Editorial - From The Top

Welcome to the second issue of Club Amiga Magazine. The first issue of Club Amiga Magazine was a great success and we have received many letters of support and suggestions for the magazine. Thanks for making it such a success so far! We will continue to release the magazine on time and on target.

This last month has seen a lot of rumor, frustration and despair on some of the Amiga-related Internet sites and we want you to know that we do monitor these sites and that we are concerned and do care about our image.

However, it is important to realize that the noise coming from some of those sites is coming from a very small number of people when measured against the bulk of the Amiga community the medium of the Internet is a wonderful thing but it can give undue prominence to those without the informed knowledge, intelligence and reputation to deserve that prominence. We have received your letters of encouragement and praise and those far outnumber the counter-opinion.

It is well known that there is a business competitor with the willingness and intent to portray Amiga in as bad a light as possible in order to promote their own products. They are engaging in all manner of activities to further this goal. Please bear this in mind when the next rumor, allegation and bit of bad news comes your way from 'someone who knows someone who knows something.' As we have said many times, no one but Amiga knows and can tell you what Amiga is doing or even not doing for that matter. If you don't hear it from us, then it is unmitigated rumor.

Amiga is as dedicated to the Amiga desktop computer as anyone could be. We have picked Eyetech Ltd and Hyperion Entertainment -- two of the most professional and dedicated companies in the marketplace -- to move the desktop forward. These partners have assembled a group of the best Amiga developers in the world all in the name of ensuring that the next revision of the desktop Amiga is the best, the most stable, the most efficient and the fastest version of your AmigaOS ever created.

It is often easy to miss this when someone waves a 24 bit screenshot of someone else's preference and configuration choices in front of you, but Amigans are intelligent enough to understand that it is the core of the operating system that matters. Eye candy can be added later but a robust and efficient system architecture cannot. The transition of AmigaOS3.x to AmigaOS4.0 involves moving not just from a processor family but from a complete hardware architecture, and one that was tied intimately to the operating system. Rush it and the consequences could be disastrous.

AmigaOS4.0 is a lot more than just an operating system that runs OS3.x applications on a new platform. It is our foundation for the future and no amount of time or effort will be spared in ensuring that it is just right before it is released. As a consequence, we cannot yet give an estimate of when it will be ready for release. The bulk of the work has been done, and indeed has been undergoing beta test for months now. We know that we are in the final stages of this project and we know that you would rather have it done right than buy a shoddy product which shames the very name 'Amiga.'

Yes, it has taken longer than we had hoped. Yes, there have been both avoidable and unavoidable delays. However, be certain of one thing. AmigaOS4.0 is coming, and that right soon!