Editor's Notes

I am pleased to announce that with this issue, The Amiga Monitor is beginning its second half-year of publication. And although six months doesn't seem like a terribly long time, it's remarkable how much things have changed in the interim.

After all, back in August of 1996 when we published our first issue, could we, or anybody else for that matter, have possibly predicted how things would be now? VIScorp, practically regarded as a shoe-in for acquisition of Amiga Technologies at the time, has now faded somewhat from the scene, apparently giving way to QuikPak, which has actually been building Amigas in North America for some time now. The Amiga public became disenchanted with VIScorp as rumors leaked that perhaps they didn't have the Amiga community's best interests in mind, but it more or less solidified things when Carl Sassenrath and Jason Compton left VIScorp in short succession. We cannot count VIScorp out entirely yet, however.

For the first time in months, it appears that there is resolution in sight to the Amiga's plight. We may be crazy to trust such a notion, but after all that has occurred, I can actually imagine things going as planned. The current "day of decision" is February 28th. Whether or not it will live up to that billing is yet to be seen. With the Amiga, you can never know until you get there.

However, in the event that a reasonably responsible and competent company does end up with Amiga Technologies, we must prepare ourselves to usher in a new age of the Amiga. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, of course the Amiga will not eclipse the PC at this point without divine intervention; but is that what we need? I could certainly live with the status of "minority platform," especially compared to "dead platform." In any event, by all means, this should be a time of anticipation, and possibly even high spirits. After all, the Amiga has a lot going for it; it wouldn't take a miracle to show people that. With a little system enhancement and some marketing, even current models would do well.

But we must look to the future. So, my friends, I urge you to remain optimistic through these trying times, as resolution may very well be nearly upon us. And to help "rally all to the cause," I composed the following lyrics to a song (complete with music, but it's a little impractical to communicate that aspect of it here), perhaps with the end of raising spirits a bit. For those musically-inclined, imagine something somewhat folksy, common time, with a nice bright little arrangement of major chords with perhaps a few 7th's, for effect.

Folks turn on your Amigas,
put those PC's away.
We ain't gonna buy from no Microsoft...
Save that for another day!
And though they say it's a dead platform,
I say it's very much alive.
And if they come asking,
We've got multitasking!...
...and we had it back in '85!

I had a few more lines for it, but not enough for another verse yet. If I get around to writing some more, maybe I'll share it with you all...whaddya think?

Anyway, on to matters of this issue, we have a couple of special guests' viewpoints this month, as well as the experiences of a new convert to the Amiga way with a top-of-the-line system. In addition, we have introduced a new department intended to bring comic relief to the sometimes somber affairs of the Amiga's struggle.

So enjoy this issue of The Amiga Monitor, and I'll see you again next month.

Michael Webb
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief