I was discussing (via email) some of the attributes of the Amiga among some Palm members a few days back.
This is the reaction I got from one Sony Clio PEG-T625 user.
"It's far too late for Amiga developers/producers to try to release any form of "Amiga" box or to produce pc-like boxes to run/emulate Amiga software. You should give up the idea Peter, Lasarus was raised only once. The Amiga has been and as far as the general public is concerned, it's now gone. The Amiga is a computer of the past.
As you well know, apart from a few "amiga nuts" dotted around the globe who use the Amiga, no one is really interested, and these users should face up to the fact that there is no actual place for the Amiga computer in the business world today.
You know perfectly well that the PC rules more or less everything and is here to stay for some years to come. You and I can do more on our mobile phones and our PDAs than you can with an Amiga :)
Even £100 PDAs are more business orientated than a Amiga!
Why pay extortionate prices for something that's always having to catch up with the rest of us. Give up the fight Peter, we all know the amiga was good in its hayday but that's all over now. Anyway, YOU did'nt mess things up, THE OWNERS of Amiga DID so why defend something that is just old hat and boring?
Sorry to come on strong m8 ;-)
On reading this, a rash of mixed feelings erupted throughout my being. One minute I knew inside that there was a large element of truth in what he said.
The next moment, I was sure this was just another sad case of BFMI? (Brute Force & Massive Ignorance?) a common trait found among those who never had the priviledge of using or owning an amiga.
It was true that technology for mobile phones and PDAs had advanced at a rapid pace and that I could with my own Psion 5mx, and with deadly ease, communicate with a wide range of PDAs, pcs and mobile phones.
It would be both foolish and hypocrytical to ignore the truth, especially since I personally used that same technology via the Psion that sits beside my bed.
In addition, I had (just a few days prior to this), received quite a number of emails asking what models of PDA I could recommend - and these were from Amiga users/owners!
For the past three or four years now, I and my humble bunch of miggies (A2k, A4K and a A1200) have been patiently waiting for a couple of simple add-ons that have long been available on the pc, namely, Infra red and USB ports.
In fact, Infra red has been available on many old laptops like the Compaq Armada 7730 166mHz which you can pick up for around £220.
Only now is the USB (Highway by KDH via zorro) to be released and it's going to cost me a another fistful of £1 notes. This will allow the amiga user to utilise USB peripherals such as USB scanners, printers etc but it still won't allow direct compatible communication so that files can be recognised then imported intact (synhronised) into and out from worldwide major business pc programs like Lotus, Corel Suites, MS and other business programs. Only cross-compatibility products will allow that. But the small, inexpensive PDA can - easily!
Read & convert MS Word, read Adobe Apdf files and print postscript is about all we can muster after all those years.
For a few £s more than the same money that the Highway zorro card is going to cost me, I can buy a small PDA which can email, web browse, fully communicate with other modern technological units and naturally synchronise with business anywhere.
As much as I like and use the amiga, it is only sensible to acknowledge that in many ways our favourite machine lags some way behind many of the modern gadgets.
Even so, I for one will certainly continue to use them daily (albeit along side my Psion 5mx & pc) and if lady luck allows me, I will enjoy them for a long time yet.