1 00:00:02,356 --> 00:00:05,439 (slow ambient music) 2 00:00:09,792 --> 00:00:12,959 (slow dramatic music) 3 00:00:26,686 --> 00:00:30,229 - I too sensed that it was actual revolution. 4 00:00:30,229 --> 00:00:33,538 (dramatic music) 5 00:00:33,538 --> 00:00:35,744 Being given this tool that had 6 00:00:35,744 --> 00:00:38,327 literal infinite possibilities. 7 00:00:40,710 --> 00:00:42,559 - We had people who just kept believing 8 00:00:42,559 --> 00:00:46,726 and, I mean, there's still people who just keep believing. 9 00:00:49,341 --> 00:00:52,023 - This was the most phenomenal personal computer 10 00:00:52,023 --> 00:00:54,117 that was available in the marketplace. 11 00:00:54,117 --> 00:00:57,367 (metal balls clanking) 12 00:00:58,829 --> 00:01:01,899 - No one had the kind of power and performance 13 00:01:01,899 --> 00:01:05,566 that the Amiga computer had in 1985, no one. 14 00:01:10,140 --> 00:01:11,481 - We were a small company, 15 00:01:11,481 --> 00:01:15,142 this rag tag team taking on IBM and Apple 16 00:01:15,142 --> 00:01:18,557 and we were going to change the world. 17 00:01:18,557 --> 00:01:20,856 We were taking on the big guys. 18 00:01:20,856 --> 00:01:23,939 (soft ambient music) 19 00:01:28,311 --> 00:01:31,045 - You actually could do things that previously 20 00:01:31,045 --> 00:01:33,593 were either the province of science fiction 21 00:01:33,593 --> 00:01:37,760 or were something that only a company could possibly fund. 22 00:01:39,340 --> 00:01:41,550 - A computer from the future. 23 00:01:41,550 --> 00:01:42,916 - We were from the future. 24 00:01:42,916 --> 00:01:43,916 This was it. 25 00:01:47,316 --> 00:01:50,197 - They still develop software for it. 26 00:01:50,197 --> 00:01:52,373 They still develop hardware for it. 27 00:01:52,373 --> 00:01:54,872 So it's not fully dead either. 28 00:01:54,872 --> 00:01:56,918 It's still alive, it's still going. 29 00:01:56,918 --> 00:02:00,505 (soft ambient music) 30 00:02:00,505 --> 00:02:05,069 - We're now ready to introduce the AmigaOne X1000. 31 00:02:05,069 --> 00:02:07,801 - And here comes this thing that just demolishes 32 00:02:07,801 --> 00:02:10,393 what we think a home computer can do. 33 00:02:10,393 --> 00:02:12,970 It just completely changed everything. 34 00:02:12,970 --> 00:02:15,387 (rock music) 35 00:02:22,351 --> 00:02:23,289 - How would I describe it? 36 00:02:23,289 --> 00:02:24,337 - I think it's fantastic. 37 00:02:24,337 --> 00:02:25,170 - Awesome. 38 00:02:25,170 --> 00:02:26,263 - It's gonna skyrocket. 39 00:02:26,263 --> 00:02:28,031 - Only Amiga makes it possible. 40 00:02:28,031 --> 00:02:30,916 ♫ Only Amiga 41 00:02:30,916 --> 00:02:34,295 ♫ Makes it possible 42 00:02:34,295 --> 00:02:37,258 ♫ Only Amiga 43 00:02:37,258 --> 00:02:40,091 ♫ Makes it happen 44 00:02:47,156 --> 00:02:49,739 (upbeat music) 45 00:03:24,588 --> 00:03:27,505 (electronic music) 46 00:03:41,072 --> 00:03:44,094 - The Amiga was launched July 23rd, 1985 47 00:03:44,094 --> 00:03:47,344 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. 48 00:03:48,350 --> 00:03:51,770 - It was rolled out in a deluxe fashion 49 00:03:51,770 --> 00:03:55,187 with a budget that was just breathtaking. 50 00:03:56,061 --> 00:03:59,290 - Everything that they did was done to the nines. 51 00:03:59,290 --> 00:04:01,772 - Some Hollywood event or something like that. 52 00:04:01,772 --> 00:04:03,995 It was so awesome. 53 00:04:03,995 --> 00:04:06,078 The roll out of our baby. 54 00:04:07,343 --> 00:04:08,409 - The Amiga was my baby. 55 00:04:08,409 --> 00:04:10,237 I had engineering tasks before that, 56 00:04:10,237 --> 00:04:11,610 I've had products after that, 57 00:04:11,610 --> 00:04:13,027 no, Amiga was it. 58 00:04:14,751 --> 00:04:18,011 - Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. 59 00:04:18,011 --> 00:04:20,398 What you are about to witness 60 00:04:20,398 --> 00:04:24,898 is the result of an effort of research and engineering 61 00:04:24,898 --> 00:04:26,398 that began in 1982 62 00:04:27,650 --> 00:04:31,733 and which to date has consumed over 100 man years 63 00:04:32,770 --> 00:04:35,227 of engineering talent, 64 00:04:35,227 --> 00:04:37,177 the Amiga computer. 65 00:04:37,177 --> 00:04:42,032 The Amiga computer is a true multitasking computer. 66 00:04:42,032 --> 00:04:45,843 On the right, a sorting application with variable fonts, 67 00:04:45,843 --> 00:04:47,760 graphics in the middle, 68 00:04:49,027 --> 00:04:51,952 and word processing at the bottom. 69 00:04:51,952 --> 00:04:55,073 Equally exciting is the sound generating capability 70 00:04:55,073 --> 00:04:56,241 of the machine. 71 00:04:56,241 --> 00:04:58,606 My favorite is the power chord. 72 00:04:58,606 --> 00:05:01,856 (electronic rock riff) 73 00:05:10,033 --> 00:05:13,033 - It was an amazing cult like event. 74 00:05:14,401 --> 00:05:15,234 - They had Deborah Harry, 75 00:05:15,234 --> 00:05:16,618 they had Andy Warhol. 76 00:05:16,618 --> 00:05:19,318 - Oh my god, Andy Warhol. 77 00:05:19,318 --> 00:05:20,984 - Are you ready to paint me? 78 00:05:20,984 --> 00:05:21,867 - [Andy] Yeah. 79 00:05:21,867 --> 00:05:23,180 - Ladies and gentlemen, I am here tonight 80 00:05:23,180 --> 00:05:27,916 to help assist Andy do his first computer portrait 81 00:05:27,916 --> 00:05:29,999 using the Amiga computer. 82 00:05:31,226 --> 00:05:33,652 - All this effort with the scrambling people 83 00:05:33,652 --> 00:05:35,444 putting together all these bits and pieces, 84 00:05:35,444 --> 00:05:38,627 hoping with bubble gum and bailing wire 85 00:05:38,627 --> 00:05:41,213 that it'll hold together for the launch, 86 00:05:41,213 --> 00:05:43,298 for the demo at the launch. 87 00:05:43,298 --> 00:05:45,387 - What computers have you worked on before? 88 00:05:45,387 --> 00:05:46,425 - Oh, I haven't worked on anything. 89 00:05:46,425 --> 00:05:48,008 I waited for this one. 90 00:05:48,008 --> 00:05:52,652 (audience laughing) - Really? 91 00:05:52,652 --> 00:05:55,121 - Deborah Harry is posing for a picture 92 00:05:55,121 --> 00:05:56,978 that Andy Warhol is gonna do 93 00:05:56,978 --> 00:05:58,676 and Andy Warhol is using 94 00:05:58,676 --> 00:06:00,660 this fake little graphic craft thing 95 00:06:00,660 --> 00:06:02,497 that I put together for this demo 96 00:06:02,497 --> 00:06:05,632 and he's dinking with this and he's dinking with that 97 00:06:05,632 --> 00:06:07,939 and Jack Haeger, one of our two artists, 98 00:06:07,939 --> 00:06:10,825 is standing next to Andy Warhol 99 00:06:10,825 --> 00:06:13,909 and here's Warhol, and Jack is trying to guide him, 100 00:06:13,909 --> 00:06:15,598 "Okay, use this brush, use that." 101 00:06:15,598 --> 00:06:18,309 because Jack knows, not only what works 102 00:06:18,309 --> 00:06:20,605 but Jack also knows what's gonna crash, 103 00:06:20,605 --> 00:06:22,642 like whatever you do, don't touch the flood fill 104 00:06:22,642 --> 00:06:25,030 because the flood fill is gonna crash for sure. 105 00:06:25,030 --> 00:06:26,185 (audience laughter) 106 00:06:26,185 --> 00:06:27,590 - Oh, that looks very good. 107 00:06:27,590 --> 00:06:29,301 - So now we'll do the hair. 108 00:06:29,301 --> 00:06:32,700 So, we're gonna go up to color. 109 00:06:32,700 --> 00:06:35,300 - And Warhol without any control, 110 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:37,201 he's clicking, he's drawing, he's clicking 111 00:06:37,201 --> 00:06:39,233 and Jack's like, "Uh, uh, this and that." 112 00:06:39,233 --> 00:06:41,811 And Warhol goes and grabs for the flood fill 113 00:06:41,811 --> 00:06:43,829 and Jack's like, "Well, you don't want to." 114 00:06:43,829 --> 00:06:45,165 And Warhol grabs the flood fill 115 00:06:45,165 --> 00:06:46,541 and he clicks on the flood fill 116 00:06:46,541 --> 00:06:48,192 and Jack's like, "Ooohh." 117 00:06:48,192 --> 00:06:51,297 And the flood fill just worked. 118 00:06:51,297 --> 00:06:55,195 It was like this awesome wonderful amazing thing 119 00:06:55,195 --> 00:06:59,381 and you could've heard us gasp out in the audience 120 00:06:59,381 --> 00:07:02,222 when he touched that button but it worked. 121 00:07:02,222 --> 00:07:05,004 - You go, like, okay, this is just not gonna be 122 00:07:05,004 --> 00:07:07,860 a home computer like I thought 123 00:07:07,860 --> 00:07:12,027 or, even more accurately, how are you tricking me? 124 00:07:14,382 --> 00:07:15,965 It was just really? 125 00:07:17,212 --> 00:07:21,023 - The boing demo had a bouncing ball 126 00:07:21,023 --> 00:07:25,409 that moved in front of a grid that was in the background. 127 00:07:25,409 --> 00:07:28,576 - In living color on multiple screens, 128 00:07:30,244 --> 00:07:32,327 follow the bouncing ball. 129 00:07:38,962 --> 00:07:41,962 (audience applause) 130 00:07:43,796 --> 00:07:46,258 - So, for me, the Commodore Amiga 131 00:07:46,258 --> 00:07:48,659 will always be that damn bouncing ball 132 00:07:48,659 --> 00:07:52,170 and I've never seen a sprite that big. 133 00:07:52,170 --> 00:07:55,507 Aaah, you just see that bouncing ball 134 00:07:55,507 --> 00:07:57,674 and that's pretty much it. 135 00:08:00,174 --> 00:08:02,424 - Gah, what a day that was. 136 00:08:03,898 --> 00:08:08,367 The Amiga launch was one of the high points of my life. 137 00:08:08,367 --> 00:08:12,512 - We've lived our dream and seen it come to life. 138 00:08:12,512 --> 00:08:14,711 Now it's your turn. 139 00:08:14,711 --> 00:08:18,128 What will you do with the Amiga computer? 140 00:08:25,117 --> 00:08:26,062 - I've been thinking 141 00:08:26,062 --> 00:08:28,062 about the market lately. 142 00:08:29,138 --> 00:08:32,143 - To understand where we kind of were with home computers 143 00:08:32,143 --> 00:08:36,000 by the mid 80s when the Commodore Amiga came out, 144 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,749 now about that time the big names 145 00:08:38,749 --> 00:08:42,499 are essentially Atari, IBM, Apple, Commodore. 146 00:08:48,003 --> 00:08:50,773 - Apple IIcs were hot then. 147 00:08:50,773 --> 00:08:54,462 IBM PCs were still pretty clunky and big 148 00:08:54,462 --> 00:08:56,507 and monochrome green screens. 