By Paul Somerfeldt, Contributing Editor, See staff list for e-mail address
First and foremost, allow me to apologize for the lack of the poll results last month. And for the fact that I am not going to submit one again this month. There has only been a total of seven respondents in the past couple of months, and due to life happening right now, I haven't got the time to process those responses in the proper format.
With my apologies to Paul Harvey, "...and now, the rest of the story."
I recently made a decision about my Amiga usage. The Gateway announcement helped push me over the edge, but for the most part, it was not all that important in the scheme of things. You see, I've decided that my Amiga days are numbered, at least in regards to it being my main computer. And considering how often I use my Atari computer, it is unlikely that this machine will be used much once the new machine is acquired.
Starting with the Gateway announcement, I have to say that it is good news. Anyone who expected the Amiga NOT to be remolded in Gateway's image was foolish. Reading between the lines, however, I see that I will have to buy all new software. However, even as advanced as the computer may be, and as a result the software, I will have to wait until the year 2000 to buy it. That's a two-year wait for a machine that offers no guarantees about anything. Many promises, but no guarantees. As the man says, "Show me the money." Or, alternatively, "Build it, and they will come." Gateway, in six months I will be buying a new computer, but it will not be an Amiga. If your new product does not include networking, then the chances of my buying an Amiga once it is released are slim.
Due to an event at work I was reminded of why I bought my Amiga in the first place. I saw the incredible potential of the Video Toaster back in '91, but I never had the money to buy one. Now that I can afford it, I can't justify the expenditure. I can justify the purchase price of a 3D animation package such as Lightwave. And with the new technologies such as Firewire, the Amiga is rendered (pun not really intended) obsolete. Now comes the long and difficult task of deciding what to replace this machine with.
And on that note, I must practice that very thing that I preached a few months ago. I must start my search by coming up with a coherent list of the things that I want to do with the new machine. I follow that with exploring the tools that I need to accomplish that goal. One of those tools will be the computer, and with it, the operating system.
It's been an interesting ride, and I've learned a lot in the last 7 years. Time for one last cliche: Tomorrow is another day.