Viva Amiga is a wonderful look at the the history of the platform, the people who built it, and the users who loved it. The opening title says it all: “One Amazing Computer. One chance to save the company. One chance to win the PC wars.” This message sets the stage nicely for a dramatic and passionate tale.
You can watch the documentary online, but it isn’t free.
Very few amiga things is free, and that might be why the software plattform is still alive.
Strange and counterintuitive as it might be. Buying basic functionality feels good on the amiga, whilst buying anything beyond VLC (and yes i donate paltry amount as requested) feels dirty on the PC.
I would still rather pay for a native player than use VLC for free on the amiga plattform. On my wishlist is a modern port of GoBe productive and PersonalStudio for the amiga.
Edited 2017-01-10 03:14 UTC
modern port of GoBe productive ?!
I can hardly contain my laughter.
But I also miss that package. That was solid software.
GoBe and personal studio could save in ms office form and it supplied things that windows versions of microsoft office could not do until 2008 with the floating integrated objects.
Personal studio is great for another reason, it might seem like another glorified “Windows moviemaker” but it is not. It is a full featured auditing system for cheap. Yes the amiga had better rendering times but PersonalStudio did most of the amiga videotoaster and more.
let me preface this by saying that as an os enthusiast, I have dreamed about Amiga OS 4 forever. I never used an Amiga during its day. I got a glimpse via Amikit, and I thought it was cool and wished to explore a more modern version with more modern functionality.
So I’ve been running OS 4.1 in UAE, which I never could get to work on the mac, but somehow it works perfectly in WinUAE in VMWare. And my thoughts are…..
wow, that was really underwhelming. Imagine a slightly cool os with almost nothing to make it usable as a desktop os. The Amiga ecosphere is barren. It’s like webOS when Palm was still around, better looking than Android, but no apps. The QNX demo floppy back in the day offered as much functionality as a desktop os as Amiga 4 does.
So after wanting to use this system for a long time, after finally getting to do so I don’t understand two things. One, why didn’t they open all the source and let the internet take over with the evolution of Amiga? Two, why is there so much perceived interest in this after all these years? There is literally nothing to see here folks. NeXT provided a much richer user experience, a better apps ecosphere, pseudo unix compatibility, better everything on every level. I wish there was the sort of interest in keeping NeXT alive as there is for Amiga, tepid as that interest may be. NeXT is certainly more deserving IMO.
I enjoyed the Viva Amiga doco. I think From Bedrooms to Billions was nicer.
Typing this from my OS4.1u1 FE PPC system I’d have to strongly disagree with the guy that thinks it’s barely functional. Lets see. I’m sitting here, I’ve an Mp3 cranking, I’ve got several windows and four screens running, currently doing a build of some software I’ve been contributing to, and thought I’d fire up a browser because IRC is a bit slow , and poodle over here to see what’s going on. Earlier I was watching a dvd.
Sounds like a pretty function desktop to me.
I think you need to investigate OS4 depot, AmiNet and do some google searching. Try an IRC channel or six. Simply installing the O/S and decrying ‘zOMGF! So boring! It can’t do anything! it’s less than the QNX demo” .. makes you seem like you have the attention span of a Gen-Y/Millenial.
of course I went to os4depot, the first thing I did was install Jack. Sorry, there just isn’t much going on on the Amiga, compared to what was available as a NeXT user. It compares far less favorably to mac.
It’s easier to list the things Amiga OS 4.1 can do than all the things it can’t. Having an mp3 player and an IRC client is not a real big selling point unless you’re 15, so go ahead and mention the quake port too. Can I watch Netflix and Hulu on an Amiga? Is there a productivity suite on Amiga? Can I manage and run virtual machines on one? Is there a media server for Amiga? Can I cast/airplay from one to my home theater processor? The list goes on and on. These are all things I can do on the mac. Or on a linux box.