Article 114249 of comp.sys.amiga.misc: Path: news.PEAK.ORG!engr.orst.edu!osshe.edu!news.uoregon.edu!news.dacom.co.kr!usenet.seri.re.kr!news.cais.net!news1.erols.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!btnet!zetnet.co.uk!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!beachyhd.demon.co.uk From: Adam@beachyhd.demon.co.uk Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: World of Amiga, London: Review Date: 15 Apr 96 00:14:07 GMT Organization: Beachy Head - UK Lines: 98 Message-ID: <3171e92f@beachyhd.demon.co.uk> X-NNTP-Posting-Host: beachyhd.demon.co.uk MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-GateSoftware: AmiGate 1.6 (13.11.95) MMDF-Warning: Parse error in original version of preceding line at relay-2.mail.demon.net X-Mail2News-Path: disperse.demon.co.uk!post.demon.co.uk!beachyhd.demon.co.uk World of Amiga Show, Hammersmith, London, 13/4/1996 Well, it's been a long time since the last Amiga computer show in London, and I was rather uncertain of what I should be expecting. I knew that the show was going to be small, as I'd seen the floor plan in Amiga Shopper (which, looking back at it, was completely inaccurate, as was the map in the brochure we were handed as we went in..). I remember the days of the old Commodore shows. Both floors of the exhibition centre would be absolutely packed with stands, and packed with people. So had the British public lost interest? As we reached the Novotel in Hammersmith, I immediately saw fairly sizeable queues stretching from the entrance doors. They were currently not letting anyone else in, as the hall was full up with people. Eventually (even though we had pre-paid tickets) we got to the doors, and got in. The first thing that immediately hit you was that there were lots of people there. Lots and lots of people there. In fact, so many people that it was virtually impossible to move. This was the most encouraging Amiga-related thing that I can remember for a long time. Around the Amiga Technologies stand, it really *was* impossible to move, and it sometimes just was a matter of standing still for 5 minutes until a gap opened up nearby. As soon as I got in, I headed for Digita's stand to buy a copy of their excellent Wordworth5 software. There were people in front of me and beside me buying copies aswell, and the people standing behind me were waiting to buy too. (I also managed to pick up a Naksha mouse for 6UKP, which I was rather pleased about! :) There was a *lot* of money changing hands. The Amiga community might have shrunk a little, but it certainly looks like the people left have money to spend. I lost count of the number of people I saw walking around with Zip drives under their arms! I think overall, the theme of the show was definitely hardware, and not much software. Which is a shame. The shareware/PD scene really /has/ pulled the Amiga through a lot of its difficulties, I think. The only stands there I can remember with software were a few stands with Web browsers (HiSoft come to mind), Digita, Wizard selling DOpus5, and a number of companies selling a few games and PD compilations. Some of the people that were there: Amiga Technologies Well, they had a stand, anyway. I thought the space was wasted, to be quite honest. There was a demo of MindWalker, which looked rather nice, and demonstrations of Scala, but that was about it. I couldn't see any sign of the Walker.. Digita Excellent bargains to be had, with Wordworth5 for only 40UKP HiSoft Showing off their most impressive looking MPEG-Squirrel, and demonstrating the new SurfSquirrel (which it seems isn't quite ready for production yet..) Commodore User, Amiga Format, Amiga Power These stands were more packed than the others! :) Some of the people that should have been there: Almathera The claim in the brochure was that they were too busy developing the new version of Photogenics. Ok, I can believe that, but I'm sure that of all the companies that really should have been supporting the Amiga show, Almathera are right up at the top of the list. I bet they would have shifted a fair number of copies of Photogenics, too! Future Publishing They said they were going to be there, but I couldn't find them.. Did I miss something? There was also general confusion about the state of Amiga Technologies GmbH, ESCOM, and VIScorp. I'm still not entirely clear on this all myself, but I'm hoping that ATec GmbH has been purchased in its entirety (including all the staff and development plans) and will continue exactly as planned, except owned by VIScorp instead of ESCOM. If this is the case, it could be excellent news, as I believe VIScorp are probably prepared to invest a lot more in the Amiga than ESCOM ever were.. As I was going to the show, I had a feeling that I was going to leave feeling either very depressed (at the lack of exhibitors and the lack of interest), or very happy. I'm certainly rather happy as I type this. The commercial world might have forgotten us, and we may have been slowly moving backwards for the last couple of years, but one thing is certain: the people of the UK still love the Amiga. .