Do you hide your Amiga computer addiction?

[cv643d]

When you work in IT business I have noticed that it is better to not mention Amiga during lunch breaks etc, it is not that Amiga is bad, it is just that most people only know Amiga back when an A500 with 0.5 MB extra mem was luxury. These people can almost cry explaining how much fun they had with Populus and Ports of call, however discussing things about the Amiga not mentioning gaming leaves much to be desired.

I fondly remember how I expained to one tech guy how you could connect an Amiga to the internet, he did not believe there where TCP/IP stacks for the Amiga around lol.

The biggest issue though is that people do not take you seriously when you mention Amiga seriously, but yes sometimes I mention I have a couple of Amiga systems at my home worth three times as much as a good PC these days, the looks I get then lol...

[Tahoe]

@Tahoe
" She was even placed in a Dell 19" rack in between PowerEdge servers and an EMC SAN. How cool is that?!"

It's so cool I wish you had taken a photo! :afro:

I did.....

[DiskDoctor]

I think especially data warehousing is futuristic. Why? Because, as Edgar Dijkstra said, computer science is about computers as much as astronomy is about telescopes. Sure, the more we can 'see' (more powerful and versatile hardware), the more we can do. But understanding what we can do, makes it actually useful.

There's still a hell of a lot of revolutions needed in our heads to use even an Atari 2600 to it's full potential.

It is not futuristic, it's just yet another fancy business tool, just like the ERP systems were. Data Warehousing is mainly to learn (or check instantly) why people buy goods.  Not much.  Or to have a company's all data (not only operational) in one place, for further analysis and statistics.  All you do is employ AI algorithms, mostly dated in 70s and present the results before a VP - THAT's the value added.

If I was asked about futuristic IT I'd gladly mention bioinformatics.  Predicting proteins, designing drugs - that's a challenge, unlike another oracle 10i DM installation!!!  What else - multiagent systems, not just their military applications.  M2m mobile communications and so on.  Please do not flatten advanced IT topics to some issues taught in schools twenty years ago, having ZERO value in general technology advancement!

[RRunner]

It is not futuristic, it's just yet another fancy business tool, just like the ERP systems were. Data Warehousing is mainly to learn (or check instantly) why people buy goods.  Not much.  Or to have a company's all data (not only operational) in one place, for further analysis and statistics.  All you do is employ AI algorithms, mostly dated in 70s and present the results before a VP - THAT's the value added.

If I was asked about futuristic IT I'd gladly mention bioinformatics.  Predicting proteins, designing drugs - that's a challenge, unlike another oracle 10i DM installation!!!  What else - multiagent systems, not just their military applications.  M2m mobile communications and so on.  Please do not flatten advanced IT topics to some issues taught in schools twenty years ago, having ZERO value in general technology advancement!

I respectfully disagree. Data Warhousing and related technologies account for a large portion of the technological breakthroughs you see today. You talk about pharma industry. When analyzing proteins, studying DNA, examining cell structure... where do you suppose all of those observations are stored and housed? Deciding HOW to store that information so that it can be analyzed... so that it can be usable... is of utmost importance. It is in itself a science and is taught at universities around the glob as such. Take search engines for example... various bots out scouring the web looking for information... tucking that way into a data warehouse such that it can be logically analyzed and searched against... for entertainment... for research... for p0rn. Haha!

Original data warehousing technologies relied upon things like bubble sorts, full table scans the progressed into binary tree searches... then conceptual logic algorithms we see today.

Computers are number crunchers... they follow predefined instructions and act on data... so I would argue that data warehouse techniques are a very key part of technological advancement. Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying it is the end-all and be-all but I think it is a very critical part of the equation.

[cecilia]

I've been called "an Amiga Snob".....and I carry that name with pride!

[kolla]

we needed an AT&T Unix machine at work

Dare I ask what you needed that AT&T for??

