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EXECUTIVE UPDATE
September 17, 1999
Open Letter to the Amiga Community
There has been a great deal of confusion and frustration expressed
in the news groups and via email over the past several weeks. I
apologize that we have not been more direct in our communications,
and I want toset the record straight.
First, per my previous messages, I continue to be impressed with
the passion and commitment of this community. You have "hung in
there” through a number of upheavals over the past years, and
through several false starts on next-generation Amiga platforms.
You deserve better. I have received many, many emails over the past
two weeks, expressing your opinions and frustrations. Let me try
and summarize what I have heard.
Many of you acknowledge the fact that we are focusing on
software forthe coming generation of "Internet appliances.”
We are very excited aboutthe new Amiga Operating Environment, the
work we are doing with Linux (andother operating systems that
support Java), and the huge growth curve in Internet appliances
that we are going to ride. You have gracefully wishedus well in
this endeavor, for that, I thank you. As you know, we announced in
July that we were pursuing the development of a "multimedia
convergence computer” that would serve as the next-generation
Amiga desktop computer. After the change in management at Amiga, we
reviewed all our product plans.To be honest, the ability for us to
deliver the MCC was unrealistic. Furthermore, I have fundamentally
decided that it would be better to partner with a wide variety of
hardware partners, rather than compete against them witha product
of our own.
From your perspective, one big problem exists. Sounds great, but
what does this new direction have to do with the original Amiga
computer? Quite honestly, nothing! We realize that this does not
satisfy the desire of the Amiga community for a next-generation
Amiga. In response, I remain committed to seek out partners who are
interested in developing a next-generation Amiga computer and
operating system. We have been following the discussions amongst
the newly formed "Phoenix Platform Consortium” and talking to
companies interested in supplying the next-generation Amiga. We are
open to the possibility of licensing the MCC product specification
and design that is now on the shelf to companies that are
interested in further developing the Amiga desktop computer product
line. We believe that this could be an attractive business
opportunity for another company.
In summary, we are continuing to focus our resources on setting
software standards for the coming generation of Internet
appliances. We are not planning to offer hardware devices, but will
work with hardware manufacturers who want to license our
technology. As far as offering next-generation Amiga systems, we
are open to talking to companies who want to offer such a product.
For those of you who are excited about the Amiga Operating
Environment running on a wide variety of future Internet
appliances, we invite you to track our progress and activities over
the coming months. The Internet appliance software model that we
are putting together will open up an excitingnew era of software
development that we think will be very interesting to the type of
innovative thinkers who were drawn to the Amiga computer in years
past.
Best Regards,
Thomas J. Schmidt
President and CEO
Amiga, Inc.
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