September 28, 2000
Executive Update
Greetings to one and all.
I know it has been a long time since I last had the chance to
write to all to all of you.
It has been very, very busy, and we have seen some great
successes, and some disappointments. I have not been asleep, and to
the contrary I have not been getting much sleep of late. There is
so much activity, and so little time that I have been spending a
great deal of time in other areas and not keeping everyone up to
date.
To my Friends in Italy, I apologize that I was not able to
attend the show. It was a real disappointment for me personally, as
I wanted to greet each and every one of you. The reason was not
because we are broke, or out of money as the rumors would
state.
Simply, there were two companies in California that I have been
working with, and they requested a meeting that occurred over the
same period of time. With working with these OEM's we will be able
to add several million more Amigans, and the discussions went well
and are progressing quickly, these meetings were in addition to
what is mentioned in point 3 below.
Now with all the above fun stuff……
Here we go:
1. The SDK for Amiga DE.
This has been very exciting, and we are really pleased with the
number of applications and the number developers using the product
to create some great products.
The next version of the Software Development Kit will be out in
the next couple of weeks. In addition to the Linux version there is
now a version available for Windows. That's correct you are now
able to develop for the new Amiga on either Linux, or Windows.
It will feature a new raft of multimedia (Mesa, the SSEYO Koan
Audio Engine, streaming) as well better development tools, a richer
AVE and enhanced performance.
2. Amiga OS 3.5 and beyond
We are continuing taking a very hard look at the current Amiga
and how we can best move the platform forward. There are
discussions on going for some new opportunities and we will be able
to share some announcements in the very near future.
3. Amiga DE business opportunities. Wow, this
is an area that is absolutely exploding. For developers this is
going to be great news. Not only will the applications you are
working on be used by your Amiga family members, but with the deals
that are either executed or in motion there will be millions more
consumers joining the Amiga family.
Now many of you began to speculate on the Meternet announcement.
Meternet is offering a great product, and they are going to be
making it available to the Amiga community, but it is not the
AmigaOne.
4. The AmigaOne.
We have listened to a great many of you with comments,
suggestions, business ideas and technical ideas. Dean Brown has
been a huge help, especially that he is now here in Snoqualmie with
the other members of the team.
Because of this input we have begun negotiations for a brand new
design. Most of the details have been worked out, and I hope to
have the finished announcement ready by the middle of October. It
is my firm belief that you will all be very pleased and
excited.
5. Dealers/Distributors, and our friends in the Press:
The well of information for all of you has been too dry, and
inconsistent. To better provide information to each and every one
of you.
Amiga has created two new mailing lists. Please go to:
http://www.amigadev.net/index.php?sid=&subpage=home&function=showmaillists
or to http://www.amigadev.com/ and select mailing lists on the
right hand side of the screen. Select either press or dealer, and
fill out your information. We will begin weekly feeds to these
lists to better support our press and dealers.
I know that many of you will read that this letter says nothing,
and that there is nothing happening, other than a new motorcycle
for me.
Well you are very wrong. We are meeting directly with the heads of
some of the largest computer and consumer electronics companies in
the world, and not only do they see the value in what we are
offering but they see where the Amiga community, you, is the real
value.
Now we still have a ways to go, but we are moving very fast, and
I know that you will all be very proud of Amiga as we continue to
make things happen.
The biggest challenge for Amiga right now is to stay focused on
our core strengths, and not make the mistakes of those who have
walked before us.
The Amiga opportunity is huge, and sometimes overwhelming. There
are so many conflicting reports, and I have not done a very good
job of being able to communicate to all of you as well as I would
like to.
We are getting much closer every day, and everyone of you are a
major part of the Amiga Family's success.
Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team
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