After the great announcement of A-EON there's a new chance for the Amiga to survive.

But what will be the niche, that Amiga will cover in the future?

- Games? I don't think so. We have already the Nintendo Wii, XBoX, Playstation etc.

- Multimedia? PC, Mac.... they are already there.

- Internet-Applications? Google has done the job.

- Research, Science? Well, why not? Should we focus on that?

- Engineering? Robotics? Real-Time-Application? Another good possibility.


What do you think? Is it important to focus on a field of application? And if yes, on which one?


Wish you all the best for 2010. Birbo.

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@Birbo

There is no reason to not to try to get tiny piece of everything.

Games: (we will have power for x360 level of games, but no guarantees of any big game to get ported)
- but we could be the best retro platform with true atari/PS2/whatever game ports etc...

Multimedia:
- we have the most responsive OS. That is the best platform for multimedia. And we can do it energy efficiently.
- xcore I/O could handle pretty much any user I/O we can come up

Internet:
- we can be faster to go on the net and off, etc...

etc...


If we get 0,5% market share of sold computers of the world, we soon have more customers than what Amiga ever before had.
But we need also a new cheaper stuff for the low end.

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- KimmoK
// For freedom, for honor, for AMIGA
//
// Thing that I should find more time for: CC64 - 64bit Community Computer?

I'd say the goal is, to have an Amiga OS running on a genuine and capable Amiga computer in a genuine Amiga case.

The goal is to get the oldtimers back, that left the Amigascene, because of all that legal #### going on through the last years. Looks like this is happening partly already, if the activity on this forum is any indication for that.

The goal should be attracting new people, with hardware that appeals to them, and software they need to use, eg modern Browsers (like Timberwolf will be) with Flash (hopefully the Gnash Plugin makes good advances), and an Office Suite, which is unfortunately lacking at the moment.

The goal should be attracting Pro users, those left back in 1994 when Commodore went upside down.
Definitely the most difficult part, since you'd need companies porting their Pro-Software packages (Photoshop, Flash, Cubase, Ableton Live you know the deal) for Amiga OS. This, the will only consider if the userbase gets big enough.

And the userbase will only grow, if you get enough people to buy new Amiga hardware.

It's weird, but you only get the Pros, if you have enough casuals already on the boat.


So probably the first sensible goal would be to get some shiny products out that the "casuals" will buy, eg laptops, netbooks, etc... Look at what Apple have done in the last 12 years..

Anyway, the X1000 is definitely the first step in the right direction, after so many years.

Finally...

Last edited by steril606 on 06-Jan-2010 at 11:31 AM.

@KimmoK

I don't think that it's a good idea to have a little bit of everything. We are not a huge community - don't you think, it will be better to focus one one direction? We have to give a good reason to someone who is not an Amigan to buy one, right?


@steril606
Same as to KimmoK. Why so much goals? Do we have the capacity for following all these goals? Wouldn't it be better to follow one specified goal?

In terms of marketing there is a thing called: USP - Unique Selling Proposition

What's the USP of the new Amiga?

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@Birbo

For research and science you need standard tools like Matlab, a very strong cpu and a rock solid system. At least that is from the science I work in.
In my last lab (Neuroscience) we used Windows and Linux and I used MorphOS for a little additional work.
Timing issues are present here and there where the Xcore may help, but unless you get decent support for special hardware and teh standard tools it is void anyway (i.e. I was struggeling with timing issus in Win & Linux and was sure MorphOS would have done better, but eventually it didn't due to lack of supported hardwar, so I took the struggle with Windows).
Anywa, science is one of the fields where the ppl are often openminded and money is not always a tight matter (at least at those universities I worked in). Anyway, rock solidness and getting the things done is the key there.

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@Birbo

Unique selling point...

but that's exactly the thing here.

How do things get sold these days..? You see your friends shiny new iPod/MercedesBenz/AiboRobotDog, and want one as well.

I want the Amiga to come to a point again, where I can bring my Amiga-Laptop to work, and show people there what I can do with it. Or to Starbucks. Or to some friends, who I know were Amiga Users back in the day.