\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ ad32@brighton.ac.uk \\/ Article 114317 of comp.sys.amiga.misc: Path: news.PEAK.ORG!engr.orst.edu!reuter.cse.ogi.edu!news.ssd.intel.com!chnews!itnews.sc.intel.com!news.sprintlink.net!new-news.sprintlink.net!laslo.netnet.net!en.com!in-news.erinet.com!imci5!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!nott!bcarh189.bnr.ca!bcarh8ac.bnr.ca!bcarh8ab.bnr.ca!news From: Tony McCreath Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: World of Amiga, London: Review Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 10:26:13 +0100 Organization: Bell Northern Research Lines: 64 Message-ID: <317367B5.2FD9@bnr.ca> References: <3171e92f@beachyhd.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: bmdhh15.bnr.ca Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.03 9000/712) Adam@beachyhd.demon.co.uk wrote: > > World of Amiga Show, Hammersmith, London, 13/4/1996 > ..... > Some of the people that were there: > > Amiga Technologies > Well, they had a stand, anyway. I thought the space was wasted, to be > quite honest. There was a demo of MindWalker, which looked rather nice, > and demonstrations of Scala, but that was about it. I couldn't see any > sign of the Walker.. There was one in a case and one doing some sort of demo. I never got close enough to see the screen though :( ..... > > Some of the people that should have been there: > > Almathera > The claim in the brochure was that they were too busy developing the > new version of Photogenics. Ok, I can believe that, but I'm sure that > of all the companies that really should have been supporting the Amiga > show, Almathera are right up at the top of the list. I bet they would > have shifted a fair number of copies of Photogenics, too! > > Future Publishing > They said they were going to be there, but I couldn't find them.. Did > I miss something? I believe they had several stands. AF was definitely there. Blittersoft seemed to back out at the last minute, and I would have liked Phase 5 to have been there, I had plent of money to waste!!! ..... > > As I was going to the show, I had a feeling that I was going to leave feeling > either very depressed (at the lack of exhibitors and the lack of interest), or > very happy. I'm certainly rather happy as I type this. > Same with me. > The commercial world might have forgotten us, and we may have been slowly > moving backwards for the last couple of years, but one thing is certain: the > people of the UK still love the Amiga. > > .\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ ad32@brighton.ac.uk \\/ -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony McCreath R.I.: "Wibble, Wibble, Fish" Telecom's Software Development Engineer, Work: mccreath@bnr.ca Nortel Maidenhead (Berks,UK) Home: mccreath@vossnet.co.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article 114321 of comp.sys.amiga.misc: Path: news.PEAK.ORG!engr.orst.edu!hudson.ECE.ORST.EDU!macartmo From: Morgan Macarthur Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: World of Amiga, London: Review Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 12:52:42 -0700 Organization: College of Engineering, Oregon State University Lines: 27 Message-ID: References: <3171e92f@beachyhd.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: hudson.ece.orst.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In-Reply-To: <3171e92f@beachyhd.demon.co.uk> On 15 Apr 1996 Adam@beachyhd.demon.co.uk wrote: > World of Amiga Show, Hammersmith, London, 13/4/1996 > > Some of the people that were there: > > Commodore User, Amiga Format, Amiga Power > These stands were more packed than the others! :) > > Some of the people that should have been there: > > Future Publishing > They said they were going to be there, but I couldn't find them.. Did > I miss something? Last time I checked, Future Publishing publishes Amiga Format and Amiga Power, so in that sense they were there. In any case, thanks for the report... Morgan MacArthur macartmo@ece.orst.edu Oregon State University http://www.ece.orst.edu/~macartmo "You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified one than autoerotic asphyxiation." -Leon Bruckman, X-Files