The following article was written by Pam Rothman for inclusion in the Amiga News March 1992 issue. It was meant to help the Amiga owner deal with society's resistance to using Amigas just because they're lots of fun.

No, I'm not going to tell you how to convert your spouse into an Amiga peripheral. I'm going to discuss converting your spouse into a fellow Amiga enthusiast, which will have many more benefits in the long run.

To convert anyone to anything, one must first deal with the false beliefs that have kept the potential convert from seeing the light.

False Belief #1: I don't know anything about it.

Well, they might not know anything about it. The false part is their thinking that would prevent their operating a computer.

That's the beauty of the Amiga, of course. You don't have to know anything to click on an icon. I drive a car without knowing much about them, and the same principle applies to computers. The Amiga's point and click interface makes it easy for beginners to start accomplishing things in no time.

When things get a little more complicated, that's where you come in. You know a lot, don't you? You'd be glad to help. Isn't that what significant others are for?

False Belief #2: I don't want to know anything about it.

This springs from a misconception about what computers are for. Most people's jobs give them the idea that computers are delicate hulks that demand a lot of data and attention and have a zero fun content.

But the same car that takes you to work can take you to an amusement park. It's all in what you point it at. The Amiga is an extremely versatile tool that can do almost anything you want it to. No matter what your spouse's interests, chances are the Amiga can be used to expand on them or organize them.

False Belief #3: There's no point to it since you're always using it anyway.

Here is where you can point out that if you spend time computing together, you will be combining computer time and together time into quality time. If it turns out they like it, you'll give them this one and buy another for yourself. What a sacrifice you're willing to make! Doesn't that show you really love them more than the Amiga? (Or at least as much.)

The next step is to have them actually try something. Or at least look at something. It's likely the closest look they got at the Amiga was when you were pulling it out of the box and they haven't come near it since. To them it's "that thing" you are spending all your time with, doing arcane and indecipherable things.

Don't make the mistake of asking them to look at something that they can't instantly understand. Drawing their attention to the screen where you have successfully decompressed a file has little allure. The nice way you've set up your hard drive means nothing to the uninitiated.

The Amiga has much more personality than other computers. Let them see and hear for themselves. Have the Amiga talk. Have it say nice things about your spouse. There's something irresistible about anything that says nice things about you.

A good first look can be a game; never underestimate the appeal of games. Tetris has wrought wonders, turning former computerphobes into bleary eyed computer maniacs within minutes. Does he like Risk? Get him the computer version. She nuts for Gin Rummy? Have her play the Amiga.

Games you can play together are especially good. Even games that seem single player can become team efforts if they are complex enough. Sim City, Populous, Empire, and other games that emphaSIZE strategy over eye-hand coordination are good choices. Don't bring them into a game cold if you haven't played it before. It is frustrating and boring for a person to sit around while you flip through the manual. It's much better for you to teach them what you know.

Remember the early days of your courtship, and apply the same principles. You didn't come over and say, "Look, I'm presentable and have a good job and I'll try not to be boring." It may be true, but it doesn't get you dates. You get dates when you are fascinating and intriguing and fun to be with.

You aren't getting the Amiga dates if you call your spouse over and say, "Look, honey, I got you a spreadsheet so you can enter all our household expenses." What you want to say is, "You're so good at art, I bet you could do better than this. Want me to show you Deluxe Paint?" Or, "Remember when you said you'd like to hear 'Flight of the Bumblebee' slowed down for a change? I've got a program here we could try."

Another thing that might be preventing them from enjoying the Amiga is the common belief that their ignorance might make it blow up, and then there's heck to pay. Relieve their anxiety by explaining the extreme unlikelihood of anything they type or click on hurting the computer. Go over the few precautions needed, and try to set their mind at ease.

They might say something like, "But I have no reason to try the Amiga, I don't have anything I need to do on a computer." In an extreme case, that's true; people once got along without them, but they make so many tasks so much easier.

If your spouse needs something written, be it a proposal for work or that short story they always wanted to try, show them the wonders of word processing. If they belong to any organizations that need a newsletter, or they want to send a personalized card, show them desktop publishing.

Art of all kinds is enhanced by the computer. There are programs for two dimensional drawing or three dimensional modeling, and either kind can be animated. If she does needlepoint, show her how she can create her own designs and get them printed. If he does woodworking, is there a design or planning aspect he could do on the computer?

