At the beginning of this same month of January, a documentary directed by Zach Weddington made its debut on iTunes and that had been financed through the crowdfounding platform KickStarter. Is about "Viva Amiga", an hour-long documentary that tells the story of the popular computer Female friend, since the beginning of the project back in 1985, with testimonies from its own developers and many users who considered it a real revolution at that time.
A year earlier, Apple and Steve Jobs had introduced the Macintosh with that legendary "1984" ad directed by Ridley Scott, and legend has it that Even Jobs himself feared that the success of the Amiga would overshadow his precious team.
"Viva Amiga", a story unknown to many
The documentary Long live friend has been made including interviews with some of the Amiga's key engineers like Jeff Porter, Dave Haynie, Bil Herd, Andy Finkel or Jason Scott, as well as other engineers, journalists and also some interviews with Amig usersa, some of whom, even today, continue to use Amigas.
The project was launched on KickStarter by its director, Zach Weddington, who soon raised the $ 29.656 donated by 457 backers who have made this project possible.
The acclaimed documentary Viva Amiga is a retro love letter to the geeks, geeks and geniuses responsible for the greatest computer ever created: the Commodore Amiga. In a world of green and black, they dared to dream in color.
1985: An upstart group of Silicon Valley hipsters created a miracle: the Amiga computer. A machine designed with creativity in mind. For games, art and expression. Forget IBM and Apple. This was something different. Something that would change how people thought about computers.
2017: the future they imagined is not the one we know today. Or maybe yes? They went from being the world's leading multimedia powerhouse, to becoming a bankrupt spoil, sold and resold into oblivion. And finally, they enjoyed a postpunk awakening, revitalized by a determined fans. Viva Amiga is a look at a digital dream and the geeks, geeks and geniuses who brought it to life. And the Friend is still alive. Featuring dozens of interviews with the Amiga founders and their fans, rare recordings by Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Penn & Teller, and much more!
Acquired by Commodore in 1984 worth an estimated $ 30 million, the Amiga multimedia computer it meant a real revolution in the technological mecca that was already Silicon Valley, thanks to fast graphics and even advanced audio hardware that outperformed the competition.
Jobs's concern
Amiga used the same Motorola 68000 processor as Apple's Macintosh, and this worried Steve Jobs, basically because "With its 4.096-color display output, 4-channel sampled stereo sound, and multitasking GUI, the Macintosh looked seriously outdated".
La Amiga was shown to the public during an event that took place at the Computer History Museum in California. There, one of the investors, Bill Hart, confirmed that Steve Jobs had already been interested in this computer, and he had visited the development team to attend a demonstration of what would later become the Amiga 1000.
There is even rumor of a possible sale offer to Apple, although Jobs is said to have never taken it seriously: "the machine had too much hardware for the Apple CEO's taste," while its expansion ports were "anathema to the company. Jobs's search for a closed architecture system.
The Amiga 500 (from 1987) was the best-selling computer and despite some successes like this one, poor marketing and its inability to take on big innovations led the Amiga to a market loss in favor of video game consoles, and computers. from IBM and Apple. Commodore finally filed for bankruptcy in April 1994.
Viva Amiga is available on iTunes for purchase for €6,99 or rental for €4,99
What good memories this has brought me from my Amiga 500, what good times I spent with him.