149 00:08:56,507 --> 00:08:59,007 Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet. 150 00:09:00,139 --> 00:09:02,891 Excel and Word weren't even invented yet. 151 00:09:02,891 --> 00:09:07,336 - At the time of the home computers in the early 1980s, 152 00:09:07,336 --> 00:09:11,336 there was certainly a much stronger brand sense. 153 00:09:12,555 --> 00:09:16,154 Atari and Commodore have been kind of 154 00:09:16,154 --> 00:09:19,319 riding their 8-bit computers for a while. 155 00:09:19,319 --> 00:09:22,790 Apple has introduced the Macintosh, 156 00:09:22,790 --> 00:09:26,123 pretty cool but it's a little expensive. 157 00:09:27,701 --> 00:09:28,989 That's about where we are. 158 00:09:28,989 --> 00:09:32,767 We've got about four or five big name companies going on. 159 00:09:32,767 --> 00:09:36,704 They've all got to bring to the table the next generation. 160 00:09:36,704 --> 00:09:38,045 They all knew this. 161 00:09:38,045 --> 00:09:41,128 They all knew they had to step it up. 162 00:09:44,465 --> 00:09:47,548 Steve Jobs was shuffled off on this project 163 00:09:47,548 --> 00:09:50,735 to make what became the Macintosh. 164 00:09:50,735 --> 00:09:52,991 They were like, "Okay, go ahead and try." 165 00:09:52,991 --> 00:09:54,650 And he did. 166 00:09:54,650 --> 00:09:55,724 - And even though the original Macintosh 167 00:09:55,724 --> 00:09:58,095 was lower resolution than the Amiga 168 00:09:58,095 --> 00:10:00,719 and it was only black and white versus the Amiga color, 169 00:10:00,719 --> 00:10:04,162 they started that path and started getting the public 170 00:10:04,162 --> 00:10:06,897 used to thinking that IBM Solution 171 00:10:06,897 --> 00:10:08,687 was not the only way to do it 172 00:10:08,687 --> 00:10:11,937 and that you could do something better. 173 00:10:13,776 --> 00:10:16,393 - Atari comes out with the ST line, 174 00:10:16,393 --> 00:10:20,488 which is meant to be their next generation of computers. 175 00:10:20,488 --> 00:10:21,321 So okay, 176 00:10:24,412 --> 00:10:27,995 Commodore goes out and gets the Amiga team. 177 00:10:29,225 --> 00:10:34,012 - And we felt that we had the box that was the real answer 178 00:10:34,012 --> 00:10:36,461 that the marketplace wanted. 179 00:10:36,461 --> 00:10:39,418 We even scoffed at Apple for what they were trying to do 180 00:10:39,418 --> 00:10:41,223 because even though they were trying to be different 181 00:10:41,223 --> 00:10:43,130 and trying to get people to think in a different way, 182 00:10:43,130 --> 00:10:45,575 they still were living in this sort of limited world 183 00:10:45,575 --> 00:10:46,906 where it was black and white 184 00:10:46,906 --> 00:10:50,529 and the operating system was extremely clumsy to use 185 00:10:50,529 --> 00:10:53,480 for doing games and entertainment. 186 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:55,910 It was good for doing a lot of computery stuff 187 00:10:55,910 --> 00:11:00,077 but we felt that the Amiga was what consumers really wanted. 188 00:11:03,818 --> 00:11:07,178 - Back in those days, the computers that were there 189 00:11:07,178 --> 00:11:09,553 weren't very good game playing machines. 190 00:11:09,553 --> 00:11:11,831 You think back to what computing was in those days. 191 00:11:11,831 --> 00:11:13,993 You look at it today, none of us 192 00:11:13,993 --> 00:11:16,681 would accept a product like that. 193 00:11:16,681 --> 00:11:20,848 Computers were designed primarily as business machines. 194 00:11:22,275 --> 00:11:26,442 - We created the Amiga ostensibly to be a game system. 195 00:11:27,958 --> 00:11:30,090 We all believed it would be a very good game system 196 00:11:30,090 --> 00:11:34,119 but the engineers of the company always knew 197 00:11:34,119 --> 00:11:37,619 that it was destined to be something more. 198 00:11:39,921 --> 00:11:41,477 A machine that was powerful enough 199 00:11:41,477 --> 00:11:44,438 to do the sort of home office stuff that you needed 200 00:11:44,438 --> 00:11:46,169 but the Amiga at the same time 201 00:11:46,169 --> 00:11:48,919 was just a kick butt game system. 202 00:11:49,928 --> 00:11:52,246 We ended up hoping that that would be the thing 203 00:11:52,246 --> 00:11:54,708 that would pull the Amiga all the way forward 204 00:11:54,708 --> 00:11:56,146 and have it achieve the success 205 00:11:56,146 --> 00:11:58,729 that we thought it should have. 206 00:12:06,401 --> 00:12:08,503 - You basically have Jay Miner, 207 00:12:08,503 --> 00:12:11,253 computer designer extraordinaire, 208 00:12:12,282 --> 00:12:15,048 and his team of engineers, 209 00:12:15,048 --> 00:12:17,315 who are all top notch. 210 00:12:17,315 --> 00:12:20,315 They had done work on the Atari 2600 211 00:12:21,449 --> 00:12:24,356 and then they were moving on to the next level 212 00:12:24,356 --> 00:12:27,045 and coming up with a computer. 213 00:12:27,045 --> 00:12:28,888 - Well, it was in 1982, 214 00:12:28,888 --> 00:12:32,350 a friend of mine that I used to work with at Atari 215 00:12:32,350 --> 00:12:35,126 came to me and said, "Hey, Jay, let's start a new company. 216 00:12:35,126 --> 00:12:36,530 I'm tired of this one." 217 00:12:36,530 --> 00:12:38,530 And I said, "Well, fine. 218 00:12:39,844 --> 00:12:41,846 I'll do the chips for it 219 00:12:41,846 --> 00:12:44,229 and I'll be the vice president 220 00:12:44,229 --> 00:12:46,729 if I can do the chips my way." 221 00:12:48,244 --> 00:12:51,205 - At the beginning, what Amiga was making 222 00:12:51,205 --> 00:12:53,270 was this little board that you sat on 223 00:12:53,270 --> 00:12:57,187 and there was a surfing game that went with it. 224 00:12:58,993 --> 00:13:00,871 And that was the cover story. 225 00:13:00,871 --> 00:13:03,395 Underneath, we were building this new computer 226 00:13:03,395 --> 00:13:05,228 with chips and things. 227 00:13:06,495 --> 00:13:09,558 - I had left a very good job in Minneapolis 228 00:13:09,558 --> 00:13:10,997 and had made the commitment 229 00:13:10,997 --> 00:13:12,921 to come and work with Dave on this. 230 00:13:12,921 --> 00:13:15,959 I walk into the building down in Santa Clara 231 00:13:15,959 --> 00:13:18,086 and I look at 5,000 square feet 232 00:13:18,086 --> 00:13:20,372 and I look around and I'm going, 233 00:13:20,372 --> 00:13:21,982 "Dave, what in the hell are we gonna do 234 00:13:21,982 --> 00:13:23,577 with all this space?" 235 00:13:23,577 --> 00:13:25,703 And he said, "Don't you worry about that." 236 00:13:25,703 --> 00:13:29,180 He says, "We're gonna need all this space." 237 00:13:29,180 --> 00:13:31,078 - I came across Amiga while I was working 238 00:13:31,078 --> 00:13:32,425 at a different company 239 00:13:32,425 --> 00:13:34,685 and with incredible ego and arrogance, 240 00:13:34,685 --> 00:13:37,054 I walked into the president's office, 241 00:13:37,054 --> 00:13:38,799 explained to him how great I would be 242 00:13:38,799 --> 00:13:40,227 and how much I could help him 243 00:13:40,227 --> 00:13:42,608 and he threw me out. 244 00:13:42,608 --> 00:13:43,602 That was David Morse, 245 00:13:43,602 --> 00:13:47,481 probably the best man I've ever known. 246 00:13:47,481 --> 00:13:49,513 I felt really stupid about what I'd done 247 00:13:49,513 --> 00:13:51,263 and called him the next day and said, 248 00:13:51,263 --> 00:13:53,741 "Oh please, oh please, I really want to work on your stuff. 249 00:13:53,741 --> 00:13:55,227 Let me come back and try again." 250 00:13:55,227 --> 00:13:58,347 He said, "Okay, go to the lab guy." 251 00:13:58,347 --> 00:14:00,668 And I went to the lab guy and said, 252 00:14:00,668 --> 00:14:01,501 "I'm here. 253 00:14:01,501 --> 00:14:02,334 Let me do anything. 254 00:14:02,334 --> 00:14:03,167 What do you need?" 255 00:14:03,167 --> 00:14:06,000 And I became the janitor at Amiga. 256 00:14:07,830 --> 00:14:08,663 - It was a start up. 257 00:14:08,663 --> 00:14:10,329 There was a lot of work to do. 258 00:14:10,329 --> 00:14:13,451 People just grabbed jobs that needed to get done 259 00:14:13,451 --> 00:14:14,650 and did those jobs 260 00:14:14,650 --> 00:14:16,983 and we worked hard and long. 261 00:14:20,557 --> 00:14:24,033 - One day, I'm cleaning up around Glenn Keller's desk. 262 00:14:24,033 --> 00:14:26,536 He was one of the design engineers at Amiga. 263 00:14:26,536 --> 00:14:28,645 - My main role in the Amiga's development 264 00:14:28,645 --> 00:14:31,588 was designer of the audio chip. 265 00:14:31,588 --> 00:14:34,062 It was my first chip I had ever worked on. 266 00:14:34,062 --> 00:14:36,401 - I'm looking over his shoulder at what he's doing 267 00:14:36,401 --> 00:14:38,833 and I'm suggesting, "Oh, that's interesting 268 00:14:38,833 --> 00:14:40,799 but what if blah, blah, blah." 269 00:14:40,799 --> 00:14:43,421 He looks at me like, "Well, okay, janitor, 270 00:14:43,421 --> 00:14:44,942 you're an engineer?" 271 00:14:44,942 --> 00:14:46,333 "Yeah, I'm an engineer." 272 00:14:46,333 --> 00:14:48,650 "What in the world are you doing cleaning up the floors?", 273 00:14:48,650 --> 00:14:49,483 he says. 274 00:14:49,483 --> 00:14:53,309 So in two years, I had then made it up to system architect 275 00:14:53,309 --> 00:14:54,878 for the Amiga computer. 276 00:14:54,878 --> 00:14:57,115 (dramatic music) 277 00:14:57,115 --> 00:15:00,137 Amiga had gone through many of the funding issues 278 00:15:00,137 --> 00:15:01,851 that other companies go through. 279 00:15:01,851 --> 00:15:04,891 As things get close, more money needs to be spent, 280 00:15:04,891 --> 00:15:05,772 stuff goes wrong. 281 00:15:05,772 --> 00:15:09,163 If you run out of money, the company dies. 282 00:15:09,163 --> 00:15:10,812 If you try to get more money, 283 00:15:10,812 --> 00:15:12,210 you wind up selling everything. 284 00:15:12,210 --> 00:15:13,254 It's really awful. 285 00:15:13,254 --> 00:15:14,761 And someone else takes control, 286 00:15:14,761 --> 00:15:15,821 they don't have the spirit, 287 00:15:15,821 --> 00:15:16,654 they don't have the life, 288 00:15:16,654 --> 00:15:18,399 you get the wrong machine. 