1985 - The appearance of a new personal computer turned many assumptions in the computer-graphics world upside-down. At a time when the Macintosh featured a black-and-white monitor and Windows 1.0 was being introduced for PCs, the Amiga 1000 was capable of video-compatible color animation with stereo sound. It was a 'multimedia' home computer long before that phrase would become popular. To graphic artists and animators without access to high-end facilities, it seemed like a little magic box.
 

The early 80's had seen the emergence of computer-based video paint systems and titling, as well as photo-realistic animation, but these were extremely expensive systems available in only a few high-end facilities. With the release of the Amiga 2000 in 1987, the improved expansion possibilities and the Amiga's built-in video compatibility made it popular for low-budget video installations such as local cable channels and industrial video production. Professional video hardware peripherals were soon available, such as broadcast-quality genlocks and edit controllers.

The Amiga's animation display capabilities also encouraged the development of inexpensive 3D animation software for the platform. Graphic designers and video artists began to dabble with the new medium, using tools similar to those employed at the cutting-edge animation studios. Rendering was quite slow on those early processors, but the Amiga's multitasking OS allowed background rendering tasks to continue while the machine was being used for other things.

In 1990, Newtek's Video Toaster was introduced, which finally began to draw serious attention to the Amiga from the industry. It was capable of replacing video production switchers, allowing low-budget facilities to use wipes and 3D transitions. At the same time, faster processors and SCSI hard drive controllers made 16-bit digital audio editing and multi-track recording possible with new hardware products, and DPS introduced the Personal Animation Recorder, which was a digital disk recorder for full-motion playback of broadcast-quality video.
 

The Little OS That Could

Serious users had begun to appreciate the power and flexibility of the Amiga's operating system, though affordable expansion had begun to make the Amiga's special hardware features less important. The OS had been designed from the ground up to provide both a graphic user interface and a command line, along with true preemptive multitasking, within the limited resources of early machines. (512K RAM, 800K floppy) It was small and efficient, and its multitasking ability became more important as faster processors and RAM expansion became more accessible.

Combining a simple and understandable system architecture with Unix-like features, the Amiga OS made it easy for users to customize and enhance their systems, while still providing direct access to the guts of the operating system. Shared program libraries (which helped save memory) and other system files had clear, understandable names, allowing even novice users to see how the pieces fit together.

The integration of inter-process communication became one of the most powerful and popular features of later OS versions. Allowing easy communication between currently running programs, ARexx (based on the Rexx command language) was incorporated into almost all Amiga software applications. More powerful than simple batch scripting, ARexx allowed users to create specialized 'super-apps' through co-operative data processing and signalling between several applications.
 

Amiga Ghetto

Amiga users have always been outside the mainstream. The early affinity with artists rather than business, along with the evangelism of users about its revolutionary capabilities, tended to make the mainstream computer world skeptical and dismissive. The result has been that Amiga users have learned to keep to themselves, rather than suffer the typical condescension or bewilderment in response to the topic.

Partly because of this, an extremely supportive community of developers and users has formed. The enthusiasm and co-operation of Amiga users is similar to that of the BeOS and Linux communities, but the relative simplicity of the Amiga OS has tended to enable better communication between novice and expert. The proliferation of the Internet has provided important connections for support and applications, even as traditional venues have almost disappeared.

Amiga users and programmers have demonstrated remarkable resourcefulness in confronting exclusionary practices. Frequently, simple information is withheld due to official policies against the support of alternative platforms. A little general knowledge of computer systems can be a powerful tool in circumventing such arbitrary roadblocks, and even an average user's experience with the Amiga OS can be helpful in gaining necessary insight.
 

So What?

Although reasonably fast processors are available for the Amiga today, the high price of such upgrades makes it difficult for many users to justify the expense. Popular proprietary data formats and specialized applications only available on other platforms have made the everyday use of an Amiga increasingly difficult. Yet many users continue to utilize the platform, often in conjunction with other systems, or as their preferred environment over the systems they use or maintain in the workplace. Some users have installed the Unix Amiga Emulator on powerful Mac or PC-compatible systems in order to continue using some of the tools and functionality of the Amiga in the absence of legacy hardware.

It's difficult for many people to understand why someone would persist in the usage of an almost-abandoned platform. There are also a few people who actually remember seeing or using an early Amiga configuration who aren't aware of some of the later improvements, such as faster processors, vastly expanded RAM capabilities, SCSI hard drives, and 24-bit graphics display cards. (With these hardware upgrades, most Amiga computers continue to be quite useful.)

Because of its lean and efficient multitasking operating system, simple command-line scripting, and inter-process communication, the Amiga has given users an extremely flexible environment for using and creating custom tools. This freedom to create imaginative solutions is difficult to give up, and while there are several interesting alternative platforms, the Amiga's blend of power and flexibility in a small, efficient package remains elusive. Many Amiga users who are already using Windows continue to consider other OS options, in search of a combination of simple elegance and power to better utilize the resources of today's hardware.

The newly recreated Amiga Inc. has proposed one possible alternative. While the new Amiga Digital Environment really has nothing to do with the classic Amiga operating system, it is intended to offer the same sort of flexibility and efficiency in a truly modern OS, while being capable of running on almost any processor.

For many users, the classic Amiga continues to demonstrate that it should be possible to design an OS architecture that is smaller, more efficient, more user-friendly, and more flexible than the current status quo.