CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[Tripitaka]

Trip,

I guess so when it was 3:## AM at USA pacific coast time. Give it a wild guess and figure that I was up since 8:30 AM of the preceeding day.

Fair enough, we all have bad days. I still think CUSA is an irrelevance as far as anything Amiga is concerned. They have the name but none of the spirit.

[Wildstar128]

What did they "develop" other than a case?

Lets put it blunt, you wouldn't make anything custom remotely competitive in mainstream without great expense. The hw platform wars in the mainstream computer market is over. It is completely x86. Intel won. PPC, ARM, and everyone else lost. It is like the vhs winning out over beta. Intel is the ISA for mainstream computers. Apple was the last company of mainstream computers to use PPC and they dropped it. This means, intel ISA is the architecture of today and for the foreseeable future until quantum computing comes out.

PPC lost that market just as the 65xx did and 65xx uses the embedded devices market.

Lets be serious.

When it comes to mainstream computers:
You can have any flavor of cpu as long as it is x86 ISA platform.

You can love or hat x86 but that is what you got now.

[runequester]

Lets put it blunt, you wouldn't make anything custom remotely competitive in mainstream without great expense. The hw platform wars in the mainstream computer market is over. It is completely x86. Intel won. PPC, ARM, and everyone else lost. It is like the vhs winning out over beta. Intel is the ISA for mainstream computers. Apple was the last company of mainstream computers to use PPC and they dropped it. This means, intel ISA is the architecture of today and for the foreseeable future until quantum computing comes out.

PPC lost that market just as the 65xx did and 65xx uses the embedded devices market.

Lets be serious.

When it comes to mainstream computers:
You can have any flavor of cpu as long as it is x86 ISA platform.

You can love or hat x86 but that is what you got now.

I know this is probably heresy to the hardcore amiga guys, but I actually don't care about the processor other than "fast or slow". Im not a programmer at all, so I have no real idea what the differences really are.

My question was.. what did CUSA develop, that anyone else have not done?

[Wildstar128]

Fair enough, we all have bad days. I still think CUSA is an irrelevance as far as anything Amiga is concerned. They have the name but none of the spirit.

I am not going to argue on that point as it isn't needed and is simply a point of view. I agree it doesn't have direct relevence with Classic Amiga platform. Just as much as modern mac has to 68k Mac.

I do believe they can capture some of the Amiga essence. Now, lets take a look at the underlying framework of Amiga kernal. Isn't it some sort of framework built off of UNIX to some degree but certainly divergent in a massive way.

We can look into the detailed history of the Amiga OS development history at the beginning.

It just might have something to do with that baseline which Linux is also derived from.

[Pyromania]

Lets put it blunt, you wouldn't make anything custom remotely competitive in mainstream without great expense. The hw platform wars in the mainstream computer market is over. It is completely x86. Intel won. PPC, ARM, and everyone else lost.

You can love or hat x86 but that is what you got now.

I was not aware that I had to love or hat a processor. Over 1 million ARM based products sell per day. A CommodoreUSA Amiga that can't even run any Amiga software (No Amiga Forever included) is a none event. What's in it for Amiga fans?

[Darrin]

I'm not selling them. In addition, you might want to know how business operates if you suggest or propose ideas for someone to invest their money.

That would be a good start for you guys. Take some courses in business and run a business.

It might do you some good in your life as well.

Just for the record, I don't need you to tell me how to run a business or to go on a course.  I own my own company and I'm doing very well thank you.

You need to tell C-USA how to run a company and to go on a business course because computers do not equal furniture.

[Darrin]

I'll ask you a serious question, would any of you buy new commodore 64 software on the various peripherals like maybe an intelligent drive that runs on ethernet and you use the various ethernet modules to load the software off of.

I ordered a PETDISK for my CBM 8032 last week if that helps.

[Wildstar128]

I know this is probably heresy to the hardcore amiga guys, but I actually don't care about the processor other than "fast or slow". Im not a programmer at all, so I have no real idea what the differences really are.

My question was.. what did CUSA develop, that anyone else have not done?

I can't say that they done anything that anyone else couldn't do. I would say that they had done some customize scripting in the COS-V and all but lets keep in mind that Commodore USA is only just beginning. Commodore business machines was well established by 1975 and 1980s. They had 20 years. So, it would be difficult to get the more advance and more custom UI and other features to further customize COS-V into something with its own flavor. Developing a desktop environment that is totally custom would require R&D.

If you are interested and have some ideas and skills for a custom desktop environment... Then maybe that would be something to consider that is revolutionary but functional and intuitive.

It is possible to capture that spirit in a way that Amiga did in 1984.

[Wildstar128]

Just for the record, I don't need you to tell me how to run a business or to go on a course.  I own my own company and I'm doing very well thank you.

You need to tell C-USA how to run a company and to go on a business course because computers do not equal furniture.

Business is simply about selling a product that people would use at a fair price. Jack Tramiel did quite well with that philosophy.

Of course it isn't furniture but Barry been in business with cable companies and more for some time. I have talked to him before. Darrin, I don't work for CommodoreUSA. I am independent in that regard but I may certainly have good enough relations That he might consider listening to the thoughts and then decide. I am not promising anything.

I been done such roads before.

[Pyromania]

Why does every CommodoreUSA fan say they don't work for them???

[Wildstar128]

I ordered a PETDISK for my CBM 8032 last week if that helps.

Alright, I would want to have an idea of price and media its on. On one end, I would have to consider media suitability and availability.

I know floppy disks are getting hard to come by.

MicroSD, MMC/SD would be the ideal medium now. Alright, so, that means software on such would make a good media target. Of course, at cost plus some amount.

I like the PETDisk idea and maybe cover also IEC and perhaps generic ethernet could be pulled off for other systems.

[Akiko]

Why does every CommodoreUSA fan say they don't work for them???

Which reminds me, wonder whatever happened that middleman fellow?!

[Wildstar128]

Why does every CommodoreUSA fan say they don't work for them???

That is because CommodoreUSA doesn't have large number permanent employees. In addition, I don't have anything against them and I think they are serving some benefit in the long run indirectly. The reactions by some have been way over done and even to a point, uncalled for.

CommodoreUSA has some good products if its features suitably suits your needs.

I am not necessarily a fan but I am not against working with them. Note: I said 'with' not 'for'.

[haywirepc]

Why does every CommodoreUSA fan say they don't work for them???

because barry is trying to convince everyone its not him.

The shill accounts are ridiculous. Someone should track his ip and nail him on those lies too.

wildstar is a great example. 26 posts, all of them pro CUSA.
Na, its not a shill account. Yeah right.

[Duce]

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.

[Darrin]

Business is simply about selling a product that people would use at a fair price. Jack Tramiel did quite well with that philosophy.

Of course it isn't furniture but Barry been in business with cable companies and more for some time. I have talked to him before. Darrin, I don't work for CommodoreUSA. I am independent in that regard but I may certainly have good enough relations That he might consider listening to the thoughts and then decide. I am not promising anything.

I been done such roads before.

Yeah, I've seen his resume.  Cable companies have captive markets.  This is entirely different and his approach is all wrong.  I've talked to him before via PMs and frankly he should have kept himself in the shadows right from the start, picked a good PR guy, done some research and finally TOLD THE TRUTH.

He's not going to listen to anything you say.  He has a major personality disorder with has become obviously clear.  He might be able to bully his staff by screaming at them, but he is out of his league here.

As for your "good relations" with him, that will only last until you tell him "no".  Don't fall for it.  As long as you stroke his ego then he'll keep you around, but once he has no more use for you then you're gone.