements drove up the costs of everything in my opinion but some things weren't as expensive as a PC back then.  It was mainly third party peripherals that were more expensive like hard drives.

I want a computer that is programmable and friendly and the computer companies aren't delivering that today because it would probably take you two years to learn C language for various reasons.

[freqmax]

I think it might be that you grow up with this computer and fond childhood memories just won't go away ;-)
It's was also an technology enabler.. ie "From using a Schneider 286 PC with monochrome monitor to an Amiga". With multitasking stereo sound and colour video.

BUT I strongly believe it's about that the modern computers has alienated the users. People don't know how they work, software is huge blob of cpu waste.

 * Tinkering friendly, ports and I/O which are easy to use.
 * Open documentation.
 * Communication that is meaningful. (ie not 1st line "support"
 * Software/Hardware that does something truly unique and don't backoff from doing something really new/cool/smart.
 * Feeling of PC communities being more Bread & butter than Amiga.. "Let's go to the moon".

Let's keep in mind that the days of unsmooth VGA with EISA bus, Resistor A/D sound, arcane system organisation etc.. isn't that far away!

[persia]

A well equipped Model T will cost you as much or more than a new Falcon.  The Model T has no air conditioning, cruise control, 4 speed automatic transmission, etc. etc.  Yet there are lots of people who would gladly pay almost anything for a Model T.  Who can explain?  Who cares?  The same with Amiga folks.  You like it or you don't and no amount of rational will explain this.

You gotta have a hobby, what's wrong with Amigas?  They don't hurt people, in fact they are so far from green that you'd really do a lot of harm landfilling them.  

So save the Earth go retro!

[SamuraiCrow]

The reason I bought my A1200 back in 1993 was that it was a game console that supported multimedia computer activities as well.  It cost me $600 new when PCs were over a thousand, ran MS-DOS, came with standard VGA graphics maximum and sound cards were optional equipment.

Nowadays there really isn't much of an equivalent anywhere in the market.  Arguably a Playstation 3 with the optional Linux OS installed comes close except that there's no slot in the belly for add-ons such as RAM expansion and video capture equipment.  When Commdore went under they left a void in the market that has yet to be filled.

[freqmax]

What specifications would a computer that would fill that void have..?, what would you like to be able to do with such computer, that you can't currently?

[amigaksi]

Some people are satisfied with the games/apps on the Amiga and don't need the bloated and more complex OSes and aren't lusting after the latest 3Ghz+ processor.  And some people prefer the games/apps on the Amiga over those on other platforms either because they are used to them or they are more efficiently coded or unique.  I know some Atari 8-bit games are very efficiently codes in 8K cartridges and I have yet to see better or equivalent versions on modern PCs.  As long as there is some uniqueness to your classic machine, you can give rational arguments for their use.  They are easier to analyze from the real-time analysis point of view (for one thing).  Some species of life while being inferior to human beings have features that humans do not have so that does not make those species obsolete.

[mingle]

Yeah, I think it's all about nostalgia and often combined with the "wow" factor it gave us when we first used it...

My first computer was the Vic-20 and I remember it very fondly, along with the C64 and then the Amiga. I love all three machines, although arguably these days they are no more than toys from the past.

It's the same reason people love old cars (their first drive, etc) and music from their teens - I love early Duran-Duran, for example, although I generally don't go around boasting about the fact! :-)

It all brings back the "feel-good" factor from when our lives were simpler and more youthful!

It'll be the same (in the future) for those kids who grew up the the Playstation or N64... Or Subaru WRX... Or The Spice Girls!

Cheers,

Mike.

[SamuraiCrow]

The PlayStation 3 would fit the bill if it allowed homebrew free software to access all of the hardware without having to defeat the hypervisor first and if there was an expansion socket for added expadability.

The Wii would have it if it had a real operating system capable of running productivity applications.  It's anti-homebrew countermeasure is cracked so that's a moot point now.  It's also a little lacking in expandability.

The XBox 360 would have it if it weren't running a worthless Microsoft operating system, didn't require a PC connected to it to do homebrew games, and supported industry standard OpenGL APIs instead of DirectX.  The fact that it can't use the HD-DVD capacity for games is a real drag too.

Right now I'm leaning toward the LimePC since it comes with an integrated GPU on the same die as the processor for good integration.  If that GPU is well documented so anybody can develop their own operating system for it without having to shell out tens of thousands of dollars just to get a graphics driver for that operating system.  What I need is openness and tight integration.

[Caius]

Although a definition of X factor is, by its nature, both ironic and even impossible, here's what Urban Dictionary has to say on the matter:

Urban Dictionary wrote:

X Factor

Noun.

A) A quality that makes people in possession of it the epitome of cool. When trying to explain why this person is so cool you come up blank. Everyone knows this person and people like being around them.

B) Used to describe someone whos not necessarily hot but you are strangely attracted to.

"Hey do you know Jim?"
"Oh yeah, who doesn't. You know what's weird?"
"What?"
"Despite his shortness and slight chubbiness, I kinda want him..."
"That's cause he's got X factor..duh."

[ChuckT]

If you buy a PC today, it doesn't come with Basic, Pascal, or C.  Why?  If you bought a Pet, Vic-20 or Commodore 64, you looked at the keyboard and there were all sorts of lines and symbols on the keys.  Why?  If you didn't know how to program, you could easily put the symbols or the lines in a print statement and put your own creativity on the screen and it didn't matter if you couldn't draw because the computer helped you do it.  I use to download off of bulletin boards and they were run by Cnet software or Image software and the users use to draw and upload their pictures onto bulletin boards.  I use to download programs that fellow users wrote and run them.  Instead of seeing the creativity of your neighbor you have to settle for the time and creativity of a select few who sell programs for $$$$ and they aren't that great because Microsoft products don't get me excited.

My English teacher said there was an author who said,'don't give me a gift unless you make it yourself".  My English teacher asked us what it meant and then told us that we would understand what it meant some day.  I understand it today and the difference is communism verses freedom, creativity verses plain, black and white verses multi-colored.  The difference is quality verses quantity.

Describe the Mac or the IBM as a computer for the hobbyist and see what you get and then describe the Amiga for the hobbyist and see what you get.

[bloodline]

Caius wrote:
Although a definition of X factor is, by its nature, both ironic and even impossible, here's what Urban Dictionary has to say on the matter:

Urban Dictionary wrote:

X Factor

Noun.

A) A quality that makes people in possession of it the epitome of cool. When trying to explain why this person is so cool you come up blank. Everyone knows this person and people like being around them.

B) Used to describe someone whos not necessarily hot but you are strangely attracted to.

"Hey do you know Jim?"
"Oh yeah, who doesn't. You know what's weird?"
"What?"
"Despite his shortness and slight chubbiness, I kinda want him..."
"That's cause he's got X factor..duh."

So what is the opposite of X Factor, then? Whatever it is I've got loads ;-)