289 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:20,649 We're running out of money. 290 00:15:21,816 --> 00:15:24,112 - Those were desperate days where we were afraid 291 00:15:24,112 --> 00:15:27,495 the business was gonna have to close. 292 00:15:27,495 --> 00:15:30,826 We couldn't believe it was happening. 293 00:15:30,826 --> 00:15:34,920 We had this amazing piece of technology that we created, 294 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,449 this awesome new computer system 295 00:15:37,449 --> 00:15:39,032 it seemed unreal 296 00:15:41,659 --> 00:15:44,216 that we could be this close to so much glory 297 00:15:44,216 --> 00:15:48,143 and fall short because we just didn't have the funds 298 00:15:48,143 --> 00:15:51,754 but we didn't, we didn't have the money. 299 00:15:51,754 --> 00:15:53,866 When we were almost out of dough 300 00:15:53,866 --> 00:15:58,634 and the company was in such a delicate territory, 301 00:15:58,634 --> 00:16:00,441 Jay was the guy that went out 302 00:16:00,441 --> 00:16:03,099 and took out a second mortgage on his home 303 00:16:03,099 --> 00:16:07,754 and used that money to infuse the company with more cash 304 00:16:07,754 --> 00:16:09,754 so that we could keep going, 305 00:16:09,754 --> 00:16:11,355 so that we could keep operating 306 00:16:11,355 --> 00:16:15,105 and we had exhausted all of our other options 307 00:16:18,698 --> 00:16:22,124 and realized that if the company was gonna stay afloat 308 00:16:22,124 --> 00:16:24,300 that we would have to sell it to someone. 309 00:16:24,300 --> 00:16:27,050 (dramatic music) 310 00:16:41,129 --> 00:16:45,399 - So, we had made some deals with Atari. 311 00:16:45,399 --> 00:16:46,824 - They came and made a deal 312 00:16:46,824 --> 00:16:49,074 for half a million dollars. 313 00:16:51,271 --> 00:16:55,522 We get an offer from Tramiel, who is pissed 314 00:16:55,522 --> 00:16:59,757 that when he was at Commodore he wanted to get us, 315 00:16:59,757 --> 00:17:02,980 couldn't, left Commodore, went to Atari, 316 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:05,028 wanted to get us, couldn't. 317 00:17:05,028 --> 00:17:07,528 They were making the Atari ST. 318 00:17:10,057 --> 00:17:11,623 Many people don't understand 319 00:17:11,623 --> 00:17:15,286 why putting something in Tramiel's hands is a bad idea. 320 00:17:15,286 --> 00:17:17,700 Jack lived through the bad times of the war 321 00:17:17,700 --> 00:17:19,462 in the German prison camps. 322 00:17:19,462 --> 00:17:22,180 Came out of that with the following philosophy, 323 00:17:22,180 --> 00:17:23,955 business is war. 324 00:17:23,955 --> 00:17:26,512 If you're not crushing your opponent, 325 00:17:26,512 --> 00:17:27,795 you're doing it wrong. 326 00:17:27,795 --> 00:17:32,326 The correct thing to do is squeeze them till they're dead. 327 00:17:32,326 --> 00:17:34,159 Take anything you can. 328 00:17:38,614 --> 00:17:43,124 The details of the deal included that at a particular time, 329 00:17:43,124 --> 00:17:45,171 when we needed to pay it back, 330 00:17:45,171 --> 00:17:46,434 if we paid it back, fine. 331 00:17:46,434 --> 00:17:48,843 Then Amiga stays ours, no problem. 332 00:17:48,843 --> 00:17:50,330 If we can't pay it back, 333 00:17:50,330 --> 00:17:53,820 they get the rights to the Amiga. 334 00:17:53,820 --> 00:17:57,145 (dramatic music) 335 00:17:57,145 --> 00:18:00,228 - And as time went on, it looked like 336 00:18:02,591 --> 00:18:04,292 we were gonna run out of money, 337 00:18:04,292 --> 00:18:06,593 they were gonna pick up all the intellectual property 338 00:18:06,593 --> 00:18:07,926 and run with it. 339 00:18:09,220 --> 00:18:12,558 - We were gonna have to give Jack Tramiel of Atari, 340 00:18:12,558 --> 00:18:14,128 the Amiga. 341 00:18:14,128 --> 00:18:16,045 Unacceptable, not okay. 342 00:18:18,016 --> 00:18:21,252 Dave Morse felt that that was unacceptable, not okay. 343 00:18:21,252 --> 00:18:25,085 He started negotiations with Commodore proper. 344 00:18:30,123 --> 00:18:34,207 - At the last minute, suddenly, Commodore came in 345 00:18:34,207 --> 00:18:37,707 and bought us out with a much better deal. 346 00:18:42,523 --> 00:18:45,190 - And it got us a gigantic price out of Commodore, 347 00:18:45,190 --> 00:18:47,267 more than would've happened before. 348 00:18:47,267 --> 00:18:50,047 Commodore gives a half million dollars cash on the spot 349 00:18:50,047 --> 00:18:54,051 and on the day that we have to give the secrets to Tramiel 350 00:18:54,051 --> 00:18:55,540 Dave Morse hands them a check 351 00:18:55,540 --> 00:18:58,281 for half a million dollars instead. 352 00:18:58,281 --> 00:19:00,097 Jack is furious. 353 00:19:00,097 --> 00:19:02,351 Jack's really angry about this. 354 00:19:02,351 --> 00:19:03,776 We are delighted. 355 00:19:03,776 --> 00:19:06,026 (applause) 356 00:19:12,478 --> 00:19:15,061 (upbeat music) 357 00:19:16,421 --> 00:19:19,804 - It wasn't just a computer that you wanted to work on. 358 00:19:19,804 --> 00:19:21,805 It was a computer you stared at 359 00:19:21,805 --> 00:19:25,116 'cause you were like, "I can't believe this is happening 360 00:19:25,116 --> 00:19:28,188 right here in front of me." 361 00:19:28,188 --> 00:19:30,797 - There wasn't a machine that could touch us. 362 00:19:30,797 --> 00:19:32,138 This had multitasking, 363 00:19:32,138 --> 00:19:33,706 no one was doing multitasking. 364 00:19:33,706 --> 00:19:34,939 It had video graphics, 365 00:19:34,939 --> 00:19:37,930 no one was doing multimedia video graphics like the Amiga. 366 00:19:37,930 --> 00:19:40,251 The Macintoshes were black and white. 367 00:19:40,251 --> 00:19:42,278 IBMs were green screens. 368 00:19:42,278 --> 00:19:45,691 No one had the kind of power and performance 369 00:19:45,691 --> 00:19:49,358 that the Amiga computer had in 1985, no one. 370 00:19:50,479 --> 00:19:52,833 - The computer from the future. 371 00:19:52,833 --> 00:19:55,698 - We were from the future, this was it. 372 00:19:55,698 --> 00:20:00,201 - When I was in college, I played some audio from the Amiga. 373 00:20:00,201 --> 00:20:03,118 (electronic music) 374 00:20:07,477 --> 00:20:08,666 The person I played it for, 375 00:20:08,666 --> 00:20:12,833 I remember him saying, "No, this is not computer music." 376 00:20:15,030 --> 00:20:17,945 He just refused to admit that a home computer 377 00:20:17,945 --> 00:20:19,278 made this sound. 378 00:20:22,525 --> 00:20:25,915 That's one of the things about the Amiga, 379 00:20:25,915 --> 00:20:30,082 that sense of miracle, of wonder, that came with it. 380 00:20:33,183 --> 00:20:36,266 - This was the do it yourself period. 381 00:20:37,625 --> 00:20:40,079 Post punk, everybody started a band 382 00:20:40,079 --> 00:20:42,996 but we started an animation studio. 383 00:20:43,929 --> 00:20:45,947 For the first time in history, 384 00:20:45,947 --> 00:20:48,590 we could be a production studio, 385 00:20:48,590 --> 00:20:51,816 making strips, making music, making animations, 386 00:20:51,816 --> 00:20:54,184 producing it, getting it out on tape 387 00:20:54,184 --> 00:20:56,505 and delivering it at the broadcast station. 388 00:20:56,505 --> 00:20:57,690 We were in control of that. 389 00:20:57,690 --> 00:21:00,975 So it was super do it yourself. 390 00:21:00,975 --> 00:21:05,038 - And in Europe, the Amiga 500 was very successful there. 391 00:21:05,038 --> 00:21:08,649 We sold over a million Amiga 500s a year for awhile. 392 00:21:08,649 --> 00:21:12,507 - Then was a launch also here in Germany, a revolution. 393 00:21:12,507 --> 00:21:14,182 Everybody loves it, everybody likes it 394 00:21:14,182 --> 00:21:16,349 and it was a success here. 395 00:21:18,648 --> 00:21:22,292 - There was a lot of room for that crazed individual 396 00:21:22,292 --> 00:21:25,027 to say, "You know what this machine needs? 397 00:21:25,027 --> 00:21:26,753 This machine needs a piece of hardware 398 00:21:26,753 --> 00:21:28,983 that we can plug in and we'll have cameras 399 00:21:28,983 --> 00:21:32,494 and light filters and it's gonna do this spectacular thing." 400 00:21:32,494 --> 00:21:35,514 There was room then for one person to say, 401 00:21:35,514 --> 00:21:36,931 "I'm gonna do that thing," 402 00:21:36,931 --> 00:21:39,223 and we've got a product on the shelf 403 00:21:39,223 --> 00:21:41,608 that people are buying. 404 00:21:41,608 --> 00:21:44,026 - I haven't seen the same kind of just opportunity 405 00:21:44,026 --> 00:21:48,097 for weirdness and enthusiasm and unbridled energy 406 00:21:48,097 --> 00:21:49,014 since then. 407 00:21:50,483 --> 00:21:51,599 - We wanted to change the world. 408 00:21:51,599 --> 00:21:54,328 We wanted to make the best computer. 409 00:21:54,328 --> 00:21:56,279 To make a computer better, 410 00:21:56,279 --> 00:21:57,721 it has to be better for the consumer. 411 00:21:57,721 --> 00:22:00,048 It has to not be just more complicated. 412 00:22:00,048 --> 00:22:02,805 It has to be easier to use, less work, 413 00:22:02,805 --> 00:22:06,722 and do more for you and all that kind of stuff. 414 00:22:07,881 --> 00:22:09,761 - The first year that the Amiga was out, 415 00:22:09,761 --> 00:22:13,462 the Amiga outperformed the Apple Macintosh. 416 00:22:13,462 --> 00:22:14,772 It outperformed it in sales, 417 00:22:14,772 --> 00:22:18,105 it outperformed it in user satisfaction. 418 00:22:18,946 --> 00:22:21,397 - And here comes this thing that just demolishes 419 00:22:21,397 --> 00:22:24,140 what we think a home computer can do. 420 00:22:24,140 --> 00:22:26,918 It just completely changed everything. 421 00:22:26,918 --> 00:22:29,751 (soft rock music) 422 00:22:44,386 --> 00:22:47,136 (dramatic music) 423 00:22:52,882 --> 00:22:54,660 - This was the first time where people 424 00:22:54,660 --> 00:22:56,179 could create the kind of media 425 00:22:56,179 --> 00:22:59,346 that they were watching on television. 426 00:23:01,095 --> 00:23:02,643 So if you wanted to do anything 427 00:23:02,643 --> 00:23:05,264 that was multimedia oriented, 428 00:23:05,264 --> 00:23:08,201 you were doing it on an Amiga. 