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© 1997-2006
Gareth Knight
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Amiga Set-Top Consortium

Image of Don GilbreathAt the Escom press conference on 30th May 1995, Don Gilbreath, Chief Technical officer for VisCorp, proposed the development an Amiga set-top consortium to cut through the confusion of conflicting markets and set distinct goals. In his speech, Don outlined the basics of the set-top market and the type of technology required to bring internet-readiness to the AmigaOS 68k. His comments are in italics.
We believe a minimum base case design including encryption technology, if possible, would be supported by consortium members. Since this platform is destined for world markets, a software rating mechanism would include parental lockout of adult features and include reviews, top sellers, etc. This standard must be In place in a similar fashion to that of the movie and music Industry, thereby freeing the software development community to treat it as a guaranteed publishing platform with secure distribution of content and payment. This device which many of us will build in various configurations will handle digitally secured conference calls to movies on demand. The hooks must be in place.
Don briefly outlined the markets that make set-top boxes distinct from the desktop. Since he made these comments the set-top concept has become devalued and desktop units have made significant inroads as technology becomes cheaper. Nevertheless these are still the basis of communication in business.
  • What is this set-top business all about?
  • Selling product - Initial hardware sale/lease or licensing - the enabling technology.
  • Potential of ongoing revenues - hard goods - soft goods -providing movies, telephone service, and grocery shopping.
  • Controlling transactions - classic gate keeper model.
Part of the failure of the set-top box as a concept is the basic nature of these systems. Many saw it as a step back in comparison to their current computer. The Amiga itself fits many of the parameters of the set-top goals, most notably its low cost and wide variety of software and information on the platform. However, the multimedia facilities would have to be built from the ground up. 
Allow an upgrade path similar to a computer. I.e. MPEG audio/video, etc, ISDN, wireless cable modems, etc.
Many of these technologies were available to the Amiga in some form but it is was only in 1998 that Amiga owners finally got the full benefit of MPEG technology (due to the processing power required and a lack of native software to play it). A new Amiga would have to be developed, probably based upon the ED, that built these technologies into the very heart of the operating system. The set-top market is aimed at the computer novice so the software would need to be built into ROM rather than stored on a hard disk where it could be wiped.
  • We need a consortium because the following is at stake:
  • Self-interest in semiconductors - hardware design win.
  • Operating system dominance - where applications reside.
  • Delivery system dominance - cable, teleco, radio, satellite, etc.
  • Development community - tools and understanding of next generation software.
  • Secure transactions - financial and developer community backed (musicians to software writers) to the customer it must be friendly and secure.
The set-top market is extremely complicated, being reliant upon the level of communication in a particular country. The UK presently uses a metered system of a basic connection fee, plus charge per minute of use. This makes selling a set-top box more difficult in this country as many of the services provided require you to be online. At the time an Amiga set-top box consortium would have been useful in keeping the platform alive and developing Amiga-based technology for online transactions. This may have been achieved through paying developers to produce web browser and allow access to closed source technology, such as Java and CSS. Although these have now become available it has been through 3rd party Unix software. If a consortium had existed these technologies would have made their way onto the Amiga much faster.

The proposal for an Amiga set-top consortium was a good idea let down by the lack of any follow-up on the plan. The financial troubles of Escom prevented any type of exchange between an independent group and a parent company regarding the best way of implementing such technology into the Amiga. The role of independent body could be played nowadays by the ICOA, developing the Amiga technology to support internet standards. With the reentry of the big boys into the Amiga market and the portation of Linux applications the need for such a body is vastly reduced, replaced by market competition. However, it may be useful for upgrading the Classic Amiga OS.
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