And So It Begins...© John Chandler
Jan 10, 2000
A new year, a new owner for the Amiga. Amino, the company formed by Fleecy Moss and Bill McEwen
to continue the digital convergence ideas of the Collas-era Amiga, announced that they had purchased the
Amiga lock, stock and barrel from Gateway. Okay, Gateway still retain the patents, but at least Amino
have, as part of the purchase agreement, gained access rights. Much as we've griped and complained
about Gateway's inactivity and lack of drive, they have at least done the honourable thing and handed the
Amiga over to someone who will hopefully carry on the good work. While some people may question
various things about Fleecy and Bill, I don't believe anyone can deny that they are enthusiastic people,
with the best of intentions for the platform.
Shortly after the purchase, Amino and Amiga transformed itself into Amiga Corporation, a rather grand
title which should hopefully reflect on the much-anticipated roadmap Amiga has planned. Despite Amino
being a member of the Phoenix Platform Consortium, the officially supported OS kernel partner will be
the UK-based Tao Group rather than the Phoenix-recommended QNX Neutrino solution. Phoenix have
already been beta-testing the OS, and undertaking preliminary applications development, since November.
While some may think this a warning sign, we don't have the full reasoning behind the decision, nor do
we have a full idea of Amino/Amiga's plans as yet but the choice is an interesting one, and actually quite
exciting. AmigaObjects won't be a feature, some might be relieved to hear, as this technology was folded back into
Gateway along with the Amiga Inc. development team that could've delivered so much for the Amiga
given the chance. But given the object-oriented nature of the Tao Group's products, an alternative system
will be available - Fleecy Moss' highly object-ised proposal for KOSH is a possible model of where
Amiga will be going. Analysing the press release, Amiga's next generation plans is concentrated around both the hardware, and
the community. Francis Charig, Tao-Group's Chairman and CEO, emphasised the Amiga community as
providing a valuable skillset needed to develop the future of digital services and content production.
Whatever else you may feel about the state of the Amiga market, it's hard to deny that we are a creative
bunch at heart - I doubt the Amiga could've made it through successive mismanagement without the hard
work we've all put in over the years. As long as Amiga and Tao-Group provide the tools and
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