CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[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.

[Darrin]

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

Legal Liabilty probably.

That plus Barry told them to say that.  

[Middleman]

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

Talking behind my back eh? Don't worry, I'm right here! :p

Hi folks,

Sorry, but I've been away for a while (call it my personal break away from forums/anything Commodore-related if you will - I think I suffered burnout from read the last discussion), so haven't really seen what's happened. Just catching up now and reading up on Barry's and everyone else's answers....


Here are my thoughts on the subject:

1) I think Barry has given a fair and balanced interview. He is being pretty honest here IMHO and is hiding nothing here save any legal trade agreements they have with their business partners AFAIK….

2) He is being realistic about the market situation and for the company in general - that for a reborn Commodore to survive, it has to make products that are relevant to the market and on-par tech wise with the best that is out there. Being Linux and Windows-compatible is one way to secure that future (or at least the funds for that future). Though not agreeing with 'legacy Amiga purists' going the x86 route now is the most logically sound route for the company at present.

3) Had made some points which are very logical from a business perspective (which again may upset some Amiga fans here) but is the truth. Computers have come a long way since the Amiga days of producing customized chips, and the parts today are pretty much commoditized. To go against what the general market wants is financial suicide.

4) interesting points have been made in regards to how 'he sees' the Amiga brand, namely that it is a performance brand, and the old ideas were simply 'a concept'. In this day and age somehow he is right about it I feel….you don't see people using customized chipsets anymore save retro sites like A.org…..

To be fair, after looking at the answers after his reply, I think the Amiga community in general I think is being too harsh on his company, and being too pessimistic about certain things a little too early. He has said he is a small company slowly working to rebuild the Commodore and Amiga brands. As  Leo has mentioned many times before Rome wasn't built in a day…..

CUSA I believe is doing things right - it's not doing anything 'wrong' except maybe have slightly more expensive offerings in some product lines to Apple? But even then it's coming down cheap.
I just heard they launched the new Vic Mini the other day….and that's a completely new product to the last one (which I remembered was similar to the Amiga Mini)….

[Darrin]

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.

Just tell him to produce a batch of Minimigs (v2.0) in a cheap plastic case (2 layers of plastic parted with spacers and an engraved logo), a pre-loaded SD card with ROM images, Workbench, some ADF games and a 3.1 Hard File and put it on the market for Xmas.  He could even sell AFD games from his "App Store" if he ever gets a Webmaster capable of creating it.

A quick, easy project.  The hardware designs are Open Source, the FPGA code is Open Source, he has the rights to the ROMs and Workbench and the case could be made by a McEmployee on minimim wage.

Of course he was told this right at the start and never listened.  He'd rather sell us overpriced PCs loaded with Linux and hope that we don't notice.

[Duce]

They are a Linux PC vendor selling x86 boxes.  This is Amiga.org.

Jesus Christ why can't people understand this just isn't relevant here?

[Darrin]

To be fair, after looking at the answers after his reply, I think the Amiga community in general I think is being too harsh on his company, and being too pessimistic about certain things a little too early. He has said he is a small company slowly working to rebuild the Commodore and Amiga brands. As  Leo has mentioned many times before Rome wasn't built in a day…..

CUSA I believe is doing things right - it's not doing anything 'wrong' except maybe have slightly more expensive offerings in some product lines to Apple? But even then it's coming down cheap.
I just heard they launched the new Vic Mini the other day….and that's a completely new product to the last one (which I remembered was similar to the Amiga Mini)….

...and as if by magic, the Shopkeeper appeared...

To be fair, you're not paying any attention and just reading of a script that Barry gave you.

The VIC-Mini in case you missed it is a old machine, made for years by someone else, rebadged and stuck in a C-USA box.  We've already seen links to the original website and the 50% lower prices they used to charge (retail) if you ordered from them directly.

The smoke and mirrors is endless.

I can't wait for the next C-USA drone to show up and tell us how wonderfull Barry is.  Perhaps his bank manger, golf partner or pool boy might like to drop in for a while.  

