[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by activist

I think you are overly sympathetic with the Commodore defense. Sure they did some good work but given what they had (the A1000, or even 2 years later) Commodore should have been at least been able to stay alive or relevant with Amiga. Be it games, graphics, business or whatever.

I am not saying Commodore could not have a better job if they had better management, better engineers etc., but that's an alternate universe. In reality they had what most other companies had, and they failed like most other companies did. But they did manage to 'stay relevant' for 36 years, which is better than many others.

But it doesn't seem Commodore had any idea what to target or what to commit to really. Say it was office/productivity for example. Then they failed with distribution, support, volume licensing and all that stuff business and corporations demand.

They did quite well with their PC clones. But if it's the Amiga you are talking about then yes, they had a problem because it didn't fit neatly into existing niches. The Amiga was the ultimate hobbyist's computer and the first multimedia machine, but in the US the home market was splitting into PCs and consoles. There was still plenty of life left in the European market, but Commodore was primarily a US company full of Americans who (understandably) were considering the US market first.

However it not true to say that Commodore didn't commit to the Amiga. While other companies shifted to PCs they continued to develop the Amiga's unique character, always trying to make it relevant without turning it into just another PC clone. We could say that was a mistake for their survival as a business, but would they have lasted any longer as just another clone maker? And more importantly, would that have been better for us? I say not. The World would be a duller place if Commodore had had more business sense.

Even software licensing. Just license Lotus 123 and be done with it if that was your market.

"Oh yeah, just license Lotus 123 that's the answer!". Clueless.

The Amiga was never going to make it as an alternative to the PC, and having Lotus 123 or any other existing PC app would not make the difference. People would still ask "But is it IBM compatible?", and get an unsatisfactory answer. Imagine buying an Amiga because it had Lotus 123, then discovering it wouldn't run any other PC programs! That's when you would realize what an idiot you were for not buying IBM.

If there was one strategy that might have worked it would be producing apps that were better than the PC had, and using the Amiga's strengths to make it more desirable than a PC. That's what Apple tried with the Mac, and they almost succeeded.

But Commodore had never operated like that. They always just made hardware and expected it to sell itself. PC clone manufacturers did the same of course, but they were part of an ecosystem that provided the software and support customers needed. Riding on the coattails of IBM and Microsoft made it so much easier for them.

There was even still a small chance for Amiga to 'thrive' after Commodore. But the way it was sold off simply to the highest bidder, one who had no idea of the Amiga culture or customer base or with no vision for the product ended all that almost completely.

It was a shame, but that's what happens when a company goes bankrupt. The receivers were obligated to get the highest price they could to satisfy creditors. If Commodore UK hadn't been scared off by big US companies looking to strip the Amiga's assets the result could have been different.

But don't kid yourself. The PC juggernaut was crushing everything, and nothing could stave off the inevitable for long. When 486 clones hit the UK it was obvious where things were headed, and then Microsoft released Windows 95...