Music is marvelous on the Amiga. Even if they don't already have a MIDI keyboard, there are plenty of programs that let them experiment.

But whatever you show them, don't just say, "Here's desktop publishing, make that newsletter." Get involved with their projects as well as yours. That learning curve can seem pretty steep, so let them know they're not alone. Try to have your own understanding of the program before you show it to them, so if they have questions you can answer them. If they poke their head in the den and ask you what you're doing, imagine their surprise when you reply, "Seeing if you can use this program. I thought it would work out great for your ..."

Don't expect them to be like you. If they were like you, they'd already be in the den, elbowing you aside so they could play Lemmings. They're different, they need special care and extra time. But it doesn't mean they can't grow to love computing.

If, in spite of your sincere best efforts, they still want nothing to do with the Amiga, try to be philosophical. You're spending your time in a constructive manner, and there's lots worse things you could be doing with your time.

After all, wouldn't they rather you were home computing?

The following article was written by Pam Rothman for inclusion in the Amiga News May 1992 issue. It's about one of the coolest things the Amiga has ever been used for, the world's first virtual reality video game for commercial video arcades. The phone number near the end of the article is still good!

Imagine yourself on a floor in open space, full of twinkling stars. There are four levels on each side above you. You can move up or down the stairs, or use a hoverboard. You'd better move too, because someone is after you. Maybe even someone you trust, like a husband or girlfriend. Your heartbeat sounds in your ears, there! Darting out from behind that obstacle, grenade launcher at the ready!

They shoot and miss. You take your time aiming, since it will take a while for their gun to reload. Revenge will be sweet, but there's the pterodactyl! It grabs your opponent and carries them high, then drops them to the floor below. You see body parts, (rendered in 3D graphics) flying all over. But they'll be back.

Dactyl Nightmare. It's a computer game. But I'm not playing my husband with a second joystick or even over a modem. We are in the game, wearing helmets with little screens in front of our eyes and little speakers by our ears. It's virtual reality, and the Amiga has brought it out of the future and into the present.

Virtual reality means that you are experiencing a computer simulation that is virtually reality. A look at the graphics of Dactyl Nightmare might make you skeptical; they are not particularly realistic. But that is only a part of the totality of the experience.

To play, you climb into a pod, a platform surrounded by a round railing. Then you strap on a fanny pack and hold your combination gun and walking controller in the hand of your choice. Pressing a thumb button in the hand module moves you forward in the direction you are facing. You can move your body or just your head to indicate direction. A trigger button fires your grenade launcher. The game will keep track of all your movements and translate them into action.

I found it remarkably easy to slip into this world. The small details contribute to the illusion. You can see your hand and gun, which can be moved in any direction. The angle seems to affect the angle of your shot. If you crouch down, your point of view changes, and you can hide behind (and shoot through) the obstacles scattered around the playing field to better outwit your opponent.

It takes a little while for your grenade launcher to reload after shooting. That's why you have to keep a cool head and shoot only when you have your aim set and a clear shot. (I have the bad habit of panicking and running into the other gun.) After eight shots, the Pterodactyl comes for you. If you don't shoot it in time, it grabs you, lifts you high, (actually dizzying if you look down,) and then drops you. This is bad for you.

Even the spectators can vicariously enjoy your virtual reality. Each pod has a monitor that shows your point of view to others. Helpful spectators can yell "Look out behind you!" but your attention is focused on getting your opponent before they get you. It's difficult to pay any attention to the real world, when you are so involved in the computer one. You have speakers over your ears, filled with eerie music and heartbeat sounds. When you look up your point of view changes, and when you move the landscape changes around you proportionately. Your brain begins to believe what your senses are telling it.

There's an Amiga 3000 in each pod. The two Amigas each have a 68040 processor, a 33 megahertz graphics processor, and are running an Ethernet network. The 3D graphics are Amiga generated.

The system is called Virtuality. The pods, helmets, and other hardware are made by W. Industries, U.K. At $60,000 apiece, this isn't something that will arrive in your living room next year. In the U.S. the system is distributed by Horizon Entertainment of St. Louis, a division of Edison Brothers Stores.

I played Dactyl Nightmare, but there is also a Capture the Flag game, played with four units, available in some locations. Legend Quest, an adventure game, will be coming soon, and Spectrum Holobyte, the distributors of Tetris, will be developing some software for the Virtuality system.

