I think.........

[amigadave]

These "Amiga is Dead" threads show up every few months here and on other Amiga sites.  They are a complete waste of time, unless you want to use one of them to motivate people to change their behavior toward participating in some kind of Amiga development, or project (which is not the case in this thread).

I think that the Amiga community is more alive today than it has been in years.  We are still in desperate need of more programmers to write new software for any and all of the different types of Amiga experiences.  The Amiga experience means so many different things to so many people still, I don't see how anyone can think that the Amiga is dead.

It is definitely different than it once was, but I would not call it dead.  Choose one or more part of the existing Amiga experience that still interests you and become involved.  Recruit new users or programmers, learn to program yourself and write new software, or port existing software to any, or all of the different Amiga experience flavors, set up a user group to rekindle the Amiga spirit in your area, etc.

There are dozens of ways to continue to support and enjoy the Amiga, you just need to decide which way you would enjoy and pursue it.  The Amiga is what you make of it.  If you are sad and disappointed that the Amiga did not fulfill it's ultimate possibilities and was driven into obscurity by the people who mismanaged it, get over it and enjoy what is left.  The past is ancient history and can't be changed.  Live for today and enjoy what you can.  If part of that is any of the Amiga experiences, great.  If it is not fun any more, maybe it is time to give it a break and come back to it later. (I am not promoting people leaving the Amiga, but some people probably should from the looks of a lot of the complaining and fighting that goes on in many of the forum sites).

I am enjoying all of my Amiga experiences and looking forward to the future and where it will lead.  I am also trying to become more active and pro-active in promoting and helping what is left of the Amiga community.

If you are still waiting for Amiga to make a comeback and become a mainstream competitor again, then yes, I agree that you are only dreaming.  Come back to reality and enjoy what we do have right now.

Funny that you should reference Battlestar Galactica.  I just started watching the whole series remake again on DVD.  It was one of the best SciFi series ever made IMHO and I think it broke a lot of new ground in it's creation and style.  It had comedy and drama in good proportions and the acting was pretty good for a TV series that lasted 4 seasons (really 5 or 6, because they only aired half a season during a couple of the years it was broadcast).  So, give a Frak and start enjoying your Amiga (what ever flavor they might be) again.

Edit:  Totally agree with Slayer that wishing for the Amiga to repeat the 5 times better at 1/3 the price, before anything can be considered an Amiga again is just plain stupid.  If that is really your opinion and attitude, it is time to step away for a while and re-asses your life and priorities maybe.  Again, computing on any of the Amiga experiences today is what YOU make of it.  YOU can make it good, or you can complain and bemoan what "Should Have Been".  Choose to do something that will make it better than it is and you will feel more fulfilled than the choice to complain and wish for something that does not exist.  I am also a realist and don't claim that any of the Amiga experiences are more than they actually are.  I point out their short-comings and try to support people that are working to improve the experience with new software and improved OS work.  I hope to do more in the future, but do what I can in the present.  Do what you can and you will feel better about it.  More people working on the problems will speed a resolution, but won't magically restore the Amiga to it's former glory.

[fishy_fiz]

Commerically, yes its quite stagnant, but there's new software and new ports done daily. Not just this, but a lack of commercial interest doesnt mean that what does exist already suddenly stops working.

Also why must something rise to prominence for it to be fun? I see it time and time again at various amiga forums that people try to come up with ideas for "the return of the amiga".... something I never exactly understood. The amiga didnt vanish. It's still on my desk, I can, and do, still use it. Along with a few of it's brothers that are "new" additions to my amiga hobby in AROS and MOS.

I guess it all comes down to what a person wants and needs to a degree. Personally I enjoy the current offerings (not just NG, but an average classic these days has a harddrive, extra ram, and so on) more than I enjoyed amiga back in it's heyday,.... always been a fan, but I enjoy using the systems for more than just playing games these days, and while its a little behind in some ways vs. the mainstream, I enjoy what Im currently doing with my amiga systems more than I did when predominantely playing floppy based games.

