Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
Well it was a long time ago and more accurate information is hard to find (if it ever existed). So unless someone discovers a cache of old Commodore financial records that's the best we are going to get. More importantly though it's a fairly dispassionate analysis of the actual numbers and facts, not the usual emotional rantings of butt-hurt Amiga fans.
I was no fan of Irving Gould either, but 30 years of being in business has changed my perspective a bit. He was born in 1919, and 22 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. In later years he played a pivotal role in saving Commodore from extinction, long before home computers were even a thing. So he did it for profit and expected to get a return - why shouldn't he? By 1991 he was over 70 years old and owned a company with sales of over a billion dollars per year - which would not have happened without his investment. So why shouldn't he draw a good income and use the corporate jet for business trips?
Many of us abhorred the tax avoidance, not realizing that it was standard practice in the corporate sector. And perhaps he didn't hire the best people, but would any of us have done better? "Of course I would", you say. "I'm a pretty smart guy with integrity, not a greedy old fool like Gould". I thought I was a pretty smart guy too, until I had to sack my manager and bail my business out from my own pocket. If you weren't in the computer business back then you might not realize how volatile and risky it was. Maybe I could have done a better job of running Commodore than Gould did, but more likely I just would have made other mistakes.
In Ian Matthews's short biography of Irving Gould - The Money Man, he said:-
You say - "Gould way of leading Commodore is a way preventing "vision" - this is rather crook way to avoid taxing, make profit and do shabby business".
But the truth is there would have been no Amiga at all without Gould. When he began investing in Commodore they were making calculators, by the end they had introduced millions of people to the joys of the World's most advanced affordable home computer, and were talking about home automation and virtual reality. Even it wasn't Gould's 'vision', he was was an essential part of it. |
Well, not sure about NZ law but in my country company management can be under crime charges if they act in a way that will hurt company business - even if you do private business you can't hurt your company.
From my perspective (also supported by data from providing by you link) Gould act like person that don't care. And side to this if you have vision then you are planing also what happen if you will be no longer able to do business - this not happened with Amiga as we all know that many companies was interested in Amiga patent portfolio (some of them like HP).
Gould should be blamed for this...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
There are a lot of things Commodore could have done (assuming they had the resources) but I think you are off-base here. Commodore didn't produce any video capture devices so they didn't need an API for it. If you are talking about playback of video formats then you might consider that Electronic Arts developed the Interchange File Format (IFF) in cooperation with Commodore in 1985. This was an open 'container' format designed to allow interoperability between different applications and platforms. It was incorporated into the OS in 1990. Microsoft's RIFF and AVI, and Apple's AIFF formats are based on it.
In 1988 Sparta Inc created the ANIM IFF format for Aegis Development's Videoscape and Video Titler programs. In 1990 Commodore created CDXL, one of the earliest formats for motion video playback from CD-ROM. In 1993 CDXL was extended for the CD32.
So Commodore did 'care', but perhaps you are miffed that they didn't produce an 'open' equivalent of Quicktime or Video for Windows. As you know these formats were protected by patent and copyright, and developing 'open' equivalents would not be easy. But even if Commodore had managed it, most Amigas would not have had the processing power to play it properly.
The CDXL format was designed to play on 'low-end' Amigas where it might be used in games etc. And it proved its worth. AGABlaster plays full screen (overscan) video and stereo audio on an accelerated A1200 or A4000 with quality exceeding MPEG1. |
I'm fully aware of this but still - Commodore as owner of patents was responsible for direction - so even if they not created video capture devices they advertised Amiga as video desktop machine so they should be responsible for coordinating and co-creating technology in controlled by Commodore Amiga world.
Companies providing guidelines, do some standards - obviously this not happened. That's why i claim that Commodore had no vision about Amiga future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
Some would say older but no wiser. The passage of time seems to have entrenched misconceptions about the Amiga, and emotions are still running high. I try to rebut it with facts and get accused of being a zealot. But hey, I'm not complaining - it's all part of the retro-computing experience!
I agree that in any reasonable scenario they would have failed sooner rather than later. But I wouldn't have called lasting a few more years 'extending the agony', I would have savored whatever we got from them. As it is I savor what we did get, and am thankful for it.
Indeed, and not just them. Look at Amstrad, with the ZX Spectrum +2/3 and CPC Plus (wish I could get my hands on one of those). Or Apple's later machines before the Macintosh, or Acorn's Archimedes, SAM Coupé, Timex Sinclair 2068, Mattel Aquarius etc. So many high hopes and botched implementations. But even though they can't hold a candle to the Amiga they are still interesting machines. Why focus on the negative? We should enjoy imagining what could have been, not pessimistically dismiss it.
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This already happened and can't be undone - today is too late for this anyway so i consider Amiga as nice hobby.