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Events : AmiWest2005- SACC report |
| posted by SACC-dude on 27-Jul-2005 19:54:46 (6663 reads) |
AMIWEST 2005, Final Information Release
Official AmiWest 2005 Show Report
Here is the official show report for AmiWest 2005, July 23rd, 2005 in Sacramento, California. Our webpage at http://www.sacc.org/amiwest is being updated with all the latest show information, including photos of the show. We encourage you to visit our site to see the rest of the current and future information. We will be moving our website server within the next two weeks and may be offline for up to two days sometime during that time. Just check back later if the site is unavailable during that time.
Amiga Forever,
Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
AmiWest 2005 Committee
AMIWEST 2005
. . . "and a good (and very informative) time was had by all."
AmiWest 2005 collected Amiga enthusiasts from all over the United States
and Canada into an energizing, friendly gathering of very creative people
in Sacramento, California, USA on July 23, 2005. Travel arrangements had
placed most of our show exhibitors and vendors in Sacramento the day before
the show and that gave us an opportunity to meet new friends and renew
acquaintance with old friends.
FIRST. . .
We want to thank the fourteen volunteer AmiWest 2005 staff members who made
this year's show possible. Specifically, they are:
Jack and Rita McCann, Roger Berry, Chuck Washburn, Bill Clay, Brian Deneen, Michael
Salcedo, Charles Pickrell, Bill Borsari, Ray Washburn, Dan Kloczko, Kenny Smith,
Bruce Duncan, and John Neill.
No AmiWest show would happen without the outstanding work that each of these
people did in their respective areas of responsibility. Special mention is due
to Chuck Washburn, our operations manager, who was liason with the Clarion
Hotel Cal-Expo and our exhibitors as well as managing our finances. A HUGE
AmiWest 2005 THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL FOR A JOB WELL DONE!
NEW THIS YEAR
Four new features were part of AmiWest 2005.
The JOHN ZACHARIAS MEMORIAL EXHIBIT included photos of John, his personal
A1200, and his Amiga software package AEmail all on display . An AmiWest
co-founder, life member and past president of SACC, John passed away on
February 5, 2005.
UPGRADED PRESENTATION EQUIPMENT was purchased jointly by the Sacramento
Amiga Computer Club and AmiWest 2005. An Epson S3 video projector (switching
automatically between 15Khz video and any other horizontal scan resoution up to 92Khz) and a 4-monitor switch (with 10-foot SVGA) cables made it possible to switch the
projector between the four different computers in use for video presentation
during the show. The resulting brilliant presentation results added measureably to the impact of the show.
A FEATURED DEVELOPER PRESENTER in the person of Richard Drummond was also a
first for AmiWest. Most of our featured guest speakers have been outside
of the development community per se (i.e., company officers). It was very
enlightening to hear from Rich about both OS4 and his personal development projects, especially E-UAE for Linux.
THE JOHN ZACHARIAS MEMORIAL AWARD for outstanding technical assistance to
Sacramento Amiga Computer Club members was instituted this year. Our
webmaster Bill Clay was the first recipient. Bill also produced several
CD's of the month for SACC full of Amiga technical reference as well as website
snapshots of Aminet and provided Amiga One update CD's for our four Amiga
One machines. This award to Bill is particularly fitting in that he was
also a regular encourager to John during the more than two and a half years
John spent in the hospital before his passing. Thank you, Bill, for all that you do!
WHO ATTENDED?
In addition to Rich Drummond, Steve Solie and Bill Borsari were there as
part of the core OS4 developer/beta-tester development team. We estimate
that we had about 10% of the total world-wide OS4 test team here at AmiWest
2005! It was very enlightening to hear them talk development progress and
what remained to be done with OS4 before release. And it was the first
time for AmiWest that so many developers were present and participating in
our show. Perhaps others were there (unidentified to us) as well.