429 00:23:08,201 --> 00:23:09,067 - A lot of different people 430 00:23:09,067 --> 00:23:10,526 did a lot of different things. 431 00:23:10,526 --> 00:23:12,831 Some people were doing 3D modeling on it. 432 00:23:12,831 --> 00:23:14,064 If you go to the movies these days, 433 00:23:14,064 --> 00:23:17,064 you're probably gonna see some CGI. 434 00:23:18,028 --> 00:23:21,954 That was giving people a tool they had never had before. 435 00:23:21,954 --> 00:23:23,520 - Video capabilities. 436 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,353 Video capabilities beyond compare. 437 00:23:28,269 --> 00:23:30,604 - I had Deluxe Video, 438 00:23:30,604 --> 00:23:31,804 which I think came out in 1986, 439 00:23:31,804 --> 00:23:34,616 which is kind of amazing when you think about 440 00:23:34,616 --> 00:23:38,479 a video production program on your home computer in 1986. 441 00:23:38,479 --> 00:23:41,793 - Graphics, there was a program 442 00:23:41,793 --> 00:23:44,414 that came out pretty early called Deluxe Paint 443 00:23:44,414 --> 00:23:45,921 that allowed you to draw onscreen 444 00:23:45,921 --> 00:23:47,969 but because you could see a whole lot more colors 445 00:23:47,969 --> 00:23:49,087 than on a PC, 446 00:23:49,087 --> 00:23:51,230 there was a whole generation of artists 447 00:23:51,230 --> 00:23:52,947 who found a use for computers 448 00:23:52,947 --> 00:23:55,697 they never would have had before. 449 00:23:57,189 --> 00:23:58,966 - The Amiga was an instrument 450 00:23:58,966 --> 00:24:00,499 and like a good instrument, 451 00:24:00,499 --> 00:24:02,934 if it's a piano or a flute or a violin, 452 00:24:02,934 --> 00:24:04,743 you use the instrument to express yourself 453 00:24:04,743 --> 00:24:08,856 and the Amiga was like what the guitar was for Jimi Hendrix. 454 00:24:08,856 --> 00:24:10,439 - We knew how to play it 455 00:24:10,439 --> 00:24:14,447 and we could even play the Amiga like this. 456 00:24:14,447 --> 00:24:16,825 - I made lots of paintings with gradients in Digi-Paint. 457 00:24:16,825 --> 00:24:17,668 Digi-Paint was my favorite. 458 00:24:17,668 --> 00:24:19,234 I know most people were Deluxe Paint II, 459 00:24:19,234 --> 00:24:21,363 Deluxe Paint III aficionados 460 00:24:21,363 --> 00:24:23,696 but I was a Digi-Paint girl. 461 00:24:27,016 --> 00:24:29,468 - Amiga was marketed 462 00:24:29,468 --> 00:24:32,301 as a computer for creative people. 463 00:24:35,506 --> 00:24:38,902 (doorbell rings) 464 00:24:38,902 --> 00:24:40,271 - Aren't you astronauts? 465 00:24:40,271 --> 00:24:41,245 - Buzz Aldrin. 466 00:24:41,245 --> 00:24:42,078 - Gordon Cooper. 467 00:24:42,078 --> 00:24:42,911 - Scott Carpenter. 468 00:24:42,911 --> 00:24:44,424 - We'd like to compare notes with Stevie 469 00:24:44,424 --> 00:24:46,507 on the new space station. 470 00:24:48,844 --> 00:24:49,677 - Hello? 471 00:24:49,677 --> 00:24:51,288 - Hi, Tommy Lasorda for Stevie. 472 00:24:51,288 --> 00:24:52,121 - Hey, what's up? 473 00:24:52,121 --> 00:24:53,569 - [Tommy] Just a question about moving Randolph 474 00:24:53,569 --> 00:24:55,095 to the number two position. 475 00:24:55,095 --> 00:24:56,676 - [Stevie] Yeah, second and this will work. 476 00:24:56,676 --> 00:24:57,509 It's perfect. 477 00:24:57,509 --> 00:24:58,342 - [Pointer Sister] Hi. 478 00:24:58,342 --> 00:24:59,175 - Hi. 479 00:24:59,175 --> 00:25:00,068 - We're the Pointer Sisters. 480 00:25:00,068 --> 00:25:01,459 Stevie's expecting us. 481 00:25:01,459 --> 00:25:02,628 - Well come in. 482 00:25:02,628 --> 00:25:05,119 - We need help with our new album. 483 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:06,566 - Burt Bacharach. 484 00:25:06,566 --> 00:25:07,445 - Little Richard. 485 00:25:07,445 --> 00:25:08,415 - [TV Announcer] The Amiga, 486 00:25:08,415 --> 00:25:10,815 color, sound, graphics, power, 487 00:25:10,815 --> 00:25:12,304 at a price to make it truly 488 00:25:12,304 --> 00:25:15,741 the computer for the creative mind. 489 00:25:15,741 --> 00:25:16,718 What can the Amiga do? 490 00:25:16,718 --> 00:25:17,885 Well what do you want it to do? 491 00:25:17,885 --> 00:25:19,612 (doorbell rings) 492 00:25:19,612 --> 00:25:21,053 - Huh, Mr. O'Neill. 493 00:25:21,053 --> 00:25:23,135 Stevie is upstairs but it's kind of crowded. 494 00:25:23,135 --> 00:25:27,302 Would you like some fried chicken while you're waiting? 495 00:25:28,327 --> 00:25:30,078 - [TV Announcer] Amiga from Commodore. 496 00:25:30,078 --> 00:25:32,995 The computer for the creative mind. 497 00:25:34,275 --> 00:25:37,942 - Then, everything changes with the Toaster. 498 00:25:39,409 --> 00:25:42,717 This plug-in card turned your Amiga 499 00:25:42,717 --> 00:25:46,217 into such a powerful video creation system 500 00:25:49,453 --> 00:25:52,634 that you could run an honest-to-goodness 501 00:25:52,634 --> 00:25:55,790 professional organization on them. 502 00:25:55,790 --> 00:25:57,916 - [TV Announcer] There's never been anything like it. 503 00:25:57,916 --> 00:25:59,964 - [TV Announcer] The world's first video work station. 504 00:25:59,964 --> 00:26:00,860 - [TV Announcer] That's what it is. 505 00:26:00,860 --> 00:26:03,664 Putting the power of video in the hands of the people. 506 00:26:03,664 --> 00:26:05,782 People like you and me. 507 00:26:05,782 --> 00:26:06,797 - The Video Toaster was created 508 00:26:06,797 --> 00:26:10,807 to be an all-in-one desktop production studio. 509 00:26:10,807 --> 00:26:13,735 We shipped it in 1990 and the Amiga computer 510 00:26:13,735 --> 00:26:15,863 is what made it possible. 511 00:26:15,863 --> 00:26:17,743 - Video communication just was not available 512 00:26:17,743 --> 00:26:19,646 to the average guy. 513 00:26:19,646 --> 00:26:22,563 The Video Toaster changed all that. 514 00:26:24,662 --> 00:26:25,790 - It really leveled the playing field, 515 00:26:25,790 --> 00:26:29,165 that all of a sudden your stuff 516 00:26:29,165 --> 00:26:32,105 could look as pro as something on broadcast television 517 00:26:32,105 --> 00:26:35,038 because it was in fact creating work in the same quality. 518 00:26:35,038 --> 00:26:37,621 (upbeat music) 519 00:26:39,848 --> 00:26:41,965 - And back in the day before the Video Toaster, 520 00:26:41,965 --> 00:26:44,237 you really had to be a member of the priesthood 521 00:26:44,237 --> 00:26:47,599 to have access to the kinds of tools that you could use. 522 00:26:47,599 --> 00:26:49,441 You had to be working at a TV station 523 00:26:49,441 --> 00:26:51,263 or working for a big production house 524 00:26:51,263 --> 00:26:53,385 and we were talking about hundreds of thousands 525 00:26:53,385 --> 00:26:55,718 or even millions of dollars. 526 00:26:57,563 --> 00:27:02,390 - And that thing, at that point, you were like, 527 00:27:02,390 --> 00:27:06,140 The Amiga is a audio visual editing computer. 528 00:27:09,236 --> 00:27:10,386 - It was astonishing. 529 00:27:10,386 --> 00:27:12,912 And what was funny is that when I became a teacher, 530 00:27:12,912 --> 00:27:14,401 and I would show other teachers 531 00:27:14,401 --> 00:27:15,984 in other departments this tool 532 00:27:15,984 --> 00:27:19,265 and say, "You know, instead of buying this titling machine 533 00:27:19,265 --> 00:27:22,479 for $5,000, why don't you buy one of these Toasters 534 00:27:22,479 --> 00:27:25,379 for the same money and instead of having six fonts, 535 00:27:25,379 --> 00:27:27,922 you could have 600 and add more 536 00:27:27,922 --> 00:27:29,906 and have all this other stuff?" 537 00:27:29,906 --> 00:27:31,570 And the thing I was faced with 538 00:27:31,570 --> 00:27:33,730 was that well, you know computers are nice 539 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:36,136 but they're not gonna be a real important part 540 00:27:36,136 --> 00:27:37,514 of TV and film. 541 00:27:37,514 --> 00:27:39,527 - There's a lot of material to look at 542 00:27:39,527 --> 00:27:41,128 and not much time to do it in. 543 00:27:41,128 --> 00:27:43,082 So pull up your VCR and your Toaster 544 00:27:43,082 --> 00:27:44,915 and let's get started. 545 00:27:47,905 --> 00:27:51,250 - You know, NewTek back in the day had a tiger by the tail 546 00:27:51,250 --> 00:27:52,520 with the Video Toaster. 547 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,060 Nobody really expected the Video Toaster 548 00:27:55,060 --> 00:27:57,786 to be that successful except probably NewTek. 549 00:27:57,786 --> 00:27:59,001 - [TV Announcer] NewTek. 550 00:27:59,001 --> 00:28:01,834 (energetic music) 551 00:28:02,727 --> 00:28:05,810 - Now look at what they've brainstormed. 552 00:28:07,244 --> 00:28:09,063 The Video Toaster. 553 00:28:09,063 --> 00:28:10,424 - (Laughing) Yeah. 554 00:28:10,424 --> 00:28:12,153 Hi, my name is Penn Jillette. 555 00:28:12,153 --> 00:28:13,365 This is my partner Teller. 556 00:28:13,365 --> 00:28:16,710 We're Penn and Teller and we're here to talk about taste. 557 00:28:16,710 --> 00:28:19,223 We're making this video all by ourselves 558 00:28:19,223 --> 00:28:22,295 in a loft in Topeka, Kansas using cheap home equipment 559 00:28:22,295 --> 00:28:25,767 and a new item, NewTek's Video Toaster. 560 00:28:25,767 --> 00:28:29,934 This little snazzy gizmo puts all the power in your hands. 561 00:28:30,824 --> 00:28:33,576 But if you don't exercise taste, 562 00:28:33,576 --> 00:28:38,323 you're gonna end up with a video full of solarization, 563 00:28:38,323 --> 00:28:39,156 mosaics, 564 00:28:40,405 --> 00:28:43,217 receding tiles and everything else under the sun. 565 00:28:43,217 --> 00:28:45,038 In short, you're gonna have a finished product 566 00:28:45,038 --> 00:28:47,426 that looks like a bad rock video. 567 00:28:47,426 --> 00:28:49,843 (rock music) 568 00:29:02,947 --> 00:29:07,114 - After we shipped it, it was just kind of an explosion. 569 00:29:08,318 --> 00:29:12,271 I realized that with personal computer technology 570 00:29:12,271 --> 00:29:14,463 at some point, it would be fast enough 571 00:29:14,463 --> 00:29:17,154 to do all those things. 