Film at Eleven
                               by Jim Meyer


Apple has a used piece of fruit as a corporate logo.  IBM has its
initials, subdivided by horizontal lines.  And Commodore has the
"chickenhead."  But what of the Amigan?  Is there no appropriate logo for
this intrepid computerist?  Judging by the response to last month's Film
at Eleven, I'm sorely tempted to propose the ostrich.

But that would be terribly unfair.  Yes, there is a small (but vocal)
group of Amiga fanatics who would have the world believe that Commodore
is about to unveil a machine that will rival a Cray 2, that a harried
crew of 5 full-time and 1 part-time programmers will somehow not only
maintain the current Amiga software but also find the time to port it to
a new RISC chip, all while simultaneously creating the Ultimate Games
Machine, and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic or traitor.  But the
vast majority of Amiga owners are sane, sensible folks.  And there are
some heroes.

Take Marc Rifkin and Mike Levin.  You may know them as the people who
have organized and spearheaded the Commodore Stockholder's Movement.
While there have been well-intentioned (and somewhat naive) attempts in
the past to exert some influence on Commodore through the stockholders,
Marc and Mike have been more persistent, have put more research and
thought into the project, and have actually met with a measure of
success.  (See our report on the Annual Meeting, later in this issue.)

Take Andy Finkel.  He's been a familiar online presence for as long as
there has been an Amiga.  He was one of the few West Chester folks to be
adopted by the original Amiga gang in Los Gatos as one of their own.  And
as long as there have been Amiga questions, Andy has been right there,
pulling amazingly detailed explanations of murky AmigaDOS esoterica out
of thin air.

What about those companies who have stuck with the Amiga for the long
haul?  Soft Logik, whose PageStream product has evolved from a rather
quirky start, continues to strive toward the creation of the best desktop
publishing system, not just on the Amiga, but anywhere.

How about names from the past, people like Miner and Mical, Luck and
Sassenrath, folks who demonstrated to everyone (but Apple, it seems) that
multitasking was not only nifty but necessary, and that fast, colorful
graphics really were better than green screens or 9-inch monochrome.  And
that multimedia was not only fun, but useful.

And let's not forget all those folks who woke up last week, and - despite
the release of the PowerMacs - discovered that their Amigas were still
working, were still fun to use.  And were paid for.

Some of those folks are right in our own backyard.  Dennis Schaeffer
works for NBC, and was just a little irked when NBC sponsored a Mac-only
contest for the short "peacock animation" that opens up the prime-time
segment.  So Dennis did something about it.  He dragged out Imagine, and
put together a 4-second spot that starts off with a semi- circle of
lightbulbs (read the inscription VERY carefully, if you can!) as a
ghostly hand heads for the wall switch.  One flick, and the familiar NBC
peacock comes into view.

Dennis must have done something right, because NBC not only aired that
spot, but they put it into the regular rotation.

And the *StarShip*'s own Eric Geisecke, also known as Sidewinder, just
finished pressing an audio CD - Future Shock 2.  What's special about
that?  Well, it's 100% Amiga-produced, all 15 tracks, even down to the
cover graphics, by Zak Jarvis.  You can order this "Techno/Rave/Ambient-
Tribal/Syntho Pop/Jazz" CD (autographed, even!) directly from Eric.

Meanwhile, the folks with their heads in the sand have been busy shooting
the messenger, and perpetuating numbers (like 450,000 CD32s sold) that
are pure fantasy.  But none of this helps the Amiga's cause.  It only
serves to build up hopes that are sure to be dashed.

All of this comes at a time when the news from Commodore is decidedly
mixed, and the future is still precarious.  A recent announcement
heralded the return to production of the A1200 and the 1084 and 1942
monitors.  The fine print of the announcement indicated that production
was being bankrolled by one of Commodore's distributors, Microsphere,
Inc.  While Commodore's cash position isn't heartening, anything that
gets the A1200 into production is good news.

In other news, word comes that the A4000T will finally be released. Alas,
this "release" will consist of around 35 machines, all hand built.  A
fair number are said to be headed for Newtek as testbeds for an ongoing
project.  Any real production run will have to await funding, although
it's always possible that NewTek will bankroll it.

CD32 news has been better this last month, with mentions of it in the
press becoming more numerous and more favorable.  With the recent release
of CD32 into the U.S. market, the possibility remains that Commodore will
be able to generate some momentum.  But even an avalanche of sales - a
million or so - will do little to help the Amiga's outlook until and
unless Commodore revamps its global corporate structure and gets new
leadership.  (Late note: Commodore's dismal performance in the last 3
months of 1993 are reflected in the recently released quarterly report,
which shows the lowest sales - $70 million - in memory for that quarter.)

As the list of former Amiga engineers grows larger (there are currently
more Commodore executives than software engineers), one thing is clear:
we cannot look to Commodore for solutions.  As they sort out their
priorities and corporate structure,  the fate of the Amiga rests largely
in our hands.  So remember the few, the proud, the Amiga Heroes.  And
give them your support.

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