THE PAST

The site originally began back in 1999 when David Doyle (aka DaveyD) and 10 people formed an IRC Channel on Undernet called #Amigaworld (now on its own server irc.amigaworld.net) to escape from the insults and immature behaviour often found in other Amiga-related channels, the purpose of channel is to be the most friendly and helpful channel on the Internet. Today the channel does really well with 30 to 50 people on the channel at the same time.

In early 2000 we launched an associated web site, initially the site was primarily to profile users of channel, but as features were added like a forum and regular news updates predominantly provided by Steve, the interest in the web site grew, and we started to gain a group of regular web visitors. Initially the forum was slow to kick off, then just as we were getting regular posts every day and sponsorship from cloanto, our web site host went bankrupt and pulled the plug. Having lost so much of the recent data for the site, by the time a new host had been found, it was decided by the remaining staff to create a new site from scratch, using one of the content management systems (XOOPS in our case), and so David Doyle began to mock up site ideas.

After several different looks were discussed, he finally launched the new site in October 2002. At first again, things were a little slow to kick off, and only a few members started posting, but after a few weeks, more and more people had begun to join the member list. We gained the sponsorship of Kicksoft, and as interest grew, the word began to spread of a fresh new Amiga web site, with the growing number of wars growing on other news sites/forums, lots of people came to see if we were the place they were looking for. As we grew, so the number of Staff grew with it, and the number of features offered increased. Extra php developers, moderators and even radio hosts were brought on-board to help develop the site to the point it is now.

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE

Amigaworld.net is currently one of the most popular Amiga sites on the internet Today and regularly receives well over 3/4 million page-views per month, services offered by Amigaworld.net include Amiga news, Discussion forums, Regular Q&A sessions with Amiga Inc's CTO Fleecy Moss, Internet Radio, Buy & Sell Classifieds and much more.

Recently we gained the status of hosting the Official AmigaOne forums and news, and in conjunction with a sponsorship deal from Eyetech, we gaining a dedicated server to further improve the site. We were featured in several popular computer magazines such as Micro Mart Magazine who said "One of the newer portals for the community, the site is a breath of fresh air.... a great online home for those of us who like to find out the latest Amiga news...." and Total Amiga Magazine who said "All in all it's an engaging site worth adding to your hot-list".

Our intentions is to continue to provide exclusive interviews, news, reviews, show reports, tutorials and in-time we will expand the site with exciting new services.

THE TEAM

DaveyD - Site Webmaster/Owner:
I've owned an Amiga since 92 when the A1200 came out, I used my A1200 for many things, such as video editing with a KPR video edit plug, Lola 500 genlock, and ProGrab 24RT+. I also enjoyed viewing demos and showing them to PC owners, that was back in the days when you could impress PC owners with Amiga demos.

As soon as I got a modem back in around 96 I spent most of my spare time in IRC channels, I became well known on several IRC networks, so in 98/99 I decided to create an IRC channel of my own to escape from the insults and immature behaviour often found in other Amiga-related channels, this channel became the catalyst for one of the most popular Amiga website on the internet today, Amigaworld.net (originally formed as a support site for the IRC Channel).

I formed Amigaworld.net for several reasons, first and foremost a friendly place where the Amiga community can communicate without being flamed, second my love of Amigas, and third my love of web site development. As Webmaster I try to keep things running smoothly with the help of the rest of the team. You can often find me on the IRC channel #Amigaworld on irc.amigaworld.net.

_Steve_ - Site Administrator:
I grew up on the Commodore64, after getting it not long after it launched in 1982. It wasn't until 1988 that the first Amiga entered our home - our humble A500. Initially it was used for games playing, but in the years that followed, my brother and I expanded our collection to include A1200s, CDTV, CD32 and more recently, an A4000.

Around 1991, I began to take an interest in music, and started to play around with the various music editing programs available at the time. While at university, I met some guys coding a game for a Blitz Basic competition, and ended up scoring some tunes for it. As it took shape, and new graphics were provided, it was decided to try and make a commercial success of it. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, it was pulled a few days before going to be mastered - and became the greatest multi player game never to be released - BlitzBombers.

I joined the AW staff back in the beginning when I stumbled into #Amigaworld one day. After helping David with some news for the site, I took on the role of News Administrator, and forum support. Once the new site launched, I started off doing similar roles as before, but with the rapid growth of the site, I have taken on a more administrative role, helping with the day to day running of the site, and keeping it the friendly place we originally aimed to create.