The X1000 is a great start, but it's still not "casual" enough for the wide audience of computer users.
I guess around 60% of computer users just want to have a laptop where they can check emails, write and print an Invoice here and then, surf the web, listen to music, watch pron on diverse websites via Flashplugin.

Nothing of that is out of the reach for the new Amiga generation.


The rest are the "Pro"-users, and they will come if you have enough of the first 60%, and companies started to make Pro-Software for them to use.



I just don't see the point of specializing into one direction (eg "Science") for the Amiga, before you even know who will buy this thing. It's like you put the saddle on the horse the wrong way (don't know if that sentence makes sense in english, but i hope you get the meaning )..


First off get some people on board, and then they will lead the direction to whereever they think it might lead to.

@Birbo

Quote:

I don't think that it's a good idea to have a little bit of everything. We are not a huge community - don't you think, it will be better to focus one one direction? We have to give a good reason to someone who is not an Amigan to buy one, right?

But at the same time, we don't want to lose existing Amigans by making the new Amiga only good for one purpose which would be of no use to the majority.. I certainly wouldn't buy one if it was only good for robotics.

I think the expansion potential does give us the capacity to follow multiple goals.

The USP for the Amiga community is simply that it's something high-end to run OS4 on with the potential for much, much more to follow. For everyone else, it could be sold in different configurations (using Xena etc) for different targeted purposes.

@Birbo

Goal refers to a method of scoring in many sports. It can also refer to the physical structure or area of the playing surface in which a score is made.

From Wikipedia

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@steril606

"I guess around 60% of computer users just want to have a laptop where they can check emails, write and print an Invoice here and then, surf the web, listen to music, watch pron on diverse websites via Flashplugin."

You are right. But for doing this, they'll better buy a cheap PC.

"I want the Amiga to come to a point again, where I can bring my Amiga-Laptop to work, and show people there what I can do with it. Or to Starbucks. Or to some friends, who I know were Amiga Users back in the day."

What do you want to show, what they couldn't do with their Macs or PCs?

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@TheDaddy

i'm sorry for my bad english.

I wouldn't write in italian. So everybody understands my question, more or less....

Ma però forse non sbaglio a chiedere, per quale motivo che il nuovo Amiga dovrebbe essere usato?

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Sometimes we give people a lot of credit just because they’re writing nice sentences even if it isn’t adding up to much.

Quote:

Birbo wrote: @steril606 "I guess around 60% of computer users just want to have a laptop where they can check emails, write and print an Invoice here and then, surf the web, listen to music, watch pron on diverse websites via Flashplugin." You are right. But for doing this, they'll better buy a cheap PC.

And still, lots of them buy expensive Apple products.
That's why I said "look at what Apple did".
Back in the day, Commodore/Amiga was comparable to Apple/Macintosh, but not to the whole IBM-PC world.

I think A-Eon and the Hyperion guys have understood that, at least that's my impression when I see that they will produce a custom case for the X1000.


Quote:

"I want the Amiga to come to a point again, where I can bring my Amiga-Laptop to work, and show people there what I can do with it. Or to Starbucks. Or to some friends, who I know were Amiga Users back in the day." What do you want to show, what they couldn't do with their Macs or PCs?

First off, that it EXISTS.

Not really possible at the moment. Don't you think so?

Last edited by steril606 on 06-Jan-2010 at 12:09 PM.

@Birbo

My Amiga has always been general purpose computers that can do anything and everything.
(in the 90's I have been able to do same things that was done on PCs + MORE)
I see no reason to have it otherwise.

Sure, it can be better than other in some area, to penetrate to a new niche.

Some things like competing with x360 would be futile. But it does not mean that there could not be some possibilities there.

_________________
- KimmoK
// For freedom, for honor, for AMIGA
//
// Thing that I should find more time for: CC64 - 64bit Community Computer?

I think the goal is just to move forward and do what it can, dont you think ?

@steril606

"And still, lots of them buy expensive Apple products."

That's not true. Apple is not expensive at all. The price performance ratio is excellent. Saying that Apple is expensive is a really bad argument. It is not true at all.
Just compare the right things.