572 00:29:17,154 --> 00:29:19,008 We set out to revolutionize video 573 00:29:19,008 --> 00:29:20,841 and I think we did it. 574 00:29:23,698 --> 00:29:27,178 I knew it was a good thing but we were all shocked 575 00:29:27,178 --> 00:29:28,773 when we started shipping the Toaster, 576 00:29:28,773 --> 00:29:30,235 how many people wanted it. 577 00:29:30,235 --> 00:29:32,652 (rock music) 578 00:29:43,964 --> 00:29:46,330 - The following that you have for Apple these days 579 00:29:46,330 --> 00:29:48,331 is the kind of religious zealots 580 00:29:48,331 --> 00:29:49,844 that we had following the Amiga. 581 00:29:49,844 --> 00:29:51,834 They were absolutely convinced 582 00:29:51,834 --> 00:29:54,110 that this was the next platform 583 00:29:54,110 --> 00:29:56,303 and everyone was super psyched. 584 00:29:56,303 --> 00:30:00,062 - The wild-eyed, the excited, the crazed, 585 00:30:00,062 --> 00:30:01,965 gotta create inventive things, 586 00:30:01,965 --> 00:30:03,916 gotta do fun stuff, 587 00:30:03,916 --> 00:30:07,471 gotta go out and change the world stuff. 588 00:30:07,471 --> 00:30:10,253 - 'Cause you weren't just a person who bought an Amiga. 589 00:30:10,253 --> 00:30:12,254 You kind of bought into Amiga 590 00:30:12,254 --> 00:30:13,758 and that became your life 591 00:30:13,758 --> 00:30:16,154 and I have to admit I was on board with that. 592 00:30:16,154 --> 00:30:16,987 Hi, everyone. 593 00:30:16,987 --> 00:30:18,342 I'm Bohuš Blahut. 594 00:30:18,342 --> 00:30:20,905 You might recognize me from the Catalyzer series 595 00:30:20,905 --> 00:30:24,385 of tutorial videos put out by Legacy Maker. 596 00:30:24,385 --> 00:30:25,751 - [Kristen] Whenever I could name drop the Amiga, 597 00:30:25,751 --> 00:30:27,241 like, oh, I use an Amiga 598 00:30:27,241 --> 00:30:30,994 or I'm still using an Amiga, I would. 599 00:30:30,994 --> 00:30:34,328 - 'Cause if you've ever met an Amiga fan, 600 00:30:34,328 --> 00:30:36,424 he's gonna tell you all about the Amiga 601 00:30:36,424 --> 00:30:38,017 and how everybody else got it wrong. 602 00:30:38,017 --> 00:30:42,184 - Amiga users make Macintosh users look like IBM users. 603 00:30:43,816 --> 00:30:47,321 - It's like you are the secret keeper of this great secret 604 00:30:47,321 --> 00:30:49,108 and you don't understand how no one else has found out 605 00:30:49,108 --> 00:30:50,809 and you kind of want to spread it 606 00:30:50,809 --> 00:30:52,824 but more than anything you just want to tell people, 607 00:30:52,824 --> 00:30:55,219 "Look, I've got this knowledge." 608 00:30:55,219 --> 00:30:57,654 - I actually moved from my dream job 609 00:30:57,654 --> 00:31:01,268 bartending on Waikiki Beach to move to Silicon Valley 610 00:31:01,268 --> 00:31:05,018 so I could find a job working with the Amiga. 611 00:31:07,303 --> 00:31:08,851 - If you were a creative guy, 612 00:31:08,851 --> 00:31:10,677 if you were a computer geek, 613 00:31:10,677 --> 00:31:11,780 this was it, 614 00:31:11,780 --> 00:31:13,197 this was nirvana. 615 00:31:14,509 --> 00:31:16,257 - Everything was new and open 616 00:31:16,257 --> 00:31:19,564 and people were just trying to do really cool stuff. 617 00:31:19,564 --> 00:31:21,011 And a lot of them didn't even care, 618 00:31:21,011 --> 00:31:22,784 they weren't trying to make money off it 619 00:31:22,784 --> 00:31:23,624 they were just saying, 620 00:31:23,624 --> 00:31:25,717 "Hey, look at this neat hack I came up with." 621 00:31:25,717 --> 00:31:27,220 And they'd send out the source code. 622 00:31:27,220 --> 00:31:28,268 Then you'd get it and say, 623 00:31:28,268 --> 00:31:30,691 "Look, hey, I can change it and do this." 624 00:31:30,691 --> 00:31:32,517 - You know, you didn't get a lot of people 625 00:31:32,517 --> 00:31:36,109 that were striving to become millionaires. 626 00:31:36,109 --> 00:31:38,004 You got a lot of people that were striving 627 00:31:38,004 --> 00:31:41,617 to find a way to express themselves 628 00:31:41,617 --> 00:31:44,788 or to create tools that would allow other people 629 00:31:44,788 --> 00:31:48,670 to express themselves in new and fascinating ways. 630 00:31:48,670 --> 00:31:51,900 - When I was working on Amiga hardware, 631 00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:55,927 I also wrote Amiga software just for fun. 632 00:31:55,927 --> 00:31:59,596 - It's sort of like a Elks Club of computer users. 633 00:31:59,596 --> 00:32:03,580 Once you're inside, there is a special kind of camaraderie. 634 00:32:03,580 --> 00:32:06,776 If I was to find somebody who was die hard Amiga user 635 00:32:06,776 --> 00:32:09,443 just on the street, we'd talk for half hour or an hour 636 00:32:09,443 --> 00:32:10,584 about the Amiga. 637 00:32:10,584 --> 00:32:11,418 I know we would 638 00:32:11,418 --> 00:32:14,156 because if you're into it, 639 00:32:14,156 --> 00:32:15,511 it's the greatest thing in the world 640 00:32:15,511 --> 00:32:17,527 when you find somebody else who's into it. 641 00:32:17,527 --> 00:32:21,694 (group chatters) (upbeat music) 642 00:32:34,346 --> 00:32:37,096 (dramatic music) 643 00:32:44,187 --> 00:32:45,588 - There had been a lot of fears 644 00:32:45,588 --> 00:32:47,907 and Commodore had had a bad year, 645 00:32:47,907 --> 00:32:49,315 probably the worst year ever 646 00:32:49,315 --> 00:32:51,148 for Christmas of 1993. 647 00:32:51,998 --> 00:32:54,952 The machines that people wanted were not available 648 00:32:54,952 --> 00:32:58,660 and the ones that were out were not selling. 649 00:32:58,660 --> 00:33:01,305 We were nervous and we knew something bad 650 00:33:01,305 --> 00:33:04,805 was probably gonna happen before too long. 651 00:33:06,308 --> 00:33:07,425 - Most companies that are in 652 00:33:07,425 --> 00:33:09,469 the consumer electronics marketplace, 653 00:33:09,469 --> 00:33:12,665 they do their trial balloons at CES, 654 00:33:12,665 --> 00:33:15,147 which is Consumer Electronics Show in January, 655 00:33:15,147 --> 00:33:17,021 they take orders in June 656 00:33:17,021 --> 00:33:21,188 for whatever is gonna be the hot thing that Christmas. 657 00:33:24,372 --> 00:33:26,256 If you screw up Christmas, 658 00:33:26,256 --> 00:33:29,357 in the consumer electronics industry, you are dead. 659 00:33:29,357 --> 00:33:32,417 Most people only get like one shot at that before they die. 660 00:33:32,417 --> 00:33:34,671 We actually had two shots at that. 661 00:33:34,671 --> 00:33:36,999 - There was a couple years where the CEO and chairman 662 00:33:36,999 --> 00:33:38,840 were making more money at Commodore 663 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:40,538 than the CEO of IBM, 664 00:33:40,538 --> 00:33:41,447 the CEO of Apple, 665 00:33:41,447 --> 00:33:45,447 and we weren't doing anywhere near the business. 666 00:33:50,150 --> 00:33:52,009 No matter what Commodore had done, 667 00:33:52,009 --> 00:33:54,987 we wouldn't have been able to keep that going forever. 668 00:33:54,987 --> 00:33:56,747 - A lot of us had a feeling 669 00:33:56,747 --> 00:33:59,914 that something was wrong at Commodore. 670 00:34:03,418 --> 00:34:07,585 - We knew the PC and Windows had taken over the market. 671 00:34:08,634 --> 00:34:11,967 We knew there wouldn't be an Amiga 5000. 672 00:34:18,258 --> 00:34:20,769 - When the news arrived that they were going bankrupt, 673 00:34:20,769 --> 00:34:24,178 I mean it was the worst case scenario. 674 00:34:24,178 --> 00:34:25,343 - It was devastating. 675 00:34:25,343 --> 00:34:28,256 It was devastating for us because our whole business was 676 00:34:28,256 --> 00:34:32,082 at that time was based on the success of the Video Toaster 677 00:34:32,082 --> 00:34:36,249 and the success of the Video Toaster was based on the Amiga. 678 00:34:37,873 --> 00:34:42,285 Then, we were just mired in the horror of it. 679 00:34:42,285 --> 00:34:46,737 I was in shock and I really couldn't figure out 680 00:34:46,737 --> 00:34:49,571 how we were gonna survive it. 681 00:34:49,571 --> 00:34:51,335 - My wife says it's kind of like 682 00:34:51,335 --> 00:34:53,544 I was in a divorce for a while 683 00:34:53,544 --> 00:34:56,826 because I was in all these stages of denial. 684 00:34:56,826 --> 00:34:58,119 Was it something that I did? 685 00:34:58,119 --> 00:35:00,536 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 686 00:35:03,333 --> 00:35:05,228 - There's not one single thing I could've done 687 00:35:05,228 --> 00:35:06,566 to change the outcome 688 00:35:06,566 --> 00:35:09,563 and I reviewed that over and over again 689 00:35:09,563 --> 00:35:12,230 because technical people love the idea 690 00:35:12,230 --> 00:35:14,491 that there's a technical fix to something. 691 00:35:14,491 --> 00:35:16,606 But the problems with Commodore were not technical. 692 00:35:16,606 --> 00:35:20,773 They were managerial and there's nothing we could've done. 693 00:35:23,059 --> 00:35:25,875 - We were trying desperately 694 00:35:25,875 --> 00:35:27,896 as engineers in the company 695 00:35:27,896 --> 00:35:32,063 to try and find somebody that would acquire us, buy us. 696 00:35:35,504 --> 00:35:39,337 But unfortunately, none of that was to be had. 697 00:35:44,490 --> 00:35:47,073 - (heavy sigh) 698 00:35:51,175 --> 00:35:52,368 I never did really understand 699 00:35:52,368 --> 00:35:55,451 why the Amiga wasn't more successful. 700 00:35:56,669 --> 00:35:59,669 We often blamed the marketing people 701 00:36:01,233 --> 00:36:03,936 and I think there was a lot of room there 702 00:36:03,936 --> 00:36:06,436 to blame the marketing people. 703 00:36:08,601 --> 00:36:11,146 - Marketing is like a big jigsaw puzzle. 704 00:36:11,146 --> 00:36:12,727 It's a whole bunch of pieces 705 00:36:12,727 --> 00:36:14,266 you got to put together the right way, 706 00:36:14,266 --> 00:36:17,716 otherwise the picture doesn't look very good. 707 00:36:17,716 --> 00:36:19,753 - They did some wacky things. 708 00:36:19,753 --> 00:36:23,964 If you have never seen the first launch commercial 709 00:36:23,964 --> 00:36:27,177 for the Amiga computer, you ought to go see it 710 00:36:27,177 --> 00:36:28,844 if you'd like a laugh. 