[Varthall]

None of them, I don't refer to my 5yrs old Amiga as a retro machine (but will do so probably, sooner or later). I avoid talking about it as much as possible, I don't like having to explain to everyone what it is, why it's not a PC and why I use it, or even worse to have to defend myself when they argue that everyone uses a PC with Windows and that there's no sense in using anything else. I have my Amiga in my living room but everyone seeing it just think it's a PC and don't ask anything about it.

Varthall

[Edpon]

Hide it?!?! HA ! I just ordered a complete SAM440 Flex system with OS 4.1 from AmigaKit. I'm not hiding it, I'm supporting the addiction ! I still have an A500 and A4000 as well.

Ed

[Ami_GFX]

If I said the word "Amiga" around here, some would start looking around for the girl and the rest would not understand at all. I have nothing to hide because there is no one around here who would even know or be interested. If anyone notices my Amigas at all, I just tell them that they're my "art computers" and I use them for special graphics. There are 3 PC laptops and one Mac laptop as well as an Atari Mega ST and a whole lot of other equipment in the same room so they just blend in with the crowd so to speak and the only time anyone would ever notice them is if they came to visit when I was actually working with one. If I ever got any scepticism, I could just show them how much my Amigas were worth and justify them as an investment. How much computer gear from the 90s is worth much these days? I have Amiga gear that is worth 3 or 4 times what I paid for it a few short years ago.

[NovaCoder]

All my friends and esp. my wife think I've lost the plot after buying a *new* 15 year old A1200 last year.

Saying that, everyone is impressed when I show them how good my patched OS 3.9 looks through an IndivisionAGA running on a 19" flat-screen CRT.  The fact that I can also show them Google working over my wireless network is a bonus

[stefcep2]

I'm on a football ("soccer") forum as well.  Every now and then they post about computers.  One thread was about Macs versus PC's.  I said the most user-friendly, efficient and responsive system i have used is the Amiga.  They laughed.  Until they saw AmigaOS4, and Amikit screenshots.  What?? Amiga has a dock???  Amiga has a Start menu??  Amiga has colored icons???  Amiga can get on the net???  Amiga can email???

[recidivist]

My co-workers  exhibit a mix of disbelief,scepticism,and ridicule if I mention ANY computer other than some  recent,common PC/Wintel box  .
  I'm afraid mentioning Amigas  or anything  older than P4 Wintel  will cause IT people in my area  to regard you as un-professional.The IT people I've met at several different  major corporations are control freaks  determined to force everyone into a computing staitjacket,mostly because the fewer configurations of hardware and software ,the easier it is for IT to maintain those systems.

 I remember an Atari 800 was once used to schedule service calls and parts inventory for a large retailer's appliance department.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

It is not futuristic, it's just yet another fancy business tool, just like the ERP systems were. Data Warehousing is mainly to learn (or check instantly) why people buy goods.  Not much.  Or to have a company's all data (not only operational) in one place, for further analysis and statistics.  All you do is employ AI algorithms, mostly dated in 70s and present the results before a VP - THAT's the value added.

If I was asked about futuristic IT I'd gladly mention bioinformatics.  Predicting proteins, designing drugs - that's a challenge, unlike another oracle 10i DM installation!!!  What else - multiagent systems, not just their military applications.  M2m mobile communications and so on.  Please do not flatten advanced IT topics to some issues taught in schools twenty years ago, having ZERO value in general technology advancement!

Then why do you think millions are invested in data warehouse and ERP systems?
And thereby, you didn't understand the essence of my post.

[taunusand]

"No I openly and proudly flout my Amiga hobby."
Why hide it? Some people spend a lot of money on a horse, a car, fishing gear, WOW etc. I also spend some time and money on a classic car. We are all different, that makes us so special;-)

[Tahoe]

Dare I ask what you needed that AT&T for??

For an old, custom written piece of software. My collegues (i'm not that much into unix) managed to get it compiled and running, including restoring the database from a QIC tape! The NCR box that used to run it has passed away loooong time ago...