| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 20, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| NEWS: ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY
The Soul of an Old Machine The last Amiga rolled off the assembly line in 1994. But the pioneering multimedia PC still commands the loyalty of several hundred thousand devotees around the world. Gateway Inc., which now owns Amiga, last year promised to resurrect the old Commodore computer by Christmas. ''The new Amiga will take the breath away from all computer users on the face of the earth,'' boasts die-hard Danish fan Michael Ljungstedt Andreasen. Alas, it is not to be. Instead of building new Amigas, Gateway plans to develop Amiga-like software that will link Internet appliances over home networks. ''Amiga will be the Internet-appliance infrastructure company,'' says a company insider. For Gateway, which declined to comment, the shift is part of its strategy to move into Internet services. By early next year, Amiga hopes to have test versions of the new software, which will be written in Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java language. The interface will allow users to control household devices and download content off the Web with simple commands, the source says. Sounds great: unless you're one of the disappointed Amiga faithful. By Steven V. Brull in Los Angeles _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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