Article 93798 of comp.sys.amiga.misc:
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From: khisel@prairienet.org (Kevin Hisel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Amiga Tech Defended
Date: 16 Oct 1995 15:22:02 GMT
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[ Article crossposted from comp.sys.amiga.advocacy ]
[ Author was Kevin Hisel ]
[ Posted on 16 Oct 1995 15:21:18 GMT ]

The following was posted on the Starship CUCUG bulletin board
(217-356-8056). See our Amiga Web Directory at
http://www.prairienet.org/cucug/amiga.html.

----

Jim Huls sez:

-> Now the only thing I can't help but think now is...where is Amiga
-> Technologies?!?!?  They don't have up a full web site.  They have yet to
-> decide on a risc chip to go with.  Amigas to my knowledge are not yet
-> shipping although I've heard a rumor that they are in Germany.  There has
-> been no official word whatsoever other than they will be actually 
attending
-> a Video Toaster show here in the US.  Jason Compton found it interesting
-> that they can't even find the time to make up a 15 min. press release for
-> anything they are doing while Be Inc. is having him flown out to see the
-> BeBox in person.

Keep in mind that the bid was accepted on April 21, just six, short
months ago. On that day, they possessed nothing in the way of hardware,
plans, schematics, tooling, dies, masks, supplies, vendor lists,
copyright and trademark filings, financial information, etc., etc., etc.
Furthermore, they did not buy a functioning company--no staff, no
ongoing sales, no marketing, no manufacturing and precious little hard
assets (even the floor waxer was gone).

I guess I am a little more tolerant of the time it's taken for them to
ramp up, since I work at a company that is somewhat similar in the fact
that we design and manufacture our own products (less complex than
computers, by the way).

Where is Amiga Technologies?!?!?  I suspect they're busting their butts
to make the Amiga "happen".  However, that's going to be a long road to
hoe, since the Amiga is so far behind even our most-hated nemisis, the
PC.  However, let's look at what they have done in six, short months:

o  Created a new division and hired a staff of about 40 people to run it

o  Constructed a financial and logistic plan to implement the overall
   objectives of the new division. (Try scraping up the $30-$40MM this
   probably required on your lunch break, sometime.)

o  Participated in or sponsored numerous public-relations press
   conferences and have regularly released official information press
   releases. They have shown at a few shows already.

o  Contracted and assigned distribution rights to at least 10
   international computer distributors

o  Secured tooling, masks, parts from former plants in foreign countries
   (getting the tooling out of some countries can take forever and cost
   a fortune even if you own own it!)  This is pretty amazing
   considering the long lead times for many components like DRAMs which
   are now on allocation (luckily Escom probably had some orders in the
   pipe) and custom chips--the bedrock of the Amiga--are nearly
   impossible to obtain in anything less than 36 weeks or so right now!

o  Have begun manufacturing not one, but two Amiga models--the A1200 in
   France and the A4000T in Pennsylvania.

o  Have contracted inside and outside help for technical design of "new"
   Amigas. This process does not--and should not--just happen in a few
   months.

o  Have announced work on a new, 68060-based Amiga.

o  Have announced conceptualization plans for a possible RISC-based Amiga

o  Yes, their Web site is incomplete but it's nearly there and they have
   shown a commitment to monitoring the newsgroups and supporting net
   users directly

I guess if I had all of these accomplishments listed on my six-month
performance evaluation where I work, I'd be asking for a big, fat raise!
From my standpoint, AT's accomplishments are pretty astonishing.  Sure,
they've got a long way to go still, but I personally feel that they are
making the best of the situation at hand.

Yes, it's frustrating to have to wait for the new dual-processor,
RISC-based Son of Amiga to rise from the ashes and blow the world away
again.  But look at the reality of the problem AT faces right now.

-Kevin Hisel
 Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group
 http://www.prairienet.org/cucug/