🚀 go-pugleaf

Gemini2@cup.portal.com (Gary Alan Peake) wrote:
>>Digita International (info@digita.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>>: Paul Chan <paul> wrote:
>>:
>>: >Viscorp are based in the US. Softwood should have less problem getting
>>: >through to them for developer kits etc. Plus, there may be a chance
>>: >that Viscorp A1200`s come bundled with Final Writer Lite, some cheap
>>: >Spreadsheet/database packages,  and maybe a paint program. No wonder
>>: >Digita don`t like it! ;)
>>:
>>: No, thats not why I said it doesn`t look good, I was talking about the
>>: Amiga in general. Everyone is assuming that Viscorp is buying AT to
>>: continue developing and making Amiga computers, but I wonder if they
>>: don`t just want the chipset and OS for their settop boxes, which they
>>: already used under licence.
>>:
>>        Paul, I think Mark is right on this. Woody is being optomistic
>>and Mark pessemistic. There is no obvious reason to believe that there
>>will be an immediate, significant, shift in either company's relative
>>fortunes based on this sale. If Woody is right, both will prosper, if
>>Mark, neither.
>>        The question is about commitment. Is VIScorp commited to the
>>continued life and development of the Amiga computer line or simply the
>>portion of the technology related to their main business? The two could
>>be seen as linked. (Woody) Or not. (Mark) How can we tip the scales?
>
>Well, that question should be an easy read for all of us? VisCorp already
>has the license for the chipset and Os to use in set top boxes.
>
>If they have what they need already, why buy the whole bundle if they are
>NOT interested in doing more? Remember too, that there are some of the old
>Amiga guru's working at VisCorp!

Well, the first thing that Viscorp will want to do, IMHO, is to look into cost
reducing AGA and putting it onto one chip, perhaps with some sort of AGA+ mode
where everything runs faster. This will make their primary objective of set-top
boxes cheaper and more compact.

Next, I would start to assume that they would assess current developments,
Walker and PPC in particular, on their own merit (and % of completion). I would
think Walker has a very good chance of survival as it seems to be virtually
complete and PPC would logically make a Viscorp box as powerful as the Pippin
and superconsoles flying around at the moment, not to mention stave off any
threat from the Matsushita M2 (in terms of being close in technology, anyway).

Future devlopment is obviously in the air and would depend strongly on the
sales of Walker and the initial PPC machines/upgrades as it should be.