amiga-news.de - Interview with Bill McEwen

23.Jan.2001
Christoph Dietz Interview with Bill McEwen
Christoph Dietz did an extended interview with Bill McEwen, president and CEO of AMIGA, Inc:

Bill McEwen

Amiga-News: In your latest Executive Update you announce that the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) would be a great fun for the Amiga community. But how would this be a great fun if Amiga Inc. is not a exhibitor there?

Bill McEwen: We were there. We had two companies showing Amiga enabled devices at the show. These meetings were private, but we were there :-)

Amiga-News: Can you tell us details about this devices and the companies behind?

Bill McEwen: No. We are under NDA with each of them. Announcements will follow soon.

Amiga-News: In an interview with Corinna Cohn you told the community that Amiga Inc. is low on money and our readers are now wondering if this means that Amiga Inc. is closing down. So why are you low on money?

Bill McEwen: We are far from closing down. It takes money to run this business, and we planned to raise money in summer of last year. Our timing was off, and the market had a big downturn. As of the time of the discussion we had not secured more funding.

Amiga-News: So I can assume that there is no financial shortness anymore?

Bill McEwen: We will continue to watch every dime very carefully, this is not a market to be crazy with your money.

Amiga-News: Can you tell us the names of Amiga Inc.'s investors?

Bill McEwen: The "Invisible Hand Corporation, LLC", and "Net Ventures, BV".

Amiga-News: What do these investors expect from Amiga?

Bill McEwen: To make money.

Amiga-News: They are not interested in the Amiga products to use in their own products?

Bill McEwen: They are investors not OEM's.

Amiga-News: Is going public an option for Amiga Inc.? Can we expect to buy stock options in the near future?

Bill McEwen: Public offering is not possible at this time. But you can expect to have opportunities to invest in the future with Amiga.

Amiga-News: Francis Charig told me (as published on amiga-news.de) that the AmigaDE will be ready in the first half of this year. Are you agreeing with this?

Bill McEwen: Yes. This is the plan.

Amiga-News: How and then (more exact) will AmigaDE hit the marked?

Bill McEwen: Initially in some OEM hardware platforms, and then it will get more functionality and be out in other hardware with software following.

Amiga-News: According to MeterNet they are only waiting for AmigaDE to release their Set-Top box. When do they get AmigaDE and will this version be the same as planned for release in the OEM hardware?

Bill McEwen: Yes, the initial release is for this type of hardware OEM.

Amiga-News: Also Francis spoke about memory protection and why TAO is not planning to implement MP into the operating system. But you already announced that Amiga Inc. is going to implement MP into AmigaDE. Is this plan up to date?

Bill McEwen: Tao is not, and they never were going to. This is consistent to what we have said since the beginning. Amiga is handling the MP. So the plan is the same that we have said since the beginning.

Amiga-News: Can we expect MP to be in the first versions of AmigaDE?

Bill McEwen: No, not in the first version. It has been planned for later.

Amiga-News: Why do you think MP is needed?

Bill McEwen: I personally think that this is better suited for the desktop and server market.

Amiga-News: What can AmigaDE developers expect to be added into the next SDK update?

Bill McEwen: Sound, 3d, and numerous other new tools and enhancements.

Amiga-News: When can they expect the next update?

Bill McEwen: Targeted for end of February - middle of March.

Amiga-News: More than 15.000 copies of SDK are sold. How many developers are registered? And how many of them are contributing software?

Bill McEwen: A little over 2,000 busy working.

Amiga-News: This means that at least 13.000 people only bought the SDK to support Amiga Inc. with some money or for to add the SDK to their treasury?

Bill McEwen: You asked how many are registered. We have thousands who are working and have not registered.

Amiga-News: Do you know a reason why they didn't register?

Bill McEwen: No. It is really up to them. We have also located two sites that have created SDK's that are pirated. I believe that we have shut them down now, but we know that several copies were downloaded before we stopped them.

Amiga-News: Which is the most amazing software contributed right now?

Bill McEwen: There are so many, I do not know where to begin. I would encourage people to look at the developer section of the web site to see many of the titles that are being worked on.

Amiga-News: While the "World of Amiga 2000" in Cologne Fleecy announced that about 1.5 Mio units of AmigaDE are already sold. What is the market and when will the AmigaDE based products show up?

Bill McEwen: Products will begin showing up in March of this year.

Amiga-News: A press release from Thendic Electronic Components just crossed the wire that tells that "in September 2001 Thendric will release a modified Handheld-PC for the consumer market under the label 'Amiga(TM)'." Are they only licensing the Name "Amiga"? Or will they use AmigaDE?

Bill McEwen: There is only ONE owner of the Amiga name and Trademarks, Amiga Inc. We own the worldwide exclusive rights to all of the Amiga properties, that were once in the hands of Gateway. Thendic has licensed AmigaDE for their devices. We were not supposed to say anything for another month, but since they have announced, then it is true they are one of many new licensors of AmigaDE.

Amiga-News: And are there other products?

Bill McEwen: Several in the works and all over the office.

Amiga-News: How many copies of AmigaOS3.9 are sold? How close are we to an PPC-Version of AmigaOS 4.0?

Bill McEwen: OS 3.9 I do not know right now. We had several thousand out by before Christmas, and I have not seen the reports of the sales since that time. We should have some numbers up on the site soon. As far as meeting the sales requirements for the OS 4.0 PPC version, we are not even close. We are still evaluating the market need for this product, and I hope that we can show that there is a true market and business for 4.0, and even other versions in the future.

Amiga-News: When can we expect that the decision is made?

Bill McEwen: Working on it now.

Amiga-News: What are the improvements in the classic AmigaOS to legitimate the version jump to 4.x?

Bill McEwen: Once the decision has been made, then you will see a targeted feature list and then we will all know.

Amiga-News: Do you know about the status of development at Eyetech and bPlan?

Bill McEwen: I have been focused on other funding issues, and Fleecy has been working more closely with these developments.

Amiga-News: Will the AmigaOne be available in Q3/2001?

Bill McEwen: That is the plan.

Amiga-News: How can the Amiga community support Amiga Inc. at best?

Bill McEwen: The best way to directly help is the purchase of SDK's and other products. And the more people creating product for Amiga the better. We have recently received several new games for AmigaDE and they are great. It is really encouraging to see all of the development efforts underway, and the more people that we have developing the better.

Amiga-News: Are these games only converted from other platforms or are they completely new? Are they cutting edge in graphics, sound and idea?

Bill McEwen: All of the above.

Amiga-News: Bill, thank you for this interview!

Contact Information Amiga Inc.

World Headquarter
AMIGA, Inc.
34935 SE Douglas Street
Suite 210
Snoqualmie, WA 98065 (USA)
Phone +1-425-396-5660
Fax. +1-425-396-5671

email: bill@amiga.com
WWW: Amiga Inc.

[News message: 23. Jan. 2001, 01:48] [Comments: 0]
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