"First off, that it EXISTS."

Yes. That's true. That's a good beginning, and I'm exited about it.

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@Birbo

Quote:

That's not true. Apple is not expensive at all. The price performance ratio is excellent. Saying that Apple is expensive is a really bad argument. It is not true at all. Just compare the right things.

Tell that to my girlfriend, who just bought a 17" Laptop with a very very fast dualCore Cpu, 2GB ram, 500 GB Harddisk, BluRay Drive, all the whistles, for around 800 ¤.

Something comparable from Apple, the MacBook Pro 17" is listed for $2,499.00 on the Apple Store..

So, well, it's definitely a little bit pricier than what my girlfriend got..

@Birbo

Quote:

Birbo wrote: That's not true. Apple is not expensive at all. The price performance ratio is excellent. Saying that Apple is expensive is a really bad argument. It is not true at all. Just compare the right things.

I would like to live in a place where apple stuff wasn't expensive...

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@Birbo

>>i'm sorry for my bad english.
I wouldn't write in italian. So everybody understands my question, more or less....
Ma però forse non sbaglio a chiedere, per quale motivo che il nuovo Amiga dovrebbe essere usato?



Don't be silly...your english is pefect! It was just a stupid joke of mine!

How would you use the new X1000?
I don't know, like a new Amiga, the possibilities are endless, it's all down to the programmers now. They make the machine shine!

Anche il tuo Italiano non e' male

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What is the goal?
I don't know

BUT

"Build it and they will come ...."

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AmigaOne X1000

Yeh, this is my thread...

Quote:

USP - Unique Selling Proposition

Yes, this is the only way... The question is, what gives us an USP ?
At the moment I donnot see that in a mainstream market, we need a brilliant innovation there. Something nobody can think of at the moment.... in this market you can easiely knocked out by the big companies. Here it is all a matter of heaps of mony to invest. E.g. the Wii Console was quiet a good idea, but they are still not market leader....

DONNOT FIGHT AGAINST THE BIG ONES !

e.g.: I worked for a GIS (Geographic Information System - computer based mapping) company.

GIS is:
- GPS Navigation like TomTom, Navteq and Microsoft does. A company in Germany called PTV used to be market leader in this field but got beaten by the big ones, and is now specialized on nearby solutions (like fleet management)
- also mapping of facilities (pipelines, phonelines...)
- different mapping of any sort of data for administration most of these apps need a geodatabase/mapserver...
- business mapping (show your CRM Data on a map to help your salesforce)

Besides streetmapping and GPS navigation all of the mentioned above are niche markets, where my old company was quiet succesful with an easy to use business mapping and salesterritorial planning tool, incl. predefined maptemplates (e.g, postcodes). It was easier to use and the return of Invest was instant..

We need a niche, where nobody else is interested. We can then infiltrate the market from there (tentacle strategy) - the question is, where is the niche and what can A-Eon make out of the advantage of a

- responsive OS
- less powerconsuming HW
- easy configurable/programmable HW

What will be the "Killer Application" ?

Even I am not into IT Market, I think the way to go is finding a niche, and use the revenue and expertise to service us and more former Amigans. Maybe you could then create a growing userbase in the mainstream desktop market.

Quote:

The rest are the "Pro"-users, and they will come if you have enough of the first 60%, and companies started to make Pro-Software for them to use.

Well, this is a bottom - up strategy, could work partwise, but first you have to have a bit of pro software ("Killer Application") which gives the system a bit of reputation. So you have to work from Top to bottom as well.

DESIGN FOR A LUCRATIVE NICHEMARKET IN ORDER TO SERVICE THE EVERYDAY BUTTOM USER AND AMIGANS.

The "wow, me to" / iPhone effect won't work (at the moment).

just my ideas...

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@TheDaddy

Well, as an Amigan, I just would have fun using it - even for simple things.

When the Blender-Port is ready, i will probably try to do some funny stuff with Blender.

But as an Amiga-User, my main reason to use the new Amiga would be fun - just for using an Amiga. I like the OS, I like the community, I like to use something different, something special.

Could this be the USP? It was for Apple.....you remember "Think different"

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