In addition to the OS4 developers, AmiWest 2005 attracted other significant
exhibitors as well. Many thanks to these exhibitors for providing product
to buy and interest in things Amiga to our show attenders:
+ Amiga UGN
+ Amiga Users of Calgary, Canada
+ Computer Connection
+ Grasshopper LLC (Pagestream)
+ Hyperion Entertainment
+ Mr. Zoil Enterprises
+ Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
+ Software Hut
As is customary for AmiWest, AmiWest 2005 also attracted a very creative
and eclectic group of attenders. We had people attending our show from
Massachusetts, Illinois, Arizona, all over California, Oregon, Washington
state, Indiana, and Ohio as well as Canadian visitors from British Columbia
and Alberta! And those were just the people that I met! Among them were
software developers, writers, graphics artists, gamers, engineers, hardware
manufacturers, and independent business people. They are very talented and
were there to support and find out more about Amiga.
AMIWEST DISCUSSIONS
Much of our discussion centered around the progress that has been made on
OS4 and software being created for it, since even the best hardware and OS
combination needs great software to run. Then there was the speculation
about when hardware that will run OS4 natively will become more generally
available. In this context of open discussion, several points came to
light:
1) Entry barriers to software developers need to be lowered to encourage
broadly based, decentralized software development. Essentially this comes
down to providing more visually-oriented tools for OS4 software
development. The development of a "new BASIC" for OS4 was also proposed as
a way to encourage people who own Amiga Ones to write their own software.
2) Hardware development and production needs to be ramped up. The current
environment of uncertainty regarding hardware production is having a
chilling effect upon attracting new users to OS4. Existing hardware is
running OS4 well and can be produced in greater quantities as more
financial support for the partners (in the form of both product orders and
investment) is forthcoming.
3) OS4 needs to be released as a product. While developers understand the
shortcomings of the current state of OS4, people are becoming more
enthusiastic about buying OS4 and recommending it to their associates and
friends. The alternative that Amiga OS4 represents in the marketplace is
a substantial one that needs to be marketed first and refined in later
releases.
4) More financial support for both hardware and software developers needs
to be forthcoming. Independent developers could be working on "next generation"
desktop hardware and production if two conditions are met: a) licenses
from the partner companies and access to needed technical information is
provided at reasonable cost, and 2) an encouraging development climate can
be created and maintained. In addition, software developers need to be
paid adequately and regularly for their work in order to move OS4 projects
from a "when there is time" status to a "top priority project" status.
In the context of these comments and the enthusiastic frustration expressed
by AmiWest 2005 banquet guests and speakers, a challenge was issued to the
assembled guests by SACC President and AmiWest committee member Brian
Deneen.
THE AMIWEST CHALLENGE
Our 50 banquet guests were challenged to provide some of the needed support
to encourage OS4 development and re-start Amiga One hardware production.
The challenge is simple:
FIRST, AmiWest 2005 attenders were encouraged to email the partner
companies regarding their willingness to purchase Amiga One hardware and
a released OS4. These are to be individual emails from real people who
have real money to spend on real products. This reality orientation will
give the partner companies a real idea of real sales potential and
encourage them to plan production and product releases accordingly.
SECOND, AmiWest 2005 attenders were encouraged to fund software development
by contributing at least five dollars US monthly to a central OS4 software
development fund, to be dispersed among the developers who are working so
hard (and often unpaid) because they see the potential in these projects.
Alternatively, people were also encouraged to contribute directly to developers they know personally. Millions of dollars are raised on the internet for causes of all kinds
every year. The cause of Amiga software development is certainly worth at
least five dollars a month (and, obviously, a lot more!). The old expression, "Put your money where your mouth is!," applies.
Of course, there are details to be worked out for the second challenge, but
the first challenge can commence immediately. Hopefully an outpouring of
support can be generated that will jump-start our favorite desktop Amiga
computer platform and encourage the partner companies (that is, Hyperion,
Eyetech and Amiga Inc.) to continue with the desktop OS4 for everyone.
Another announcement that was made at the AmiWest 2005 banquet regards the beginning of the Open Aladdin Project. Nova Design has announced that Nate Downes is heading up the Open Aladdin Project to buy all the current and projected future developments now in existence for Nova's Aladdin 4D so that development can continue for this great software package. All the details will be available soon on
openaladdin4d.org (currently under construction).
