Quote:
Originally Posted by Promilus
So you'd end up with PC-like Amiga with PA-RISC sh**ty processor and hardly backward compatible h/w and OS. AND of course gaming console as well...
Horror!
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Yes, horror. A 'PC-like' Amiga that wasn't PC compatible - what was the point?
Let's face it - no matter which way you slice it the Amiga's days were numbered. The only way it could survive a little longer was by building on the strength of its existing legacy and user base, which was bound to dwindle.
Even as system sales were at their peak, developers were complaining about rampant piracy cutting into their profit margins. Developers on other platforms were becoming less interested in the Amiga because there weren't enough users willing to
buy games. It wasn't so much the hardware that was the problem, but the lack of potential market for their product. Games were also getting more sophisticated, requiring much higher effort that demanded millions of sales to justify the investment. Only the few most popular platforms were worth developing for, and that group was shrinking.
By the mid 90's the console market had become overcrowded. What could an Amiga that wasn't an Amiga add to get ahead of the pack? Nothing. It would have to rely on its unique computing features. But after 1995 that was gone too. The 'computer illiterate' masses were now buying PCs with Windows 95, which the entire 'personal computer' industry was set up to support.
If Commodore was able to operate on lower sales it could have survived at a least until the new millennium. But it wasn't. Years of bad product choices, expensive ineffective marketing and mounting debt took their toll. The few good products they produced didn't compensate enough, and the sales numbers required to service the debt were too high. The A1200 was a good product, but it couldn't make up for the bad ones that came before it.
Of course butt-hurt Amiga fans will blame Commodore for that, but we should remember that without Commodore there would be no Amiga. Nobody else was foolish enough to put the investment into realizing it. We should also remember all the other home computer manufacturers who fell by the wayside as the market consolidated. Commodore actually survived longer than most, and achieved greater success.
Instead of getting upset about what the Amiga might have been that didn't eventuate, we should celebrate what it did become and enjoy it. Who cares if there are only a few thousand of us? That small community is still as vibrant as it ever was. Who cares that the Amiga can't do as much as a modern PC? It still does plenty enough to keep us interested.
A machine with PA-RISC sh**ty processor and hardly backward compatible h/w and OS would not have helped. It would be an outlier. The big advantage of all the Amigas Commodore produced is that they are all part of the same family. Even the CD32 can easily be turned into the equivalent of an A1200. This binds the community together and makes our efforts more worthwhile. The only exception to that is NG 'Amigas' with OS4, which have done the opposite. A PA-RISC based 'Amiga' would have made it worse.