711 00:36:30,579 --> 00:36:32,539 There's a monitor on a pedestal 712 00:36:32,539 --> 00:36:33,721 and the light is glowing 713 00:36:33,721 --> 00:36:35,594 and the baby is born 714 00:36:35,594 --> 00:36:39,879 and it's glowing in the light of the amazing monitor, 715 00:36:39,879 --> 00:36:41,046 glowing Amiga. 716 00:36:44,410 --> 00:36:46,141 What the hell was that? 717 00:36:46,141 --> 00:36:48,220 Most people were left like, "What did that mean?" 718 00:36:48,220 --> 00:36:52,252 And sadly that first commercial set the trend 719 00:36:52,252 --> 00:36:55,098 for what marketing would prove to be like 720 00:36:55,098 --> 00:36:58,931 for that machine over the first several years. 721 00:36:59,814 --> 00:37:01,802 - Dollar for dollar nothing can even come close 722 00:37:01,802 --> 00:37:03,838 to the Amiga 3000. 723 00:37:03,838 --> 00:37:05,511 By, the way, how are we coming 724 00:37:05,511 --> 00:37:07,414 on the Liquid Scrubbo presentations? 725 00:37:07,414 --> 00:37:09,095 - I beg your pardon? 726 00:37:09,095 --> 00:37:13,491 - You know, oh, I guess I didn't introduce myself. 727 00:37:13,491 --> 00:37:16,741 I'm Bob Lewis, the new VP of Marketing. 728 00:37:22,596 --> 00:37:25,363 - They wanted to sell to business. 729 00:37:25,363 --> 00:37:29,299 That was a little tough 'cause it looked so awesome. 730 00:37:29,299 --> 00:37:32,160 It's very hard for what essentially seems 731 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,327 like a combination of a jukebox and a music video channel 732 00:37:37,527 --> 00:37:41,194 to claim that it's really good for business. 733 00:37:43,922 --> 00:37:46,996 Atari had the same problem. 734 00:37:46,996 --> 00:37:50,332 - In the United States, instead of putting the Amiga 500 735 00:37:50,332 --> 00:37:53,082 into Toys'R'Us or Kmart or Sears, 736 00:37:54,803 --> 00:37:57,564 we put it into professional computer stores 737 00:37:57,564 --> 00:38:00,407 because we brought in folks from Apple 738 00:38:00,407 --> 00:38:02,967 that knew how to take a Macintosh at the time 739 00:38:02,967 --> 00:38:05,267 and sell that for about $2,500. 740 00:38:05,267 --> 00:38:06,251 So they were thinking, 741 00:38:06,251 --> 00:38:10,589 "Hey, we know how to sell high end computers." 742 00:38:10,589 --> 00:38:11,833 I didn't design a high end computer. 743 00:38:11,833 --> 00:38:13,464 This is a $500 game machine. 744 00:38:13,464 --> 00:38:15,696 Please put it in Toys'R'Us. 745 00:38:15,696 --> 00:38:17,355 I can still remember the Apple guy 746 00:38:17,355 --> 00:38:19,083 putting his arm around my shoulder saying, 747 00:38:19,083 --> 00:38:23,051 "Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, had this discussion with Steve. 748 00:38:23,051 --> 00:38:25,116 I'm having it with you. 749 00:38:25,116 --> 00:38:28,616 Don't worry, I'll take care of your baby." 750 00:38:34,264 --> 00:38:36,680 Rolling my eyes there. 751 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,987 - The PR department of Commodore talking about Amiga 752 00:38:40,987 --> 00:38:42,820 was all about the art. 753 00:38:43,678 --> 00:38:46,809 They were like, "We are the artists' computer." 754 00:38:46,809 --> 00:38:48,954 I mean, this is a company that hired Andy Warhol 755 00:38:48,954 --> 00:38:52,923 to draw on an Amiga in front of a crowd of people 756 00:38:52,923 --> 00:38:55,722 to show you how awesome it was 757 00:38:55,722 --> 00:38:59,472 and how it was perfect and they had B.B. King 758 00:39:00,458 --> 00:39:02,744 talking about how he was gonna use an Amiga 759 00:39:02,744 --> 00:39:04,844 to make music from now on. 760 00:39:04,844 --> 00:39:06,937 And so, they were like, 761 00:39:06,937 --> 00:39:10,395 "Let's get established artists we can afford 762 00:39:10,395 --> 00:39:12,588 and have them stand next to Amiga 763 00:39:12,588 --> 00:39:15,755 so you can be as cool as that artist." 764 00:39:18,443 --> 00:39:22,054 And IBM, which had given up itself to clones, 765 00:39:22,054 --> 00:39:24,373 ended up winning that game 766 00:39:24,373 --> 00:39:27,320 because here you go, boring, 767 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:28,237 dependable, 768 00:39:29,503 --> 00:39:31,670 made by a bunch of people, 769 00:39:33,189 --> 00:39:35,268 we'll be here next year. 770 00:39:35,268 --> 00:39:38,747 And they ground everybody else down. 771 00:39:38,747 --> 00:39:41,080 (sad music) 772 00:39:46,477 --> 00:39:50,348 - I think that Amiga could have had a different future 773 00:39:50,348 --> 00:39:53,260 if they would have focused on what they were good at. 774 00:39:53,260 --> 00:39:55,658 This machine, this do it yourself machine 775 00:39:55,658 --> 00:39:57,911 for the graphical artist 776 00:39:57,911 --> 00:40:01,750 and I'm sure that new things would have come out of that. 777 00:40:01,750 --> 00:40:03,583 They tried to be a PC. 778 00:40:05,651 --> 00:40:09,818 You should never try to be something that you are not. 779 00:40:13,066 --> 00:40:16,840 - But even if sales in the U.S. were zero, 780 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,406 Commodore still would have lived 781 00:40:18,406 --> 00:40:20,774 because the other 90% of the revenue 782 00:40:20,774 --> 00:40:22,286 was from the rest of the world 783 00:40:22,286 --> 00:40:26,453 that did figure out that this was the next generation. 784 00:40:27,512 --> 00:40:28,558 - With the right software support, 785 00:40:28,558 --> 00:40:30,160 I don't see any reason why we couldn't have garnered 786 00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:33,910 a much larger market share and maintained it. 787 00:40:36,124 --> 00:40:37,565 - I have very little love 788 00:40:37,565 --> 00:40:40,207 for Commodore as an organization. 789 00:40:40,207 --> 00:40:41,631 It's like finding out a guy 790 00:40:41,631 --> 00:40:43,324 who constantly shot himself in the foot 791 00:40:43,324 --> 00:40:45,407 finally got it amputated. 792 00:40:47,022 --> 00:40:49,854 - If you don't market it right, 793 00:40:49,854 --> 00:40:52,353 if you waste all your money on air freight 794 00:40:52,353 --> 00:40:55,270 and mistiming and things like this, 795 00:40:56,398 --> 00:40:58,065 not much you can do. 796 00:40:59,321 --> 00:41:03,245 - I never saw a Commodore that had a central leader 797 00:41:03,245 --> 00:41:05,660 or anyone who felt like a leader. 798 00:41:05,660 --> 00:41:09,388 At Apple, everyone knew Jobs was in charge. 799 00:41:09,388 --> 00:41:13,555 At Commodore, it really wasn't clear who was in charge. 800 00:41:16,345 --> 00:41:19,342 - The waste, the mismanagement, 801 00:41:19,342 --> 00:41:23,259 the terrible decisions that just ruined things, 802 00:41:25,479 --> 00:41:26,562 it's endemic, 803 00:41:28,814 --> 00:41:30,304 the patient's terminal, 804 00:41:30,304 --> 00:41:32,721 it's living in spite of them. 805 00:41:36,365 --> 00:41:39,918 - The product actually never failed. 806 00:41:39,918 --> 00:41:40,751 The people around it, 807 00:41:40,751 --> 00:41:41,920 the companies around it, 808 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,476 those were the people that failed. 809 00:41:44,476 --> 00:41:47,502 If it would have had a Steve Jobs running it 810 00:41:47,502 --> 00:41:50,302 instead of a Tom Rattigan. 811 00:41:50,302 --> 00:41:52,064 - It was about brand loyalty. 812 00:41:52,064 --> 00:41:53,216 It was about marketing. 813 00:41:53,216 --> 00:41:55,743 And those are the things that Commodore did badly. 814 00:41:55,743 --> 00:41:57,811 I think that they didn't know how to market it. 815 00:41:57,811 --> 00:41:59,840 How do you market a multimedia machine 816 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:01,923 before multimedia exists? 817 00:42:08,395 --> 00:42:10,798 It would've revolutionized things earlier, 818 00:42:10,798 --> 00:42:12,465 quite a bit earlier. 819 00:42:13,363 --> 00:42:17,530 I guess that that's ultimately the tragedy of the Amiga. 820 00:42:20,060 --> 00:42:23,143 (soft ambient music) 821 00:42:30,682 --> 00:42:33,245 - Being part of the Amiga community and an insider, 822 00:42:33,245 --> 00:42:36,162 I kept following what was going on. 823 00:42:38,135 --> 00:42:40,301 Two weeks from now there's gonna be some great announcement 824 00:42:40,301 --> 00:42:44,286 about somebody coming along to buy the Amiga assets 825 00:42:44,286 --> 00:42:46,536 and that went on for years. 826 00:42:47,778 --> 00:42:49,485 - Intellectual property was basically sold 827 00:42:49,485 --> 00:42:53,152 to a PC company out of Germany called Escom. 828 00:42:54,085 --> 00:42:58,143 - And Escom was the second largest PC company in Europe. 829 00:42:58,143 --> 00:43:01,163 They contacted both myself and Andy Finkel 830 00:43:01,163 --> 00:43:03,546 and invited us over to talk with them 831 00:43:03,546 --> 00:43:04,927 about what they wanted to do 832 00:43:04,927 --> 00:43:07,678 with the future of the Amiga technology. 833 00:43:07,678 --> 00:43:09,868 - One of the personalities that most defined 834 00:43:09,868 --> 00:43:14,035 the period of great uncertainty was Petro Tyschtschenko. 835 00:43:17,132 --> 00:43:20,938 Petro was a former Commodore Germany executive 836 00:43:20,938 --> 00:43:23,831 who was brought in by Escom as one of the directors 837 00:43:23,831 --> 00:43:27,488 of their Amiga Technologies division. 838 00:43:27,488 --> 00:43:30,105 - They resurrected the Amiga 1200 line 839 00:43:30,105 --> 00:43:33,256 and they resurrected the Amiga 4000T line. 840 00:43:33,256 --> 00:43:35,336 - And the people were really happy, right? 841 00:43:35,336 --> 00:43:37,039 Because we have no break. 842 00:43:37,039 --> 00:43:39,404 There was a shortage of course of A1200s 843 00:43:39,404 --> 00:43:43,372 during the bankruptcy but then suddenly A1200 844 00:43:43,372 --> 00:43:45,100 could be delivered, right? 845 00:43:45,100 --> 00:43:46,414 This was great for everybody 846 00:43:46,414 --> 00:43:48,381 and for the dealers as well. 847 00:43:48,381 --> 00:43:50,527 So the community was satisfied, 848 00:43:50,527 --> 00:43:51,998 the dealers were satisfied, 849 00:43:51,998 --> 00:43:53,407 the business was running 850 00:43:53,407 --> 00:43:55,240 and it was great time. 851 00:43:58,731 --> 00:44:02,898 - And Petro was in so many ways exactly what Amiga users 852 00:44:04,516 --> 00:44:06,505 had been asking for. 853 00:44:06,505 --> 00:44:08,755 He cared about Amiga users. 