. . . AND AMIWEST 2006
As is customary at AmiWest, next year's show was announced. We are
considering a date change to a time with better weather and less cost.
Just about everyone I spoke with said, "See you next year!" Be sure to
watch for continuing information releases and plan to attend AmiWest 2006.
We have never cancelled a show and have always had significant guests for
the enlightenment of the Amiga community. Plan to attend now by reserving
your tickets now!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So remember,
AmiWest 2006 is announced! Keep watching these releases for a new date for
next year's show and tell everyone that you know - the Amiga and the Amiga
community is alive and well!
All AmiWest information release are copyright © 2002-2005 by Brian Deneen. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for information only.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember to watch our website at http://www.sacc.org/amiwest for continuing news
and information regarding AmiWest 2005 and AmiWest 2006! |
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| Poster | Thread |  miksuh
|  |
Re: AmiWest2005- SACC report
Posted on 29-Jul-2005 0:30:46
| | [ #21 ] |
| |
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Cult Member
 |
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 731
From: Espoo, Finland | | |
|
| Quote:
| the learning curve might be shorter with basic. |
It might be, but I think it's still better to try to learn C or C++. Most Basic version restrict too much what you can do, so sooner or later you would switch to C/C++ anyway. |
| | Status: Offline |
| | Mr_Capehill
| |
Re: AmiWest2005- SACC report
Posted on 29-Jul-2005 10:36:38
| | [ #22 ] |
| |
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Super Member
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Joined: 15-Mar-2003
Posts: 1932
From: Yharnam | | |
|
| @miksuh,
Yes, but did you start with C?-) |
| | Status: Offline |
| | ShadesOfGrey
| |
Re: "new BASIC"
Posted on 31-Jul-2005 19:30:58
| | [ #23 ] |
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Regular Member
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Joined: 25-Mar-2003
Posts: 290
From: Unknown | | |
|
| My guess is that 'they' didn't literally mean a "new BASIC". But something to take the place of BASIC as an introductory language.
I'm not much of a programmer. I've dabbled in BASIC (procedural only), C/C++, Java, JavaScript, Pascal, PHP, shell scripting (Amiga DOS, DOS, *nix but very, very simple stuff). And when I say dabbled, I mean dabbled. I'm no expert that's for sure. I'm pretty proficient with Java and JavaScript, though.
I do think I'm qualified enough to comfortably say, IMHO, that languages like C/C++ and Java are just not the kind of languages neophytes should first be exposed to. What we need is a 'new' learning language. Something designed from the ground up to teach users programming. From simple procedural programming (ala BASIC, shell scripting), to complex procedural & pseudo OO programming (ala BASIC, C, JavaScript, Pascal, PHP), to simple and then complex OO programming (ala C++, Java). Each stage having graduated syntax and 'functions' to explain concepts in each stage. The IDE would include debugging tools and help that 'speaks' plain explaining what was done wrong; how to fix it; and how it might be improved/implemented in a more advanced stage.
If something like this exist already, then I think we need it ported to the Amiga platform. If it doesn't, I think it should be created on the Amiga platform. Last edited by ShadesOfGrey on 31-Jul-2005 at 07:31 PM.
_________________
Unless otherwise explicitly stated, this message is not meant to affirm nor deny, defend nor offend any faction within the 'Amiga' Community.
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| | Status: Offline |
| | sundown
 | |
Re: AmiWest2005- SACC report
Posted on 31-Jul-2005 21:00:38
| | [ #24 ] |
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Elite Member
 |
Joined: 30-Aug-2003
Posts: 5120
From: Right here... | | |
|
| @Nibunnoichi
Any news on Pagestream? Was it demoed?
----------------------------------------------------------
There was no PGS demo, they just read the list of features from a piece of paper. Kind of lame as the only thing that showed up from Grasshopper was the CDs & no rep to talk to, that I saw.
_________________
Hate tends to make you look stupid...
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