The gaming possibilities are endless; a boxing game where you actually move your fists and feet, a skiing game, hide and seek in real time, but the applications are by no means restricted to games. Any human activity can be simulated with these techniques, with even better input and feedback devices. Surgery, movies, even vacations, could develop from this tip of the iceberg. The future has arrived! Don't forget to tell everyone that the Amiga made it possible.

Where You Can See the Future . . .

When I played on Long Island, the price was five dollars for one four minute game, or ten dollars for three four minute games. These prices may vary. You can play against the computer if you don't have a partner, but playing against live people is more fun.

If you don't see a location near you, call 1-800-ILLUSION for more information. New locations are opening all the time, and old ones may be moving, so it pays to call first.

The following article was written by Pam Rothman for inclusion in the Amiga News December 1991 issue. We are now up to AmigaDos v3.1 and we are likely to be getting v3.5 shortly. Still there is a great deal of information in this article that some of you might find useful. Also, the basic sentiment is the same. It's a good idea to upgrade.

Workbench 2.0 has finally arrived. At a list price of $99.00, you can think of it as a low cost peripheral that adds new features to your Amiga. But what's in it for you? What might you have to worry about?

You should definitely give it serious consideration because Workbench 2.0 is a major upgrade that offers new dimensions to our favorite words, "quick" and "easy."

Quick as in faster bootups and faster file access to any device, floppy or hard drive. Because many commands are now resident in ROM, the Amiga will respond faster. If you reformat your hard drive under 2.0, (be sure to back up first!) you will probably see an increase in speed.

Easy is an even bigger part of the new operating system. If you collect handy utilities, 2.0 offers a simple way of incorporating them into your startup sequence. Simply drag the icon into the WBStartup drawer, and the Amiga does the rest. No more messing with the Startup-Sequence.

2.0 makes it easy to start playing with this new feature by including a number of Commodities in the directory of the same name which resides in the Tools directory. Two of my favorites are ClicktoFront, which lets a mouse click bring a window to the front, and FKey, the Function Key programmer. Many of these programs have been available in PD form within the Amiga community, but now everyone can take advantage of them.

Further variations on these Commodities are already available in the Public Domain. My favorite is Spliner, a screen blanker that works the same way as the 2.0 screen blanker, but draws colored splines on the screen instead of just making it black.

I was never a Workbench user...until now. Windows of all kinds are easier to handle under 2.0. There's a single Zoom gadget to go between the sizes you set. Left Amiga N will always bring you back to the Workbench, and Right Amiga M will cycle through all Custom Screens. If the program you are running supports the Workbench Tools menu option, you can go directly from the Workbench to the program window by choosing its name from the Tools menu.

All the Workbench functions such as Clean Up and Snapshot are still there, but they are easier to implement. With Snapshot, you can snapshot a window, a single icon, or All the icons and their window. If you need a new drawer, pick the menu item New Drawer.

Don't have icons for some programs or files? No problem in 2.0. The menu item Show All Files will have 2.0 assign temporary icons to the files that don't have any. You can also view Icons by name, date, and size in a text window, but they act just like regular icons. You can pick up the name and drop it into another drawer which shows icons. The copied file will appear as a name or an icon, depending on the option selected in each window.

Individual icons offer just as much flexibility. It's easy to handle icons when the Workbench menus offer ways to copy, rename, or delete them. You can Snapshot or Unsnapshot individual icons, Leave them Out on the Workbench screen if you will be using them for a while, then use Put Away to get them off the screen and back into their drawers. Icons which have been left out, stay out, even after rebooting.

You can highlight a bunch of icons by clicking the mouse on the background. When you move the mouse while still holding the left button, a box will appear. Select icons by dragging the box around them, then let go of the button. By holding down the Shift key and clicking on one of the icons you can move, copy, or delete them as a group.

If I'm on the Workbench and don't have a Shell handy, I can pull down an execute requester and type in a script file or program name and it will be executed just as it would from a Shell. ut I'm not giving up the Shell because I have goodies there too. I can copy and paste items from file directories onto my command line and then just hit the Return key to execute them. To cd to mydir: I simply type mydir:.