[Darrin]

They are a Linux PC vendor selling x86 boxes.  This is Amiga.org.

Jesus Christ why can't people understand this just isn't relevant here?

They do understand it.  They're paid to ignore it.  

[Tripitaka]

They are a Linux PC vendor selling x86 boxes.  This is Amiga.org.

Jesus Christ why can't people understand this just isn't relevant here?

You make a valid point. CUSA may have the names but beyond that they have nothing else to offer, unless your in the market for another PC. That being the case, what relevance is that to A.org?

I think after this post I'm just going to join those not posting on any CUSA threads and wait for CUSA to go away.

[Darrin]

I think after this post I'm just going to join those not posting on any CUSA threads and wait for CUSA to go away.

That's what they want.  If they can bore us to death then they can make lots of new threads, fill them with positive "Barry approved" content from sponsored accounts and hope that they'll show up at the top of any Google search.

It is like World War One, they're hoping that we run out of troops before they run out of bullets.  

[Middleman]

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.

Duce,

I've just literally read your post. To be honest, I'm pretty upset with your statement there. Because if you're a dottering old fart as you think I make you out to be, then you might as well include me on it! Because NOTHING is going to change that fact that I WAS EXPOSED TO THE AMIGA, LOVED the AMIGA and I ALWAYS WILL....IN WHATEVER SHAPE OR FORM IT HAPPENS TO BE IN. Including its current incarnarnation from CUSA as a Linux PC if you will....

Also to clarify (for you) I am not Barry and this is not a fake account I am using. I am a real person who is based in Asia, who just happens to have an besotted interest in the Amiga, and have a great interest in what the CUSA offerings could turn out to become, as it has been a LONG WHILE the brands have been officially 'back on the market' as it were, and I'm interested to see where it all leads. To this date I have had no financial dealings with CUSA other than buying their C64x for my birthday last year. Although I stressed interest before on their forums last month about being a potential dealer (because I thought maybe it would be an interesting thing to do, and introduce people in Asia to the Commodore brand), ultimately I'm not going to go selling computers as a business because (I know) it's too much work. I've worked at a software distribution company before for a short while when I was younger, so I know what it is like. I prefer a much simpler life to be honest....it's fine to use it for work/hobbies but running it is something else I feel...

[Wildstar128]

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.

Here you go with the worse reading comprehension in history. How about write on the chalk board 1000 times word for word, letter for letter what I actually wrote.

I am simply saying there is no way in hell in 50-100 years PPC will dominate over intel over mainstream computing. First off, I am referring to mainstream computer market. On the mainstream computing market, PPC has never been price competitive to intel in 15 years. Intel is the worlds largest semiconductor business on the planet. DEC Alpha lost out just as dozens of others. Use your brain for once.

How does using cpu technology that does not have software that people and majority of business uses going to use advisable. Compound it with an OS with next to nill in new software that computer users uses (vs. Computer programmers) in 20 years worth anything in mainstream computing. The closed off small group is eroding. There used to be nearly a million Commodore and Amiga users actively using Amiga and commodore 8 bit computers in 1995 and now by 2010, there is less then 1000 active Amiga and ~5000 Commodore community members with only 1% uses the computer as their primary computer. That is world wide. So, how in zeus's butthole can you possibly expect a new Amiga PPC amiga that competes competitively with intel.

How many purchases of Amiga x1000 by hyperion et al. How many was ever sold?

If you think that would compete then you have 3 months to port every mainstream software for Windows and Linux to Amiga OS and have it ready to compete against windows 8 and 9 and 10. You have 3 months.... Get crackin'

The user interface has to be as revolutionary between Amiga OS to everyone as Amiga 1000 was to the PET and we must have 256 display capability at 120 fps at 2560x2048 resolution at 48 bit color. It must have 65536 cores each with 256 process threads capable of 4 GHz threading, 256 bit digital data and address architecture, 64 Qubit data and address register architecture and with 64 Terabyte hard drive and 255.1 surround sound and be manufactured at a cost of $99 so it can be sold for $199  by Christmas.

