amiga-news.de - Interview with Urban Müller (Aminet Administrator)

09.Jan.2003
Petra Struck Interview with Urban Müller (Aminet Administrator)

Interview with Urban Müller
by Petra Struck - 09.01.2003 (In Deutsch)

As we had to report in early January, the Aminet series of CDs was cancelled. So Aminet CD #52 will be the last one put together. This turn of events compelled us to ask a few questions of Urban Müller, the person who does the CDs and is also an Aminet administrator.

Amiga-News: Who is Urban Müller?

Urban Müller: I'm an Amiga fan since way back when. I first satisfied this passion during my IT studies and then as I worked as a search machine programmer.

Amiga-News: What constitutes Aminet and what is Aminet?

Urban Müller: Aminet was the attempt to ease the load on our university's Amiga archive through the use of mirrors, and it succeeded through the help of volunteers.

Amiga-News: How many years have you busied yourself with Aminet?

Urban Müller: Oh my God, it's been almost ten years! :)

Amiga-News: How is Aminet organized? Who does what and how long does it take to do it?

Urban Müller: The two moderators - Matthias Scheler and I - proofread all uploads for correct *.readme file, to make sure there are no viruses, for appropriate content and correct category designation. Normally this doesn't take too much time, however new features (for example the new web interface from Andrea Kareth) and the maintenance of the many mirrors take some time.

Amiga-News: What sort of difficulties have you had to overcome in this enterprise?

Urban Müller: Almost everything has gone quite well. Only occasionally are mirror admins difficult to reach, and I myself have a network card problem with the Amiga :)

Amiga-News: How is Aminet financed?

Urban Müller: Luckily Aminet's financial requirements are not very high, because bandwidth and storage space have been provided by universities.

Amiga-News: The cancellation of the Aminet CD series will leave a hole that will not be easily filled. Why exactly is it being stopped?

Urban Müller: The number of breaks shrank steadily, also in part it's due to the fact that almost everyone can connect to the Internet and therefore doesn't need a CD.

Amiga-News: Under what circumstances would it be possible to carry on the CD series, for instance would it help if we had a subscription campaign which registered 500 new subscribers?

Urban Müller: I think that would only postpone the cancellation a bit.

Amiga-News: Could you possibly turn over the rights to make Aminet CDs to someone else?

Urban Müller: I wouldn't rule that out, if someone is interested.

Amiga-News: What feelings do you have about the current Amiga situation?

Urban Müller: It's going to be difficult for the Amiga to expand the tiny user base after such a long period of standing still, but I would like to be surprised by positive developments.

Amiga-News: Do you still have an Amiga?

Urban Müller: Of course, but now I spend more time using Linux.

Amiga-News: In closing, is there anything you would like to say to readers?

Urban Müller: I thank all the people who have contributed to Aminet, especially the software authors, who have invested countless hours. Without them the Amiga would never have been useful for as long as it has.

Amiga-News: Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to our questions. (ps) (Translation: dm)

[News message: 09. Jan. 2003, 22:41] [Comments: 0]
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