Why Microsoft entered the Console War

[MikeB]

@ Final-Fan

I understand your perspective and to a large degree you are correct. Yes, I consider the original Amiga a masterpiece of its time, it deserved mass marketing.

People were uneducated about the advantages of a 4096 color pre-emptive multi-tasking computer system with a GUI and stereo sound vs a beeping single tasking MSDOS computer systems with up to only 16 colors max at the time.

It was very handy being able to drag and drop between applications, drawing a pie chart and import this into a graphically competent word processor or spreadsheet.

It was a really fun and powerful to use system compared to single-tasking monochrome soundless Macs or beeping PCs of the 80s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOMI6pRu-1A (1985 demo by Andy Warhol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-JFJ8Hjo_g (A 3.5 inch diskette based scene demo, showing off the capabilities the 1985 OCS chipset)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4820101209424129794 (a demo of multi-tasking)

I performed my first video editing without much effort on the Amiga in the 80s, something unthinkable to perform on other systems. To me the Amiga represents an icon of far ahead for its time technology, a true marvel of its time. It took a very long time for Apple and Microsoft to mimic its standard features and still today there are aspects of the system I would like to see implemented into modern systems of today.

To quote the former Apple computer head of development from the time:

"When the Amiga came out, everyone [at Apple] was scared as hell."

Today despite some nostalgia the Amiga represents more something of an iconic nature for me. Don't underestimate what can be achieved against all odds with enough dedication and enthusiasm. Hence my avatar.