2.0 has a polished and professional look that makes the Amiga look as good as it performs. You have all the flexibility regarding colors and customization that you had under 1.3, and then some. Not just the palette and the pointer, but patterns too, separate ones for your Workbench and Windows. The new Input prefs let you try out the mouse and keyboard settings before you decide to keep them. You can choose any font you want to use for Workbench, windows and your system font.

If you are nervous about learning a new operating system, relax. Workbench 2.0 isn't that different, it's just better. It builds on what you already know and offers better ways of doing things, whether you are a Workbench or Shell user.

What About Software Compatibility?

Products that will not operate under 2.0 will not do so because the programmers did not follow the rules set forth by Commodore. AmigaDos 2.0 was created with these rules in mind. If something won't work, it's not Commodore's fault. Even so, Commodore has built in some work-arounds for many popular programs, so incompatibilities are not as predominant as you might think.

If your favorite word processor or spreadsheet will not run under 2.0, you have my sincere sympathies. It's tough to contemplate giving up a piece of software that you've used for years. The beaten learning curve and the files you've created with it are all urging you to stay put.

The reason some software hasn't been upgraded is because it didn't sell well enough to make it worth the effort. That may be a clue that there's better stuff out there, market tested and supported by companies who are trying to keep up with the Amiga.

Many files can be converted or saved as text so you won't lose much, if anything, by switching to another program. If you have a bunch of files you absolutely must keep track of, consider how well your old software works under 2.0. Well enough to extract the information if needed? Well enough to print out some pertinent details?

If you call the software company and find that you need an upgrade, get it. It's that simple. If there's going to be a delay, find out what does and doesn't work under 2.0, and decide if you can live with it instead of waiting. If it just looks funny, or is missing some special features for 2.0, you can still use it while you're waiting.

Games are another matter. Many of them are written with a total disregard for the rules, so many of them act strangely or will not run at all under Workbench 2.0. If it's your favorite game, once again, my sympathies. Your chances of an upgrade are lessened because games have a short shelf life and only the wildly popular bestsellers have enough market viability for the software companies to consider upgrading. Think of the new games you'll miss if you don't switch! AmigaDos 2.0 has some interesting new features under the surface that will be very useful to game programmers.

The bulk of Amiga software is already 2.0 compatible. You can look for the light green 2.0 sticker on new software you are contemplating. If you don't see it, ask. I found that all my favorite programs were already 2.0 compatible, including games, word and idea processors, database, desktop publishing and paint programs.

Workbench 1.3 was introduced in 1988, so the Amiga was certainly due for an upgrade. Get some power into your life. Go 2.0!

The following article was written by Joe Rothman for a newspaper-styled Amiga magazine called Amiga News.  It appeared on page 18 of the April 1992 issue. Most of what is said below is still true today.

Dear Irving:

The December 5th 1991 issue of AM-REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE reprinted an article from the November 26th 1991 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. The article was about Commodore's annual shareholders meeting which was held in Nassau, Bahamas on November 25th 1991. The article spoke of many things, but the one that really caught my interest was the following quote: "I constantly get letters from users," Gould said. "I don't call them users, I call them fanatics. With all those letters, I wish someone would tell us how" to sell computers in North America.

Well, first off, let me thank you for the compliment. I am an Amiga fanatic, and I'm very proud of it. I know you didn't mean it as an insult, although some people might have thought you did. Anyway, I got to thinking about your request for someone to tell you how to sell computers in North America and I decided to give it a try. I figured that I couldn't do any worse than all those other experts who have been telling you how to do it for years.

Before I begin, I would like to put you at ease about one thing. I am not about to tell you to pack an Amiga full of expensive features, then sell it at a loss. I believe the Amiga is worth much more than it actually costs, and I don't think price is really the problem. After all, the Amiga costs even more in Europe, but it's a lot more popular there. The problem is one of perception. What is the Amiga? What is it going to do for me?

Before you can sell the Amiga in North America, you need to know the answer to those questions. Do you use a personal computer? Is it an Amiga or is it an IBM clone? What about the rest of your staff? What about the rest of Commodore? I've seen pictures of the inside of some of your offices and I didn't see very many Amigas. Are you feeling a little defensive now? I'm sorry, I'm just trying to make a point. How can North America take the Amiga seriously if Commodore won't take it seriously?