854 00:44:09,657 --> 00:44:11,783 Finally they want to be our friends, 855 00:44:11,783 --> 00:44:13,561 they want to listen to us, 856 00:44:13,561 --> 00:44:16,740 they want to sit down to dinner with us. 857 00:44:16,740 --> 00:44:18,893 Petro was Santa Claus. 858 00:44:18,893 --> 00:44:21,831 He would hand out Amiga branded pens 859 00:44:21,831 --> 00:44:23,831 and pins and mouse pads. 860 00:44:24,982 --> 00:44:28,188 He had a dance band that would come and perform 861 00:44:28,188 --> 00:44:29,515 at Amiga shows. 862 00:44:29,515 --> 00:44:32,098 (upbeat music) 863 00:44:38,651 --> 00:44:42,818 Petro was great and for a little while things looked good. 864 00:44:54,348 --> 00:44:55,856 - They later went out of business 865 00:44:55,856 --> 00:44:59,290 'cause they didn't manage their inventory too well 866 00:44:59,290 --> 00:45:03,457 in the PC marketplace and it basically fizzled on the vine. 867 00:45:06,824 --> 00:45:10,991 - There was a bunch of hot potato stuff going on. 868 00:45:13,268 --> 00:45:17,640 - In Spring of 1997, Gateway acquires the Amiga assets 869 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:20,390 from the leftover shell of Escom. 870 00:45:24,004 --> 00:45:26,587 - Gateway didn't really care about the Amiga. 871 00:45:26,587 --> 00:45:28,037 Ultimately, they just didn't do anything 872 00:45:28,037 --> 00:45:29,259 with the operating system 873 00:45:29,259 --> 00:45:30,419 and they ended up licensing it 874 00:45:30,419 --> 00:45:34,586 to this tiny little group of people out in Washington state. 875 00:45:36,409 --> 00:45:37,849 The Amiga people kept holding out hope 876 00:45:37,849 --> 00:45:39,731 for year after year after year that something better 877 00:45:39,731 --> 00:45:43,601 was gonna come along from a real company. 878 00:45:43,601 --> 00:45:46,879 They kept lowering their expectations. 879 00:45:46,879 --> 00:45:48,609 It's like the woman who wants to marry. 880 00:45:48,609 --> 00:45:50,704 When she's 20 she's looking at the movie star 881 00:45:50,704 --> 00:45:54,012 but by the time she's 50 the guy with the bald hair 882 00:45:54,012 --> 00:45:56,929 and the potbelly looks pretty good. 883 00:45:58,485 --> 00:46:00,193 - I kept thinking, "The Amiga's gonna rise again 884 00:46:00,193 --> 00:46:01,649 and it's gonna be the real Amiga. 885 00:46:01,649 --> 00:46:03,292 It's gonna be the 68000 platform 886 00:46:03,292 --> 00:46:05,266 or the PowerPC 603 platform 887 00:46:05,266 --> 00:46:07,954 and it's gonna have this organic connection 888 00:46:07,954 --> 00:46:09,621 to the Amiga of old. 889 00:46:19,468 --> 00:46:21,581 - There have been a variety of attempts 890 00:46:21,581 --> 00:46:24,414 to bring Amiga-like hardware back. 891 00:46:26,511 --> 00:46:29,196 - The many heirs to the Amiga legacy. 892 00:46:29,196 --> 00:46:32,446 - And they have pretty much all failed. 893 00:46:36,192 --> 00:46:39,608 - Even after Commodore was gone, they clung to it. 894 00:46:39,608 --> 00:46:43,635 It was a way of life I think for a lot of people. 895 00:46:43,635 --> 00:46:48,185 - That says Petro Tyschtschenko, Northwest Amiga Group, no? 896 00:46:48,185 --> 00:46:49,868 Life Member. 897 00:46:49,868 --> 00:46:51,276 - Instead of going, I suppose, 898 00:46:51,276 --> 00:46:52,652 like most people my age would have been, 899 00:46:52,652 --> 00:46:56,819 to a modern computer like an IBM clone of some kind, 900 00:46:58,169 --> 00:47:00,251 I saved up all my money, 901 00:47:00,251 --> 00:47:02,584 went to softhut.com in 2000, 902 00:47:04,121 --> 00:47:08,409 and purchased a brand new in box, new old stock 903 00:47:08,409 --> 00:47:10,492 Amiga 1200HD Magic Pack. 904 00:47:12,506 --> 00:47:14,139 When software developers really started falling 905 00:47:14,139 --> 00:47:15,696 off the way side and when games 906 00:47:15,696 --> 00:47:16,699 really stopped being developed 907 00:47:16,699 --> 00:47:18,555 it was about, how can I keep this going? 908 00:47:18,555 --> 00:47:21,576 What hacks can I use to solve this problem? 909 00:47:21,576 --> 00:47:24,089 I was also like, "Look, look this thing. 910 00:47:24,089 --> 00:47:27,609 It can still do things in 2004, in 2005." 911 00:47:27,609 --> 00:47:29,707 It wasn't until 2005 that the Amiga 1200 912 00:47:29,707 --> 00:47:32,290 stopped being my main computer. 913 00:47:33,687 --> 00:47:35,684 - When I started there's no way I thought I'd be involved 914 00:47:35,684 --> 00:47:39,434 in producing new hardware for the Amiga in 2010. 915 00:47:41,843 --> 00:47:45,926 We're now ready to introduce the AmigaOne X1000. 916 00:47:46,981 --> 00:47:50,898 The X1000 was developed by Amigans for Amigans. 917 00:47:51,959 --> 00:47:53,943 All of the software guys involved 918 00:47:53,943 --> 00:47:57,707 have been Amiga users and Amiga developers 919 00:47:57,707 --> 00:47:59,540 for the last 20 years. 920 00:48:01,006 --> 00:48:03,640 - There are people who say that, 921 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:06,683 "Oh, for the Amiga to be truly great, it should die." 922 00:48:06,683 --> 00:48:09,865 And that everyone will think of it as a classic 923 00:48:09,865 --> 00:48:12,282 but I've never felt that way. 924 00:48:13,260 --> 00:48:15,928 I keep thinking it should keep on progressing, 925 00:48:15,928 --> 00:48:17,511 keep going further. 926 00:48:23,873 --> 00:48:26,456 - [Trevor] We're running AmigaOS 4. 927 00:48:26,456 --> 00:48:28,184 You pick it up and start using it, 928 00:48:28,184 --> 00:48:30,861 you feel like you're using an Amiga operating system. 929 00:48:30,861 --> 00:48:35,028 We have beta testers from 22 countries around the world. 930 00:48:38,779 --> 00:48:42,779 - You're fighting such an integrated industry now 931 00:48:45,540 --> 00:48:48,348 that I don't know if there's any room 932 00:48:48,348 --> 00:48:50,031 for a third computer company 933 00:48:50,031 --> 00:48:52,803 but they keep trying because man, 934 00:48:52,803 --> 00:48:55,827 if you're the third computer company 935 00:48:55,827 --> 00:48:57,311 and you're actually a success, 936 00:48:57,311 --> 00:48:59,524 you are making bank. 937 00:48:59,524 --> 00:49:00,691 So they do it. 938 00:49:02,132 --> 00:49:03,584 - If I was to be totally honest, 939 00:49:03,584 --> 00:49:06,659 the AmigaOne X1000 is not a commercial venture. 940 00:49:06,659 --> 00:49:09,524 It's the love of my life. 941 00:49:09,524 --> 00:49:12,099 I've put a lot of money, time and effort into this project 942 00:49:12,099 --> 00:49:13,862 which I will not get back. 943 00:49:13,862 --> 00:49:17,195 - What people want is the same aesthetic 944 00:49:18,724 --> 00:49:21,641 and engineering quality and freedom 945 00:49:22,904 --> 00:49:27,438 to bring the best of what silicon and metal have to offer 946 00:49:27,438 --> 00:49:29,521 to the computer industry. 947 00:49:30,529 --> 00:49:32,512 That's what they want. 948 00:49:32,512 --> 00:49:36,288 - I'm really, really proud with the hardware we produced. 949 00:49:36,288 --> 00:49:39,405 I just hope that the Amiga community will enjoy it 950 00:49:39,405 --> 00:49:42,929 as much as I'm going to when I get mine. 951 00:49:42,929 --> 00:49:47,096 Let's keep this party going, as we say on the board. 952 00:49:55,870 --> 00:49:58,495 - Because we use computers so much, 953 00:49:58,495 --> 00:50:01,538 our identity becomes connected 954 00:50:01,538 --> 00:50:03,615 with the computer system we use. 955 00:50:03,615 --> 00:50:06,000 You become a Windows person, 956 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:07,967 you become a Mac person, 957 00:50:07,967 --> 00:50:09,183 you become an Amiga person, 958 00:50:09,183 --> 00:50:10,530 you become an Atari XL person, 959 00:50:10,530 --> 00:50:11,780 a Linux person. 960 00:50:15,299 --> 00:50:18,079 IBM is this big market player, 961 00:50:18,079 --> 00:50:20,720 is this big we sell to corporations, 962 00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:22,990 we run the super computers of the world. 963 00:50:22,990 --> 00:50:25,853 Oh, you play games, you're an Amiga user. 964 00:50:25,853 --> 00:50:28,409 You're a Macintosh user, you think you're creative. 965 00:50:28,409 --> 00:50:29,710 You're part of that. 966 00:50:29,710 --> 00:50:32,127 You become part of that idea. 967 00:50:35,902 --> 00:50:40,135 - The more you find that this thing, whatever it is, 968 00:50:40,135 --> 00:50:42,250 is the thing that pushes your buttons, 969 00:50:42,250 --> 00:50:43,977 the more likely you are to stick through it 970 00:50:43,977 --> 00:50:45,194 through thick and thin 971 00:50:45,194 --> 00:50:48,953 and we had people who just kept believing 972 00:50:48,953 --> 00:50:53,036 and there are still people who just keep believing. 973 00:50:55,483 --> 00:51:00,410 - The feeling with the Amiga is that the human being 974 00:51:00,410 --> 00:51:03,613 is in the middle and the Amiga is around. 975 00:51:03,613 --> 00:51:05,706 If the PC, the PC is in the middle, 976 00:51:05,706 --> 00:51:09,539 and you have to do what the PC is telling you. 977 00:51:13,945 --> 00:51:17,695 - We were trying to take on Microsoft and IBM 978 00:51:18,721 --> 00:51:23,634 but we didn't actually see ourselves as competitors 979 00:51:23,634 --> 00:51:26,630 with that machine because we saw that machine 980 00:51:26,630 --> 00:51:29,257 as a machine that wore the suit and tie 981 00:51:29,257 --> 00:51:31,635 whereas our machine would be the one 982 00:51:31,635 --> 00:51:35,017 that wore the colorful ascot and the beanie 983 00:51:35,017 --> 00:51:37,221 and would be the machine 984 00:51:37,221 --> 00:51:39,054 that people were really comfortable using, 985 00:51:39,054 --> 00:51:40,305 not the one that they would have 986 00:51:40,305 --> 00:51:43,138 to dress up and go to work to use. 987 00:51:46,500 --> 00:51:50,667 - People don't so much have computers as a hobby anymore. 