Wavey's World - Party Time

Wavey's World
By Paul Lara

ateway2000 Acquires Amiga was the mixed blessing heard round the world recently. Is this good or bad for Amigans? We won't know for a year or more. If we were to base this on past and current trends, however, it may be just another sad chapter in brilliance and efficiency swallowed by the larger fish.

You know, I have to tell all of you that my Amiga experiences have made me a different person. Having used a computer that is "no more" for what seems like an eternity has made me look at computing in a whole new way. Obsolete? What's that? My new definition of obsolete is simply; "it can't do what I need it to do". The emphasis here is on need, and not want. What I want my computer to do is real-time LightWave renders, automatically parking my objects/text/logos smoothly in place each time. I want my ToasterPaint or ImageFX to just quit wasting my time and 'plop' the image I'm imagining down onto the screen.

What do I need? I need a dependable Swiss-army-knife that slices, dices, blurs, composites, and smoothly makes split edits with my Flyer clips. I gotta tell you, as one who has one foot in the 'obsolete' world of the Amiga, and the other foot in the warm, squishy muck of the MS-DOS, Win95 world, I'm getting a growing appreciation for the former, and a real dislike for the latter.

I love nothing more than picking up the phone, calling up NovaDesigns (the makers of ImageFX), and finding Kermit Woodall at the other end of the phone (usually after the second ring). Kermit has become 'one with the force' of ImageFX, and can quickly tell me where I'm going astray, or what specific feature I'm seeking. The Amiga developer base has shrunk to a small village. We all seem to know, and at one time or another, have spoken with the likes of Michael Holton (Co-Pilot), Jeff White (Control Tower) or Ray Cronise (Pro-Wave). Call these companies, and you've got better than 50/50 odds of having them answer the phone. I like that. They are all friendly, caring programmers, who are a far sight removed from the stereotypical 'pocket-protector-geek-programmer'.

On the other side, there is the sheer joy of what I call 'BBF' (bigger, better, faster). The hardware development of the personal computer is leaping faster than I can keep up with.

The downside of this is that there are so many systems, and so much money to be made off of these millions of computer users, that everyone (with Microsoft at the top of the list) is spewing out beta-level garbage in our faces, with promises of fixes/patches/upgrades (for a fee) later. Yeah. I really wanna bang my head against a quirky brick wall for months, waiting for the 'real' version of software to finally arrive. The financial news out recently: Microsoft made one BILLION dollars profit in the first quarter of 1997. How can a ship that large respond to me, Mister End User? They can't since they've already got their sights focused on summer '98, when their incarnation of BBF98 begins shipping. Or at least the full-page ads will begin declaring it will be 'shipping soon'.

I have grown weary of the companies that read my mind and know what is best for me. Stop pretending to care, and just ask for my money. (You won't get it, but it will be a more honest approach).

If I look at my favorite applications, I find that with few exceptions, it is the small companies that are creating the best applications. They are driven by a USER of that product, and programmed by someone who will be using that same software to make his or her own day more efficient. It makes me sad to see some of these smaller companies then swallowed up by Goliath. (Microsoft devouring Amiga's Blue Ribbon Soundworks comes to mind). They're gone. Like the trumpeter swan, they were beautiful, efficient, and a joy to behold, and we'll never see their likes again.

Which brings me back to Gateway. I'm encouraged that they're keeping Petro Tyschtschenko as Captain of Amiga International. In a recent interview with Amiga Magazine, he stated "...Finally there is, with Gateway2000, a strong company behind the Amiga, which is willing to invest a substantial amount of money in the computer." Leaving me to believe that my trusty sidekick will be useful long after it's been written off by the rest of the computing world. So, does Amiga International begin to grow and prosper under a (dare we think it) intelligent marketing plan? Do the tables get turned so Amigans can sit on the Promenade deck, and watch as the Good Ship Apple, already taking on water and listing heavily, begins to sink under the choppy waters? I guess we'll know much later. Be kind to your clients, Wavey.

Paul Lara, owner of VDO Productions, is a Flyer Phreak and jpeg junkie. He's awaiting any graphics job you may have in store at vdo@vvm.com. Do your part to lower the nation's crime rate and keep him busy.