The Amiga Was the Future. So How Did Commodore Lose?
Before It Was Iconic
1,027 views
The Amiga Was the Future. So How Did Commodore Lose?
In 1985, Commodore unveiled a computer that seemed years ahead of almost everything around it.
The Amiga offered advanced color graphics, stereo sound, a graphical interface and true multitasking at a time when much of personal computing was still finding its feet.
Commodore had already achieved enormous success with the Commodore 64. Now it appeared to have the machine that could carry the company into the future.
Less than nine years later, Commodore was gone.
So what happened?
In this episode of Before It Was Iconic, we go back to the origins of the Amiga, the Lorraine project and engineer Jay Miner, through Commodore's acquisition of Amiga Corporation, the launch of the Amiga 1000 and the hugely popular Amiga 500.
We'll also look at the growing IBM-compatible PC ecosystem, Microsoft Windows, the Video Toaster, the Amiga CD32 and the decisions that left Commodore struggling to protect its technological head start.
Because the strange thing about the Amiga story is that many of its ideas didn't fail.
Personal computers really did become multimedia machines. Digital art, music, video, gaming and multitasking became part of everyday computing.
The future arrived.
It just didn't arrive on the Amiga.
Do you remember using an Amiga? Which model did you own - and what was the one program or game you could never forget? Tell me in the comments.
đź”” Subscribe to Before It Was Iconic @beforeitwasiconic for more stories about the computers, companies and technologies that helped create the world we use today.
#Amiga #Commodore #RetroComputing
The Amiga Was the Future. So How Did Commodore Lose?
Before It Was Iconic
1,027 views
The Amiga Was the Future. So How Did Commodore Lose?
In 1985, Commodore unveiled a computer that seemed years ahead of almost everything around it.
The Amiga offered advanced color graphics, stereo sound, a graphical interface and true multitasking at a time when much of personal computing was still finding its feet.
Commodore had already achieved enormous success with the Commodore 64. Now it appeared to have the machine that could carry the company into the future.
Less than nine years later, Commodore was gone.
So what happened?
In this episode of Before It Was Iconic, we go back to the origins of the Amiga, the Lorraine project and engineer Jay Miner, through Commodore's acquisition of Amiga Corporation, the launch of the Amiga 1000 and the hugely popular Amiga 500.
We'll also look at the growing IBM-compatible PC ecosystem, Microsoft Windows, the Video Toaster, the Amiga CD32 and the decisions that left Commodore struggling to protect its technological head start.
Because the strange thing about the Amiga story is that many of its ideas didn't fail.
Personal computers really did become multimedia machines. Digital art, music, video, gaming and multitasking became part of everyday computing.
The future arrived.
It just didn't arrive on the Amiga.
Do you remember using an Amiga? Which model did you own - and what was the one program or game you could never forget? Tell me in the comments.
đź”” Subscribe to Before It Was Iconic @beforeitwasiconic for more stories about the computers, companies and technologies that helped create the world we use today.
#Amiga #Commodore #RetroComputing