My first suggestion is to stop supporting the IBM clones. Put the Amiga to work for Commodore, as a shining example of what the Amiga is capable of. If a program is needed that simply doesn't exist, invest some money to have it written like you did with Amiga Vision. You don't have to spend the money outright. How about an official program to offer financial backing to small Amiga developers who don't have the resources to bring a worthy product to market? Don't give them the money, just lend it to them at a reasonable interest rate. Just make them sign a contract saying they won't port their products to another platform without your permission, then don't give them permission.

Those big MS-DOS software companies couldn't care less about the Amiga. Stop waiting for them to start producing their products for the Amiga platform. It isn't going to happen. They would probably do a terrible job of porting their products anyway. Let someone with fresh ideas have a crack at the Amiga.

My second suggestion relates to product development. I believe the present bond between the Amiga and CDTV should be strengthened by providing a CDTV add on peripheral for all current Amiga models, not just the Amiga 500. Amiga owners are not going to buy CDTV, but they will buy a CDTV/CD ROM peripheral. It just might turn out to be the best selling Amiga add on option of all time. A CDTV adapter would help both the Amiga and CDTV. The other products you have in development sound great to me. Just put that Amiga 3000 hump back mouse in a more comfortable case, and come out with a laptop Amiga, and you'll be all set on the product scene.

My third suggestion is to take advantage of the Amiga's greatest resource; people. You have been neglecting us fanatics. We loved the Amiga check mark, it bound us together, but you took it away from us. Please give it back. The Amiga needs a distinctive logo, and that multi-colored check mark is perfect. I know how difficult it is to sell something different in an MS-DOS world. I also know why the Amiga survived in spite of all the advertising dollars that are spent on those brain dead clones. It all comes down to Amiga fanatics. We sell our friends and families on the Amiga. We produce free or inexpensive software products by the thousands, but Commodore doesn't acknowledge our efforts.

I propose an annual contest with separate catagories for Public Domain and Shareware authors. The prize, a top of the line Amiga computer and monitor for each category. Second and third prizes can also be offered. Judging can be done on a preliminary basis at Commodore and the first prize winners can be selected from the finalists by a write-in ballot which would accompany a set of freely distributable disks that can be copied from a master disk set at any Amiga dealer. The informal ballot and disks could also be available on electronic bulletin boards and pay services. The names and addresses gathered during the competition could be sold to various Amiga developers to recoup whatever expenses are involved in pulling off the contest. Word would get around about how generous Commodore is to its Public Domain and Shareware authors and more Amigas would be sold.

My fourth and final recommendation is to go after the millions of C-64 owners out there. All your advertising and promotions for low end machines should be aimed squarely at the C-64. Your Amiga 500 Power Up Program was on the right track, but it wasn't enough. You need to keep the thought of upgrading in their minds. Build a hardware and software interface for C-64 drives to hook up to the Amiga for easy data transfer from the C-64. There is an inexpensive shareware software emulator available called A-64. Turn it into a Commodore product and package it with the Amiga 500. There are dozens of ways to approach getting C-64 owners to trade up to the Amiga. Put your best people on it and keep going until the Amiga 500 has replaced the C-64 as the single most popular home computer in the world.

In closing I would like to say that I am glad to have had this opportunity to express my views on the subject of marketing the Amiga in North America. I hope you will at least consider my suggestions. I would also like to invite you to take an Amiga home sometime, shove your laptop aside, and let yourself become an Amiga fanatic. Only then will you truly understand why we love the Amiga like we do.

                  Sincerely,
                  Joe Rothman

The following article was written by Joe Rothman for a newspaper-styled Amiga magazine called Amiga News.  It appeared on page 6 of the March 1992 issue. Most of what is said below is still true today.

Over the years, I have seen Amiga developers come and go, but I have also seen those that grow and prosper. When I talk on the phone to the people who run these companies, sometimes I can almost predict their fate. A pattern starts to emerge which points to success or failure. The Amiga market is unique. As a long time Amiga owner, I felt that my experience might be beneficial to those who are considering developing for the Amiga market.

As I see it, there are plenty of opportunities for new product development on the Amiga. The fact that lots of companies ignore the Amiga leaves the market wide open in some areas. Before you even consider developing an Amiga product, make sure you understand one thing. The Amiga market is much smaller than the IBM clone market, but that fact is actually irrelevant. If the products you develop are unique, you will have no real competition. It's better to be a big fish in a small pond than it is to be a small fish in a big pond. Successful Amiga development depends on several factors.