[commodorejohn]

Until the resurrection of something akin to revolutionary A1000 in 1985 ie combination of OS AND Hardware 5x better than best PC or Mac alternative money can buy at 33% of their cost.......then Amiga is dead. At least A1200 had some advantage (eg 14mhz A1200 = 133mhz Pentium to run Super Stardust AGA). SAM/X1000/NATAI/MINIMIG......nothing revolutionary or even partially superior like A1000 or A1200 respictively.

This, this constant obsession with having a "new Amiga" that must be just so powerful and cheap and powerful that the unwashed masses can't not see the light, this is exactly the attitude we do not need. That's not going to happen any time soon, if ever. It's just not, not unless you take a PC and slap a boing-ball sticker on it and go "IT IS RISEN, AND ASCENDETH INTO HEAVEN TO SIT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF JAY THE FATHER!"

Nor is it necessary. What made the Amiga special wasn't its position in the market/specs-wars of the era - the fact that it was a hell of a deal was just pure gravy. What made the Amiga special was that it was a clever, flexible design that people could sit down, read the docs, and really understand, and come away with the knowledge to really exploit the machine to their own ends, something that showed ever more fruit as time drew on.

That's what the Amiga had that no PC, Mac, or even ARM SoC board can touch. That's what a "new Amiga" needs, not this perennial one-sided dick-measuring contest.

"And that's what the Amiga is all about, Charlie Brown."

[Sandman]

Amiga died in 1994 with Commodore.

As much as that makes me angry and sad I can't shake this feeling lately! Waiting for her to return is like waiting for the Galactica to FTL into orbit around the earth.....just a dream

Yours Hopelessly

Funny that this thread should come up today as I was thinking about the very same driving home from work.

To me the Amiga is pure nostalgia.... nothing wrong with that is there?

Its kinda like going to a 20th High School Reunion, fun to reminisce for a few hours to enjoy memories of a past good time but that's it.  If you go back thinking that your going to run into your old girlfriend, get the old feelings back just like it was back in the day and pick up right where you left off with your old buddies and carry on, I think that you are dreaming.  It was a different place and time and life moves on.

I love tinkering with my Amigas and I love messing with Lightwave,etc. until the nostalgia wears off and I head back to a PC to work with Solidworks or Photoshop on a Mac and get with the times, and then the age of the Amiga starts to show but that is ok, "it's grey hair and wrinkles" gives it its charm.
 
Don't get me wrong, those that want to enjoy the 'new Amiga', have a "ball" with it.  Sorry for the bad pun.  

I just tend to want to stick with the 'old stuff', with the occassional modern goodie thrown in not to make it new and different but to make it more livable . Those that like their classic hardware, like me, that's cool too, right?  It doen't have to be any different then it is, but those of you that want it to be, have at it.  To each, their own.....

Yes, someday all of our old hardware will die away - and so will we but that is the way it is.  Time to deal with it already!

I just hate the divisions, that is more "Amiga" than anything.  I drifted away from the Amiga back in the day because I tired of the constant "Amiga vs. PC bickering", heck most of the Amiga guys I knew were busier making "us" vs 'them" comparison lists than they were enjoying their machines and that was when the Amiga was "really" new.  I then came back just in time to see the "MorphOS vs OS4" bickering and now what seems to be the "New Amiga vs. Old Amiga" bickering. Everyone, just enjoy your own thing!

[amigadave]

Nothing wrong with the people that just want to stay with the original Amiga computers like Sandman and many others.  Use what you like and stop fighting with others that like something different.

[CritAnime]

These "Amiga is Dead" threads show up every few months here and on other Amiga sites. They are a complete waste of time, unless you want to use one of them to motivate people to change their behavior toward participating in some kind of Amiga development, or project (which is not the case in this thread).

I have to agree with this. But considering the thread is now established and we are engaging in discussion I might aswell jot my thoughts down.
 
To me the Amiga and Commodore will always live on so long as people still enjoy them. But I do feel it's time to let the brands, from a mainstream sales point, die and get the rest it deserves. Instead it's like the computing equivelent of Big Brother it gets dug up, dusted off, new clothes and a spot of makup to cover over the rotting holes from the last time it was abused and then tarted around as if it's the next best thing in computing. I mean how many times have we seen it where someone or some company come along and says they are the best chance for a ressurection and continuation.
 
