Why on earth am I going on about this with an Amiga editorial? The answer is simple: the AmigaOne.
Producing an alternative to the "standard" x86 box is tough. Until you reach the sheer volume of boxes shifted in the x86 world, costs are always going to be significantly more for any alternative platform. Take a peek at Apple's Macintosh offerings and compare them feature-for-feature with the PCs they're up against. Apple may make, in my humble opinion, very good PowerPC hardware, there's no denying that their options look expensive against the competition.
In order to survive, a new hardware platform is going to have to have to reach a broad appeal - filling a variety of roles, a variety of niche markets. Take a look at the current user base for the current Amigas. A couple of years ago, figures of 100,000 were being (optimistically?) thrown around - nowadays, no one dares say. Like it or not, the Amiga market place is *tiny*, and that's a fact of life.
Now, it's not all doom and gloom. I get lots of e-mails from people who read these editorials, people who have just discovered the Amiga, people who have just re-discovered the Amiga, people eager to buy new hardware and enjoy the power of the Amiga. There is a market out there, and as AmigaAnywhere picks up, it'll seed the future of AmigaOS and thus desktop hardware - the hub of the digital universe in your home or office.
In the meantime, the AmigaOne hardware needs all the allies it can get. Cast an eye towards the Linux and BSD communities - PowerPC is a sought after commodity by those looking for something which isn't the x86 PC. With no satisfactory hardware fulfilling that need, the AmigaOne fits the bill perfectly - and what could be better than supporting other alternative operating systems and users? It promotes alternatives and fuels development of further Amiga PowerPC hardware in the process. Heck, it can help drive down the costs - surely a good thing?
Eyetech's AmigaOneG3-SE began an initial shipment this month to registered developers, dealers, testers and assorted other interested parties. We will