The most obvious is product quality. You can create a full featured but unreliable product for other platforms and get away with it for awhile, but you can't do that on the Amiga. Anyone who tries, finds themselves sitting on lots of dead inventory. Amiga owners are too well connected to allow inferior merchandise to be sold. Make sure you know what you are doing before you sink a fortune into a project that won't fly.

Your next consideration should be commitment. If you aren't prepared to support the Amiga as your company's main direction, save your energy and your money, you are going to fail. It's much too easy to get distracted and forget what direction you are heading in when you diversify too much. Amiga owners will catch on, get tired of waiting for you to catch up, and stop supporting you. Hear that WordPerfect! Don't blame us, you dropped the ball two years ago.

Another important requirement for successful Amiga development is that your products must take advantage of the Amiga's unique capabilities. You can't cripple your programs so they will run on less capable computers and expect Amiga owners to buy them. We don't buy crummy ports. We know what our machines can do, even if you don't. If you haven't got a clue, just ask us, we'll tell you what we want.

Yet another thing to consider is that the Amiga is Commodore, and Commodore is the Amiga. You can't put Commodore down without hurting the Amiga. Be prepared to cooperate with Commodore and other Amiga developers to improve the Amiga community at large and create a bigger healthier market. Dirty pool doesn't work here, we all have too much to lose if the Amiga doesn't make it. Actually, there's no chance that the Amiga won't make it. It already has made it.

OK, you got me, my name isn't IVS, GVP, DKB, or ICD, but I'm trying. I don't expect miracles, I just expect progress, and progress I am getting. I'm avoiding the temptation to produce for another computer platform with a huge market for three reasons. 1) There isn't any other computer that's worth the effort it would take. 2) Huge markets have huge amounts of competition that will most likely gobble me up and spit me out before I can say Uncle. I won't even port my programs to those machines. 3) The Amiga needs business software, and I can be the one to provide it. It gives me a good feeling to run one of the companies who are fulfilling Commodore's prophecy. The Amiga as a business computer. What a concept!

The following text was written by Joe Rothman on the evening before Commodore's bankruptcy announcement. It was posted, on that fateful night, on A.M.U.G. BBS. The next day everything changed. The Amiga community was forced to endure great hardships. We survived because a lot of us simply refused to give up. Most of what is said below is still true. After all Amiga has gone through, it truly is The Computer That Will Not Die.

As you probably know by now Commodore is having serious financial problems. Clone hysteria, combined with a weak world wide economy, and several other factors have left Commodore on the brink of financial collapse.

Now, before anyone offers the opinion that Commodore failed to properly market the Amiga, I would like to point something out. Yes, Commodore made lots of mistakes, but let's not forget the most important fact of all. They came out with the Amiga. They took a chance and gave us a great computer.

My personal feeling is that no one could have properly marketed the Amiga. Just look around you, and look back in time a few years. What do you see? You are, and have always been, surrounded by all that DOS and Windows compatibility hype. Sure the clones are compatible.

Hundreds of clone makers spending billions of dollars, all telling the would be computer buyer the same thing. Buy what everyone else is buying! If you have ever tried to sell someone on the merits of the Amiga, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sometimes you can't even market the Amiga to your best friend, your brother, or someone else who is close to you.

It's not too hard to figure out why the clone makers recommend their products. It's because they want to make lots of money. They don't care what's good, what's better, or what's best. They just care about one thing. Who is buying what? Therefore, I submit to you that something much more powerful than marketing is needed to keep the Amiga alive. The power of the dollar is the one and only answer to all of the Amiga's problems.

What the Amiga market needs right now, more than anything else, is your money. Commodore's problems are the Amiga's most prominent problem, but they are by no means the only problem. Amiga hardware and software developers, distributors, dealers, and your fellow Amiga owners all need your support. That means they need help, but mostly they need your money.

Have you been putting off your Amiga 1200 or Amiga 4000 purchase to wait for the triple A Amiga? Well, guess what, there isn't going to be a triple A Amiga if you don't get off your butt and buy what is already available. Look around, when was the last time you saw a new Amiga 1200? You didn't buy them so they went away. CD32 is here to give you another chance. It's a lot more than just a CD game machine. Have you even bothered to go and see it?

