News and Views
AmiTech-Dayton Gazette -- April 2002
It's been about three weeks since the AmiExpo in Baltimore, and announcements since then have been good, bad, and confusing.
The good news is the announcement from both Amiga Inc. and bPlan/MorphOS that hardware and software are expected to be ready "real soon" with June/July looking like the most likely time frame. Both parties claim to have beta boards in the hands of developers and software well under control. IBrowse has been confirmed to be the default OEM browser for AmigaOS 4.0 and should be ready to download for use by users of 3.1 thru 3.9 shortly. We've also had updates to the software for the VarlO boards and to VirusZ III. These can be downloaded through the usual sites or you can find them with a search on Amiga.org or ANN.lu.
The bad news is we've lost another software developer. The makers of GoldEd have ceased development and will be selling the source code. Also, it seems that just after declaring his fondness for Amithlon/AmigaXL Bill McEwen has issued a "cease and desist" to the developers, stopping them from further distribution and development until trademark and copyright issues can be settled (one would have thought these probelms would have been solved BEFORE anyone began selling/promoting the software). Hopefully this will be fixed quickly as AmigaOS for the x86 machines has been one of the few bright spots for the Amiga community lately. Also, the magazine that replaced Amiga Active, Digital has announced they will cease publication (I didn't subscribe --- don't blame me!). Meant for users in the new "digital" age, it was basically lost in a sea of existing PC magazines.
The confusing news --- Go to any of the Amiga websites and read the posting by Thendic France. In a wandering, confusing, tangled mess of rambling comments and announcements Thendic has 1) Announced a Pegaos board suitable for handheld purposes. 2) Somehow figured out how to use MorphOS as the kernal to boot Yellow Dog Linux (?). 3) Started a whole new episode of the AmigaOS vs MorphOS argument. 4) Complimented, then insulted, Amiga Inc., then opened the door to the possibility of the two companies working together in the future. One begins to wonder whether the post was translated wrong or if the post is a hoax, since it does little to boost confidence about any future for the Amiga in any shape or form. This whole "us vs them" mentality has got to stop! Amiga will never become a force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. Microsoft and years of mismanagement and dormancy have seen to that. Whether Amiga comes back for what little share of interested users are left depends on whether a solid, unified effort to produce the best possible next-gen Amiga appears, or if the remaining "players" continue this never-ending "pissing contest" to see who has the right to say "I'm better than you".