To me the pockets of Amiga and Commodore communities dotted around the globe are doing a much better job of this. And, regardless of what some will say, I have a lot of respect for the people involved in such projects as AROS, MorphOS, OS4, X1000, classics and so forth.

[mingle]

Yep, it's a nostalgia-driven hobby, no more, no less...

Back in the Amiga heyday the whole personal computing landscape was evolving - and the Amiga was at the top of the heap for a shrot time, but thing have changed.

These days computers are more of an appliance, in the same was as a microwave or toaster. In the good old days it was all about pushing the boundaries, the huge leaps from 8-bit micros to 16-bit machines.

There were the first few steps from the blocky, limited colour graphics and 'beep-beep' sounds to photo-realistic GFX and 16-bit CD-quality sound. At around the time the Amiga died, Windows was beginning to reach the technological plateau that we've now reached.

But, back in the late 1980's it was like a brave new world. Each new machine brought with it genuine, significant differences and technological leaps. These days there are still improvements to hardware and capabilities, but it's nothing like the advances we saw back then...

It was great...

Mike.

[mrmoonlight]

No it cant be dead ,its going to make a brilliant come back ,and untill it does we just keep the Amiga on a life support ,

[gizz72]

Amiga died in 1994 with Commodore.

As much as that makes me angry and sad I can't shake this feeling lately! Waiting for her to return is like waiting for the Galactica to FTL into orbit around the earth.....just a dream

Yours Hopelessly

Greetings,

In the past, we can never bring back what was gone or blame those who were responsible. It is nothing more than a memory. After watching "Meet The Robinson's" from Pixar awhile back, then I learn to "keep moving forward".
At present, we have AROS, MorphOS, AMIGA OS4 and WinUAE to keep all that what  Commodore or Almighty JM has left us. Maybe one day, we'll have IOS and Adroid to look forward to.
In the future, if the star trek device called Replicator becomes real, I'll replicate me all the old Amigas in the pasts. Given that if I'm still around to see it though.

Regards,

GiZz72

[b41d3r]

Hi,

I'm really new to the Amiga stuff. When I was a boy,I used a MSX and then a MSX 2, but the teacher who inspired me my software career switched from a MSX to an Amiga. Recently, as we are still in touch more than twenty years later, he spoke to me about his Amiga in one of our rare and long discussion about the good old times.
As a coincidence, I was precisely thinking about the difference between our cumbersome present system and the old ones that were more efficient and responsive in my recall.
One month or so ago, I decided to give a try to what appeared to me as the best representative of this era : Amiga. Even if I didn't know anything about it.
And let me tell you, I'm not disappointed.
A system that has hundreds of time less power than today's computer and show so much responsiveness and qualities, was like discovering a new pyramid in Egypt.It's old but it's totally amazing even with today's standard.
And let me tell you something, I don't play with my Amiga. I consider it as a real machine that can be used as an alternative to PC for ordinary tasks as writing document, creating images, ...
The software are responsive and cool to use (no need of a six months learning curve to be efficient).  These are the two main qualities I'm seeking in softwares. And they're really inspiring me from a conception point of view.

Today, I really wonder why the next step has not been done.
You find CUSA that sells old C64 that can be considered  like this only from an outside point of view. And you find Minimig project that proposes a close hardware clone of A500 but without the old case. Why not join the two approaches and resurrect our machine for good ?
I'm even sure there are clever people around here that could participate in this attempt.
I know evolution has brought AmigaOS and alike but it's like transistor amplifier compared to tube ones. They don't necessarily target the same customers.

[tasmanian guy]

For me the Amiga was the most logical upgrade from my Commodore 64. I never got an Amiga until late 1989.
 
I remember taking it upstairs at Angus and Robertsons and getting to do the 1mb chip ram with the Angus chip.
 
I remember paying $499 for a 2 megabyte (sidecar type) upgrade giving me a total of 3 megabytes enough to run some of the larger Eric Schwartz cartoons.
 