Buying a new Amiga now will do a lot more than just help Commodore. The money you spend will trickle down through the dealer, the distributor, and the manufacturer. It will be counted as a vote of confidence by those three parties, dozens of Amiga developers, and millions of Amiga owners. Cast your vote today, but cast it wisely. Your money will do the most good if you are careful about where you spend it. Your local dealer should be your first consideration if he is willing to give you a good deal. If you must go mail order, I strongly suggest that you buy from one of several 100% Amiga mail order houses. Ask them what other computers they sell before you place the order. If they sell clones and/or macs, place your order somewhere else. Some of the biggest so called Amiga mail order houses use our money to open more and more stores to support the clone and/or mac markets. Let the buyer beware.

Maybe you really can't afford a new Amiga. No problem, you can still be of great help. I'm sure there is some upgrade to your present system that you have been looking at. Now would be the best time to show your appreciation for your Amiga by buying it a little gift. Your Amiga isn't going to stop working just because Commodore is having problems. Whatever you are using it for now, it will continue to be useful for a long time to come. So go ahead and upgrade, you'll be glad you did. The clone makers would like nothing better than for you to be filled with fear and desperation. Don't give them what they want. Help keep the Amiga alive.

Even if you already own the perfect Amiga system, you can still help save the Amiga by buying some software. Yes, I said to BUY some software. The Amiga market is much too small to support ANY piracy, not even so called software rental. One of our biggest problems is that we never seem to have enough software. Developers are attracted to the Amiga because of our superior hardware and operating system, but they are turned off by poor sales figures. Remember, these people have to eat and pay their bills just like the rest of us. If they take the time to write programs for our Amiga, we should treat them like royalty. If every Amiga owner, who uses the Amiga regularly, purchased just one program each month or two, we would have no problem attracting and keeping good developers.

Perhaps the most important point I can make here is as follows: Your support for the Amiga should extend beyond the usual realm of thought that says spending money on the Amiga means supporting the Amiga. You should also consider that spending money on other items in your daily life can help support the Amiga as well. What I mean is best illustrated by an example. Suppose you wanted to get new stationery for your business. You would probably look around for a local printer to do the job. If you asked all the printers you talked to if they could take Amiga output, you would be helping the Amiga a little. If you managed to find one that did take Amiga output, and gave them your business, you would be helping the Amiga more. If you also recomended that printer to your friends, you would be repeating your efforts. It makes no difference if you can actually give the printer Amiga output. All that matters is that you ask and pick the place that supports the Amiga over the place that doesn't.

This Amiga support for Amiga supporters principal can be carried over to every aspect of your life. Every penny spent with someone who supports the Amiga also has the potential to support the Amiga. Your car mechanic can own an Amiga, your wedding can be videotaped by an Amiga owner, your newspaper can be bought from the newstand that sells Amiga magazines, etc., etc. Speaking of Amiga magazines, they need your money too. Magazine subscriptions are a very important way for developers to gauge the size of the Amiga market. Even if you really don't like any of the current Amiga magazines, you still need to have a subscription to at least one. That way you will be sure to be counted, and you'll always have a pretty good idea of what's new for your Amiga. If you don't like something about the magazine, just write them a letter and let them know what it is. You can't change the world, but your opinion does count.

Well, I felt these were some things that just had to be said. Rest assured that I will continue to do whatever I can as an Amiga dealer, and as a human being, to support the Amiga. The Amiga is just too important to abandon. If we stick together in this time of hardship we can defeat Goliath. Remember that money is what business is really all about. No one can continue to support the Amiga if they can't afford to feed their families. Everyone should do their share to help keep the Amiga alive. The more you spend the more it helps to ensure the future of your favorite computer. Otherwise, we will have no one to blame for the Amiga's demise but ourselves. There's no more time for excuses. The time to act is now!

Please post this file on all electronic bulletin boards and On-Line services. Feel free to make as many printed copies as you like and pass them on to your user group members. Permission is also granted to reprint this article in newsletters and magazines. You may also post this as a bulletin on your BBS if you like.

The author does not expect to make any money from the creation of this article. It was written entirely as an attempt to spread the word about a possible solution to the current state of the Amiga marketplace. The author also wishes to acknowledge that in some ways the Amiga market has never been better than it is today. There have been over five million Amigas sold worldwide to date. New hardware and software developers are entering the Amiga market with innovative products every day.