My first Amiga experience was when a new tenant moved into an apartment my parents were renting out back in 1990. It turned out he was quite the nice chap and he had an A500 which he allowed me to play with. There was no stopping me from that point. My parents gave me an A500 for christmas that same year.

From there I've owned various machines, x86 boxes, Macs and an Amiga 4000 (which I still own, but it isn't in great shape these days).

I got involved with amigaworld.net back in 2003 because I stumbled into an irc channel that I had heard still catered for the amiga and got the URL from there. It turned out to be a nice amiga orientated community and I never turned back.

My days are pretty packed, I work at a telecommunications company in Iceland as a manager and I have a wife and two young children that keep me busy. When I'm not dealing with work or family I like to play the guitar and do some retro computing. I also try to find time to help out with the AmigaWorld server, and hanging out on irc chat

Current Amiga kit: A4000 (in pretty bent shape), Cyberstorm mk2 (in the A4000), A2065 Ethernet Adapter, CV64 w/4megs.

Wanted Amiga Kit: I'd love to own more classics and NGs but I don't have the space as of now

Moxee - Site Moderator:
I grew up reading my Father's Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines. Living on a dirt road outside of a little farming town of 500 population in Central Washington State there was not much else to do when you finished all of your chores but read during those long winter months. After setting out on my own I continued reading those same science magazines.

In the mid 1980s, it was in one of those science magazines that I found a comparison of computers which included the Amiga 500. After reading how much more advanced the Amiga was compared to the others in the article I thought why would anyone want anything else. I immediately purchased one. I read the manuals over and over so many times the pages fell from the binding.

I soon learned that I wanted the Amiga 2000, but I could not afford one. Finally, after the the A3000, A4000, and A1200 came out I read an ad in the local newspaper for a used A2000. I bought it. Shortly afterwards I managed to purchase two more A2000s. One of which I rescued from Microsoft. I also still have every piece of Amiga equipment I ever bought.

During this time I joined the local Amiga Computer Club. One of the members was singing the praises of the internet. I was not interested, but he managed to talk me into getting a modem. I remember the joys of getting AMosaic to connect.

I subscribed to probably every single Amiga magazine which was ever printed in the USA. When the mags started folding I had to extend my subscriptions to overseas to get my fix.

I started surfing with IBrowse I think it was. I found the forums eventually. I also found out that I did not care for all the bickering and insults I was reading so I stayed away from those sites. I heard about AmigaWorld in 2002 I think it was. I figured that I would find the same bickering so I did not visit until early 2003. After a few months of shadowing the site I liked what I saw so I joined up. I really like this site. It has been a wealth of information for me.

When the AmigaOne early bird models were announced I placed my money down. Then I couldn't wait until it arrived. It came with Debian Linux, but I rejected that because I wanted OS4. I set the machine aside and waited for the first OS4 offering from Hyperion. With each release OS4 got better and better. I believe I've been using my AmigaOne every day since Update 2. I am writing this on my A1 now.

I am not skilled in computer science like a lot of members on this site are. This is just a hobby to me. My talents lie elsewhere. Although, I am very happy that I got on the Amiga bandwagon back in the day. I am still enjoying the ride and I have met a lot of fine people.

tomazkid - Site Moderator:
I started my "computing career" with a Commodore 128 in 1987, two years later one of my friends got an amiga, and I was impressed with the graphics and sound, so a year later I got my first Amiga, it was an Amiga 500, which I used for playing games, I still have it in the wardrobe, not using it much these days.

In 1995 I got my first A1200, bought a Blizzard 030 accelerator for it and some extra ram, got a modem to go out on the Internet with and used it as my main machine for four years. I still have this machine, sold the Blizzard 030 though. In 1999 I bough an used A1200 with BPPC and BVision, and it was like heaven to get a Workbench in True Colour. In 2002 I saw the announcements about AmigaOne and OS4, so decided to place a pre-order of interest. To finance the AmigaOne, I sold off the A1200 with BPPC and BVision. While waiting for the AmigaOne, I also got my first x86 pc.

Today, I got a bunch of different computers, I use three of them regurlarly, a Mac Mini, a x86 pc and the AmigaOne. I also have a Pegasos 2 computer, that unfortunately isn't working at the moment, but the plan is to get it fixed and make it a Linux-server later on.

I became a member here on amigaworld.net when the A1-dev mailinglist was shut down, and Eyetech moved the AmigaOne support here.""

Other Team Members include
Mark - Site Developer
Coder - Site Moderator
Eric_S - Site Moderator
Seer - Site Moderator
T_Bone - Site Moderator
Wegster - Site Moderator
Yo - Site Moderator
Zardoz - Site Moderator
zerohero - Site Moderator