I also remembered creating a Fly By of Mon Olympus in Vista and taping it on to a VCR. Boy was it slow rendering....days worth.
 
I loved AMOS (and now use Dark Basic Pro as it is so similar)
 
Then came the Amiga 1200, another logical upgrade.....I also got a Microbotics 68030 at 50mhz with 2 megabytes. Why only 2 megabytes, well that is all I could afford as the 2 megabytes upgrade was $199 due to a earth quake in Japan at the time.
 
However the PC started having some great games, such as Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and what tied me over was X-Wing. Both these games never got released on the Amiga.
 
When Commodore went bust, I thought the issue would be sorted out in a few months, not years (afterall we're talking about Commodore who gave us the C64, how could they disappear)....so I waited but I gave up waiting after six months or so and sold everything!
 
I still kept my eye open on the net about the Amiga.....but sadly nothing progressed.
 
I have an Amiga CD32 and an Amiga 1200 (I got a 1084 from the tip shop the other week for $20), they're not a bad machine, considering they're now almost 20 years old and still going. I fire them up but compard to a modern pc, they're a stark reminder though of how far we've come.
 
As people say they're a hobby.......I have a soft spot for the Amiga and the C64. It was Deluxe Paint that introduced me to computer graphics art, it was Audio Engineer and Octamed that led me to produce computer music, it was Vista that got me introduced to 3D landscapes, it was Imagine that got me into 3D modelling, it was AMOS that got me into programming and it was all the great games that made me think only Amiga makes it possible.....for a time it was.

[Bigbronc]

I think the Amiga is an amazing hobby, more of a time machine. I read every Amiga book and thing I could get my hands on, dreamed of owning some of the things in the ads in Amiga World. It was never to be; I could not afford even a basic toaster, no less TBCs and flyers etc. But through the power of ebay I found myself drawn in to build the monsters of my youth. (One seller told me of this magical place called Amiga.org.) I have several A2000 toasters that I have bought on ebay, some just parts and I now have 3 operational toasters. I have found a blue screen Croma key overlay slider that works. I spend most of my time looking for content like Eric Swartz Amy cartoons, and things to genlock to. The Amiga back in the day was the third option, and you could see by the dwindling shelves of things available that it was a losing platform. I thought Apple would die, but it had those expensive boutiques that kept them alive I guess; who could afford that stuff? The amiga was cheap compared to other computers, but not affordable until the A500. By then it was dead, just by dumb luck did commodore get to live on. If the book On the Edge is true, screwing over K-mart, Computer City, and Sears killed any chances of lighting stricking twice C64 style.

[Digiman]

The Amiga has never died and never will what has "died" or changed however is the people involved in the scene...

When commodore or whatever else happened that stalled any progress in the Amiga HW and most software occured, I simply just used what I had, I didn't move to any other platform and I still don't own any other computer.

Alot of people formed these different so called "retro" groups and so alot have choosen to stay there, for them the Amiga scene is now about recycling... I've always seen it as an excuse for people to justify or control there spending... "A modern Amiga? Bugger off, for one I'm not spending THAT much on what is merely a glorified PC, hell it doesn't even have a blitter!"

Remind you of anyone?

The Amiga was always going to evolve and the chips change GET IT! Sheesh!

Now it doesn't matter how many of you feel this way, your time with the Amiga is over... it is not going to change the Amiga for us and we don't need people like you... I only wish you'd stop spreading your perceptions because they are incorrect...

I think most people that didn't evolve are the game players... I haven't played games on my Amiga for about 15 years... perhaps there's something in that...

Enjoy your PCs or Macs, you deserve each other, eg if you can use another machine you are a 'computer user' but you're not an Amigan...

disclaimer: I'm not trying to be snarkie elite or anything but I do feel quite strongly about the Amiga... whether or not I'm over the top is speculation but I tell you if everyone that used an Amiga in the past felt like me, the Amiga would be a force to be reckoned with... in anycase if I have my way and business is good over the next few years I'll be joining Trevor too to add fuel to the fire...

