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                © 1999 Quest Technologies/Bedlam Enterprises

  Open Letter To The AMIGA Community - By Tom Schmidt (CEO Of AMIGA Inc)

SEPTEMBER 17TH 1999

There has been a great deal of confusion and frustration expressed in the
news groups and via E-Mail over the past several weeks.  I apologise that we
have not been more direct in our communications, and I want to set the
record straight. 

First, per my previous messages, I continue to be impressed with the passion
and commitment of this community.  You have "hung in there" through a number
of upheavals over the past years, and through several false starts on next-
generation AMIGA platforms.  You deserve better.  I have received many, many
E-Mails over the past two weeks, expressing your opinions and frustrations.
Let me try and summarise what I have heard.

Many of you acknowledge the fact that we are focusing on software for the
coming generation of "Internet appliances."  We are very excited about the
new AMIGA Operating Environment, the work we are doing with Linux (and other
operating systems that support Java), and the huge growth curve in Internet
appliances that we are going to ride.  You have gracefully wished us well in
this endeavor, for that, I thank you.  As you know, we announced in July
that we were pursuing the development of a "multimedia convergence computer"
that would serve as the next-generation AMIGA desktop computer.  After the
change in management at AMIGA, we reviewed all our product plans.  To be
honest, the ability for us to deliver the MCC was unrealistic.  Furthermore,
I have fundamentally decided that it would be better to partner with a wide
variety of hardware partners, rather than compete against them with a
product of our own.   

From your perspective, one big problem exists.  Sounds great, but what does
this new direction have to do with the original AMIGA computer?  Quite
honestly, nothing!  We realise that this does not satisfy the desire of the
AMIGA community for a next-generation AMIGA.  In response, I remain
committed to seek out partners who are interested in developing a next-
generation AMIGA computer and operating system.  We have been following the
discussions amongst the newly formed "Phoenix Platform Consortium" and
talking to companies interested in supplying the next-generation AMIGA.  We
are open to the possibility of licensing the MCC product specification and
design that is now on the shelf to companies that are interested in further
developing the AMIGA desktop computer product line.  We believe that this
could be an attractive business opportunity for another company.

In summary, we are continuing to focus our resources on setting software
standards for the coming generation of Internet appliances.  We are not
planning to offer hardware devices, but will work with hardware
manufacturers who want to license our technology.  As far as offering next-
generation AMIGA systems, we are open to talking to companies who want to
offer such a product.  For those of you who are excited about the AMIGA
Operating Environment running on a wide variety of future Internet
appliances, we invite you to track our progress and activities over the
coming months.  The Internet appliance software model that we are putting
together will open up an exciting new era of software development that we
think will be very interesting to the type of innovative thinkers who were
drawn to the AMIGA computer in years past.

Best regards,

Thomas J. Schmidt

President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

© 1999 AMIGA Inc