988 00:51:51,735 --> 00:51:53,998 When I got started I had a Commodore PET 989 00:51:53,998 --> 00:51:56,586 and a VIC-20 and a Commodore 64. 990 00:51:56,586 --> 00:51:58,400 I had the whole lineup, right? 991 00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:00,697 And this was kind of, I was tinkering, 992 00:52:00,697 --> 00:52:01,869 it was a hobby for me. 993 00:52:01,869 --> 00:52:05,579 I don't know that people really consider a computer a hobby. 994 00:52:05,579 --> 00:52:06,472 It's more of an appliance. 995 00:52:06,472 --> 00:52:09,256 It's a way to do other stuff. 996 00:52:09,256 --> 00:52:11,593 It's a way to read email and surf the web 997 00:52:11,593 --> 00:52:13,974 and all this other kind of stuff. 998 00:52:13,974 --> 00:52:15,762 - I don't care what PC it is. 999 00:52:15,762 --> 00:52:18,599 If it's a little faster I'll change a few boards in mine. 1000 00:52:18,599 --> 00:52:20,920 A regular person would probably go out and buy a new one 1001 00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:22,537 but you've got no emotional attachment whatsoever 1002 00:52:22,537 --> 00:52:23,433 to that computer. 1003 00:52:23,433 --> 00:52:25,144 It's just a tool. 1004 00:52:25,144 --> 00:52:27,671 I've got a bunch of hammers. 1005 00:52:27,671 --> 00:52:29,048 I use this hammer for this 1006 00:52:29,048 --> 00:52:30,106 and that hammer for that 1007 00:52:30,106 --> 00:52:32,299 and I have some really good hammers. 1008 00:52:32,299 --> 00:52:33,799 I've got one I've owned for 30 years 1009 00:52:33,799 --> 00:52:34,795 and it's a great hammer 1010 00:52:34,795 --> 00:52:38,813 but if I lost it it wouldn't be the end of the world. 1011 00:52:38,813 --> 00:52:40,249 It wasn't just a tool. 1012 00:52:40,249 --> 00:52:42,916 It was part of something bigger. 1013 00:52:45,210 --> 00:52:48,710 - We were so young and naive and innocent. 1014 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:57,513 It really felt like we could change the world, 1015 00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:04,880 we could make a better place for us all to live. 1016 00:53:11,189 --> 00:53:12,022 - [Kristen] I think there's this feeling 1017 00:53:12,022 --> 00:53:13,325 of like something that was lost, 1018 00:53:13,325 --> 00:53:16,158 something that you can't get back. 1019 00:53:26,837 --> 00:53:29,587 (chiptune music) 1020 00:53:39,512 --> 00:53:40,667 - My name's cTrix. 1021 00:53:40,667 --> 00:53:43,783 I'm from Australia and I write music on a Commodore Amiga. 1022 00:53:43,783 --> 00:53:46,533 (chiptune music) 1023 00:53:55,338 --> 00:53:57,491 Blipfest is a festival here in New York City 1024 00:53:57,491 --> 00:54:00,563 and it's been going now for a fair number of years 1025 00:54:00,563 --> 00:54:02,530 and it's basically a showcase 1026 00:54:02,530 --> 00:54:06,697 of a whole lot of chip artists from around the globe. 1027 00:54:08,601 --> 00:54:09,923 Chiptune music is the art 1028 00:54:09,923 --> 00:54:13,316 of taking a games console or a computer console 1029 00:54:13,316 --> 00:54:16,465 from the days when they made their own sound, 1030 00:54:16,465 --> 00:54:17,679 the blips and the bloops, 1031 00:54:17,679 --> 00:54:22,036 before you had just a full CD quality soundtrack 1032 00:54:22,036 --> 00:54:23,284 and you take those old machines 1033 00:54:23,284 --> 00:54:25,951 and try to write music for them. 1034 00:54:28,114 --> 00:54:29,602 Within that restriction is the beauty 1035 00:54:29,602 --> 00:54:31,526 of trying to make a track 1036 00:54:31,526 --> 00:54:33,159 and get it within the constraints 1037 00:54:33,159 --> 00:54:35,429 and I guess that's one of the reasons 1038 00:54:35,429 --> 00:54:37,346 why I love the machine. 1039 00:54:39,543 --> 00:54:41,772 It sounds amazing for its age and its vintage. 1040 00:54:41,772 --> 00:54:44,070 For a machine that was from 1984 1041 00:54:44,070 --> 00:54:46,294 that has the capability that it has, 1042 00:54:46,294 --> 00:54:49,045 it's just absolutely incredible. 1043 00:54:49,045 --> 00:54:51,795 (chiptune music) 1044 00:55:01,513 --> 00:55:03,504 - Matthew Simmonds otherwise known as 4mat 1045 00:55:03,504 --> 00:55:05,504 and I'm a chip musician. 1046 00:55:09,738 --> 00:55:11,929 The Amiga computer was one of the first times 1047 00:55:11,929 --> 00:55:15,722 that cheap multitrack sampling was available to masses 1048 00:55:15,722 --> 00:55:18,077 because once the Amiga 500 came out, 1049 00:55:18,077 --> 00:55:20,139 it was like 300 quid and every kid 1050 00:55:20,139 --> 00:55:24,425 who wanted to make DJ mixes or sort of hip hop tracks 1051 00:55:24,425 --> 00:55:26,764 could just go out and get an Amiga 1052 00:55:26,764 --> 00:55:29,097 for their Christmas present. 1053 00:55:30,341 --> 00:55:34,508 So without the Amiga I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. 1054 00:55:36,324 --> 00:55:38,799 - My current alias is Stagediver. 1055 00:55:38,799 --> 00:55:41,549 (chiptune music) 1056 00:55:45,624 --> 00:55:48,457 Tonight I'm using two Amiga 1200s. 1057 00:55:49,756 --> 00:55:53,187 One of them has been modified heavily. 1058 00:55:53,187 --> 00:55:56,020 The entire project is Amiga based. 1059 00:56:00,041 --> 00:56:03,291 The Amiga has this sort of personality. 1060 00:56:05,532 --> 00:56:09,144 You turn it on and you become a part of it. 1061 00:56:09,144 --> 00:56:11,746 It demands your attention. 1062 00:56:11,746 --> 00:56:12,837 You tell it what to do. 1063 00:56:12,837 --> 00:56:14,864 It does it very well. 1064 00:56:14,864 --> 00:56:17,197 And all under two megabytes. 1065 00:56:18,293 --> 00:56:19,794 When I first discovered the Amiga, 1066 00:56:19,794 --> 00:56:23,461 I really realized that I can use these computers 1067 00:56:23,461 --> 00:56:27,044 that I saw in school in a way that I wanted 1068 00:56:28,130 --> 00:56:32,612 and made these awful noises to piss of my parents 1069 00:56:32,612 --> 00:56:36,779 and really it's hard nowadays to piss off your parents. 1070 00:56:37,718 --> 00:56:40,468 (screaming) 1071 00:56:53,922 --> 00:56:58,089 - It's hard to even say what an Amiga is today. 1072 00:57:05,918 --> 00:57:07,739 - We've all got our own ideas 1073 00:57:07,739 --> 00:57:09,699 and we're all going different directions 1074 00:57:09,699 --> 00:57:11,458 and it's very difficult. 1075 00:57:11,458 --> 00:57:13,988 Someone said it's like corralling a group of cats, 1076 00:57:13,988 --> 00:57:15,415 I don't know. 1077 00:57:15,415 --> 00:57:17,390 - Is there like a spirit in the OS 1078 00:57:17,390 --> 00:57:18,650 that we could keep following? 1079 00:57:18,650 --> 00:57:22,223 Or is it supporting old games and old apps? 1080 00:57:22,223 --> 00:57:23,056 Is that it? 1081 00:57:23,056 --> 00:57:23,889 I don't know. 1082 00:57:23,889 --> 00:57:26,535 - They still develop software for it. 1083 00:57:26,535 --> 00:57:28,683 They still develop hardware for it. 1084 00:57:28,683 --> 00:57:31,081 So it's not fully dead either. 1085 00:57:31,081 --> 00:57:32,167 It's still alive. 1086 00:57:32,167 --> 00:57:33,584 It's still going. 1087 00:57:34,629 --> 00:57:36,198 - Is it supporting the kind of people 1088 00:57:36,198 --> 00:57:37,801 that still like the Amiga? 1089 00:57:37,801 --> 00:57:38,634 Maybe. 1090 00:57:39,614 --> 00:57:43,574 - And to me it's just about love. 1091 00:57:43,574 --> 00:57:44,727 - It's the camaraderie. 1092 00:57:44,727 --> 00:57:47,014 I like talking to the people. 1093 00:57:47,014 --> 00:57:47,847 What is it? 1094 00:57:47,847 --> 00:57:50,987 Networking with the people face-to-face. 1095 00:57:50,987 --> 00:57:52,477 Last year, within the last few months, 1096 00:57:52,477 --> 00:57:55,643 three or four new user groups have popped up 1097 00:57:55,643 --> 00:57:58,151 in the Pacific Northwest area. 1098 00:57:58,151 --> 00:58:00,277 - It's about the community, the people you meet, 1099 00:58:00,277 --> 00:58:02,162 the friendships that you create 1100 00:58:02,162 --> 00:58:05,162 with Amiga users all over the world. 1101 00:58:12,848 --> 00:58:15,842 - Still to this day, two, three times a month, 1102 00:58:15,842 --> 00:58:19,124 I'll get a piece of email, a letter from someone, 1103 00:58:19,124 --> 00:58:21,393 thanking me for the Amiga computer 1104 00:58:21,393 --> 00:58:24,318 and he or she became a graphic artist 1105 00:58:24,318 --> 00:58:26,769 or got into video production 1106 00:58:26,769 --> 00:58:29,972 or got into game programming because of the Amiga 1107 00:58:29,972 --> 00:58:32,944 and that they were inspired by the capabilities 1108 00:58:32,944 --> 00:58:36,807 and they were caught up in the passion. 1109 00:58:36,807 --> 00:58:39,250 - There's people still using Amigas now 1110 00:58:39,250 --> 00:58:42,275 and there's people even buying new hardware 1111 00:58:42,275 --> 00:58:46,113 that runs new Amiga operating system. 1112 00:58:46,113 --> 00:58:48,424 - Like everything else, you have a whole bunch of software 1113 00:58:48,424 --> 00:58:52,345 that perhaps wasn't worth the paper it was packaged in 1114 00:58:52,345 --> 00:58:55,720 but you have so many others that you play them now, 1115 00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:56,987 you'll put them up on the screen 1116 00:58:56,987 --> 00:58:59,577 and you'll be like, "Wow." 1117 00:58:59,577 --> 00:59:01,979 And somebody will say, 1118 00:59:01,979 --> 00:59:05,981 "Wow, you really captured that classic look." 1119 00:59:05,981 --> 00:59:10,291 And you go, "No, that is the classic look." 1120 00:59:10,291 --> 00:59:13,503 - But man those were special days. 1121 00:59:13,503 --> 00:59:15,920 Those were such magical days. 1122 00:59:18,875 --> 00:59:23,042 And that... I hope I get to enjoy again and again and again. 1123 00:59:26,909 --> 00:59:28,334 - We know it can be done. 1124 00:59:28,334 --> 00:59:30,237 We know that we can create a computer 1125 00:59:30,237 --> 00:59:32,326 that blows people away. 1126 00:59:32,326 --> 00:59:34,492 So let's do it again. 1127 00:59:34,492 --> 00:59:35,075 (upbeat music)