You know what Harry said about "you know who"

We've got something worth fighting for ;-)

I know all that but unless a computer with an advantage in both price and performance with the most powerful PCs money can buy is produced it's NOT AMIGA. That is my point. The X1000 and SAM460 are lumps of sh1t compared to the hardware of a £500 i7 PC. The only thing bad about PCs or Mac is the OS (OSX/Linux/Windows ALL a load of crap sorry) but then OS4/MoS doesn't even have a sophisticated web browser in 2011 so yeah whatever. Fail on price/Fail on Hardware/Fail on OS (MoS or OS4).

Things like SAM460 and x1000 are like the $4000 CGA PC in 1985 vs the $1500 Amiga 1000. That's the point. Less sophisticated applications for the OS/slower/cost more than competing architecture. Explain to me how we have 'Amiga' today?

We have some expensive OS4 boxes and that's it, and as OS4 neither has games of the quality of xbox360/PS3 or has applications as sophisticated as Windows has (Chrome/Office/Amazing diversity of codecs and players) and barely trumps a 3ghz Pentium 4 worth about £25 on ebay.....

Amiga is dead.....long live memories of what once was (but people were so stupid in 1985-87 they bought a Mac or PC instead STILL the losers!)

The only people who have absolutely slam dunked PC technology in price performance on the day of launch since those days have been SEGA/Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft with their various consoles. The Xbox360 played Need for Speed Most Wanted in a far more sophisticated way than the £1000 'Gaming PC' rigs of the day on the day of launch for 1/3 the price.

SO WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT USING PC TECHNOLOGY IN A MORE EFFICIENT INTELLIGENT WAY AS AMIGA WOULD HAVE HAD TO ADAPT TO DO THEN ANY NEW AMIGA SHOULD USE IBM XENON CPU/SUPERIOR MEMORY BUS ARCHITECTURE TO MAC OR PC/TOP END GRAPHICS CHIP.

This is what you expect from Amiga successor worthy of the name, better AND cheaper than £1000 PC....not dead end CPUs inside machines costing more and offering the power of a PC people throw away for recycling.

I point out games because games today take more resources than any business activity or creative activity, so if you can't beat current PC gaming of the quality of 64 player persistent online world of Battlefield 3 for even the same price it will never be Amiga...just an OS4 compatible box.

OS4 <> AMIGA. It is just some cash cow Hyperion have milked until the teats have become dry and diseased. (Ditto for MoS)

I AM an Amigan because I was there when A1000 came out and I've never spent so much of my hard earned wages on a single machine. And also it is the only time I was 1000% happy with my machine. So if nobody makes a TRUE SUCCESSOR TO A1000 in 1985 situation and I need to use a PC because the only choices are SAM460 or x1000 then I'm sorry that's the biggest load of BULL$HIT ever. I waited for ESCOM then Amiga Inc/Gateway to build a true successor, nothing ever happened. A 3ghz P4 power level £1200-2000 computer with an incomplete and undeveloped OS like OS4 is NOT AMIGA.

AS A TRUE AMIGAN I CAN ONLY BUY SOMETHING THAT HAS SUPERIOR FEATURES TO A £1000 i7 PC IN PURE SPEED AND SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED OS FEATURES/APPLICATIONS AND COSTS LESS

(MoS has same problems as OS4 and even worse runs on old crusty Apple hardware with Apple logos all over the box...great!)

[commodorejohn]

SO WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT USING PC TECHNOLOGY IN A MORE EFFICIENT INTELLIGENT WAY AS AMIGA WOULD HAVE HAD TO ADAPT TO DO THEN ANY NEW AMIGA SHOULD USE IBM XENON CPU/SUPERIOR MEMORY BUS ARCHITECTURE TO MAC OR PC/TOP END GRAPHICS CHIP.

You sound like Barry.

[motrucker]

This thread must be coming from St. Elizabeth's darker wards....

[Jose]

Maybe it was better this way. If it was still in the big markets it would probably have gone down to a bloated pice of cr*p just like most other comercial OSes available.
Also, the left community might not always be heaven but it better than having to deal with thousands or millions of empty posts of wanna be experts (PC forums...).