Can you pull that all off ? Until then, quit expecting such.

You want a revolution. Then pull that off. Then you can take out intel.

In the meantime, the mainstream market is Intel. Inconvenient truth isn't it.

To the other idiot,

I been on this forum specifically since 2003. However, I didn't post to this forum that much. I was on lemon, and many other amiga forums and many other forums.

[Wildstar128]

Just tell him to produce a batch of Minimigs (v2.0) in a cheap plastic case (2 layers of plastic parted with spacers and an engraved logo), a pre-loaded SD card with ROM images, Workbench, some ADF games and a 3.1 Hard File and put it on the market for Xmas.  He could even sell AFD games from his "App Store" if he ever gets a Webmaster capable of creating it.

A quick, easy project.  The hardware designs are Open Source, the FPGA code is Open Source, he has the rights to the ROMs and Workbench and the case could be made by a McEmployee on minimim wage.

Of course he was told this right at the start and never listened.  He'd rather sell us overpriced PCs loaded with Linux and hope that we don't notice.

Minimig is FPGA based. From someone who knows the price curve such as Jeri Ellsworth who knows what the price bench mark for FPGA and ASIC. In low volume, FPGAs are cheaper then ASIC but FPGA price is basically the same with a small discount between 1 and 100,000 FPGAs. You might get the FPGA for half the price if you are lucky at batch orders of 250,000 if you can get that. However, ASIC and small die sizing to the nm fabrication, it can probably be down to about $20 given the years since 64DTV if lucky. A whole unit for $49.99 could be achieved but it won't be field reprogrammable and fixed mode.

So we would have to pick the max system spec and hardware. It won't be shifting between cores so to speak but one core.

You can't get FPGAs cheap just by buying in bulk.

[Wildstar128]

They do understand it.  They're paid to ignore it.  

What pay?

[Wildstar128]

Legal Liabilty probably.

That plus Barry told them to say that.  

I been on this forum damn near as long as you have. Longer than Barry. Longer than Duce.

I have been registered on this forum since 2003. So knock the b.s. Off. No pay. Barry can say whatever he wants and I can just as easily give him the birdie and any of you.

I am not under his control. So please stop spreading such false accusations. That is the problem with you guys. Either you never completed 3rd grade or you guys have some serioius psychological issues. Did you dose too much drugs, lsd, etc. During the 80s and that is why you are so screwed up.

Legal Liability.... LOL.

[Darrin]

get FPGAs cheap just by buying in bulk.

Assembly is cheaper in bulk.  The Minimig doesn't need a big expensive FPGA.  aCube have already made some.  I have one.

[Darrin]

Barry:  "Hello boys and girls!  I'm your Uncle Bazza and I'm the host of the C-USA Smoke & Mirrors show.  Now I know I've been a bad boy in the past, but thanks to Prozac I'm a new man and I just want to be your friend.  Talking of friends, I've brought two with me.  Meet Middleman and Wildstar.  Say hello to the children guys."
Middleman:  "Hello boys and girls!"
Wildstar:  "Hello boys and girls!"
Barry:  "Why don't you guys tell everyone how nice I am?"
Middleman:  "Oooh!  Uncle Barry is really, really, really nice."
Wildstar:  "He's even nicer than that!  He's like a double helping of nice with a big dollop of icecream on top!"
Middleman:  "I love icecream!"
Wildstar:  "And Uncle Barry loves the Amiga!"
Barry:  "Well there you have it boys and girls, I love you all and I'm a really, really nice guy."
Middleman:  "With icecream!"
Wildstar:  "Yes Uncle Barry, don't forget the icecream!"
Barry:  "OK, that's all until next week.  Remember to come to my website and pre-order a computer with excessive RAM, a sub-standard graphics card, no expandability and an underpowered PSU"
Middleman and Wildstar:  "And icecream!"
Barry:  "You guys are so funny.   Hey, where's Dammy with my meds?  I feel the need to insult someone."