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@{"b"}Can Amiga be Popular Again?@{"ub"}  

After reading many views on this subject, I thought I should give my say. I find it sad to see the pessimistic views held by even 'die hard' Amiga users. Responses like 'the Amiga could only  exist maybe as a high end video machine', or 'the Amiga will slowly disappear, with maybe the Scene surviving a while after (like the C64, for example)'. Possibilities, maybe, but let us change the question. Remember, the Amiga isn't the only non-PC around, so how about:  

@{"b"}Can @{"i"}any@{"ui"}  non-PC ever be popular again?@{"ub"}  

Let me be specific - by PC I mean a machine running a MicroSoft operating system (After all, many will use PC correctly, meaning Personal Computer!) - be it Win95 or NT, be it on Intel chips or whatever.  

You see, it isn't just the Amiga, there's the Mac, wonderful new platforms like the BeBox (and pOS machines?), as well as possibilities of Java machines. Even a PC running OS/2 Warp might be considered different in a way, as it isn't running Windoze...  

It's an interesting debate. On the one hand, Microsoft have slowly built up their monopoly from businesses to the home, from being one of many OSes on the PC to being the sole one. So that we have a situation where any machine not running Windoze can't be a computer, or even that no other operating systems actually exist, and of course, that Multitasking, Plug 'n' Play etc were a recent development...  

But it is a monopoly, and we Amiga users aren't the only ones to realise that that isn't an ideal situation. Plenty of PC manufacturers have realised it, although there obsession with Java boxes may be a bit much (I'll mention the cow people later).  

Let's go to extremes. Supposing we went 50 years into the future - of course, it would be incredibly advanced computers, totally unrecognisable from today's, but would it still be MicroSoft running the game, with descendants of Windoze? I hope not.  

Talking about the future, another variation of this question is: @{"b"}Will the Amiga be around in x years time?@{"ub"} Where x is say 10, 20 years, or whatever. The answer is almost always a 'no', but I ask: Is the PC (in the Windoze sense) going to be around in 10 or 20 years' time? Quite likely not. We'll probably still call them PCs, because PC means Personal Computer, but in the sense or IBM compatible, or MS DOS Windows, then that's a different story.  

I think that if new platforms come along, companies will gladly develop software from them, and people will buy them, if they are as good as or better than the PC (in terms of Product/Price @{"i"}and@{"ui"} marketing/distribution!) The question now is: @{"b"}Could an Amiga based machine be such a new platform?@{"ub"}  

Ah! Now we're getting somewhere! But why do I say 'Amiga based'? Well, if you are thinking of 'Amiga' as '680x0 machine with AGA', then there's no hope. But Amigas can get better - a PowerPC machine with graphics just as good as a PC can still be an Amiga. We've got to remember that although the Amiga may be x years behind the PC (hopefully x isn't as much as 10 or 20 years this time!), it won't take that long to catch up, as if Gateway 2000 have to do all the redevelopment themselves, you just use off the shelf technology. For example, PowerPC CPUs, we jump straight in at 175MHz 603s minimum, no need to bother with 75MHz and the like. In an instant (well, maybe longer), we've jumped from a barely Pentium level '060 to MMX beating 603 and 604s! As far as graphics are concerned, any new technology (even if it's chipset based) can come from PC graphics cards, there's no need to bother with an upgraded AGA!  

And it's not as if there aren't companies willing to put there  faith in these ideas and the Amiga (need I bother naming them?)  

And Gateway 2000 (there, that's one of them) have got to be a far better bet than the QuikCorp lot.  

So yeah, I do think that other platforms could reign above the  PC again, and that Amiga can be a part of that. Sure it won't happen overnight - I see the next few years as being rather like the Mac; relatively few users, but reasonably decent machines that can be bought (ie, PPC based), and hopefully a more 'stable'  situation regarding the parent company! After that, who knows?  

Let's look at the games market. The Playstation showed how a completely non-Intel non-Windoze machine could take attention away from PCs. Imagine a machine with 604 and a cut-down Caipirinha chipset (or whatever), released at a decent price in late 1998, early 1999 when the market is looking for a new generation of games machines, with some decent marketing... of course, it as the AmigaOS in its ROMs, and is completely PowerAmiga compatible, but how can that stop a console being successful? Of course, if you built an Amiga Console with 40MHz '040 and AGA...  

I'm certainly not saying the Amiga only has a future as a games machine! Certainly not! Rather by using technology that any  new computer/PC/console could use, it can be just as good, if not better!  

And marketing is important, of course! So that people know these machines exist, and what they are capable of; so people will realise that these machines, despite being called 'Amigas' for some reason, aren't thankfully anything to do with those crappy old Amigas (as in all the people who think that Amiga=A500!), so people began to accept that a machine doesn't have to have MicroSoft Windoze in order to 'run', etc.  

Well, please write if you agree or disagree... I hope at least  you'll find my opinion looks on the bright side of things, and is more optimistic than some viewpoints!  

@{"b"}Mark@{"ub"}   
 
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