Pianeta Amiga 2007 Report from Paolo Besser
As promised, here is Paolo Besser's findings at the Pianeta Amiga 2007 show in Italy. I want to thank Paolo for representing AROS at the show.
By the way, to my surprise, Paolo informed me that he included an AROS Show slide in his presentation at the show. This makes Paolo the coolest guy in the world! I really appreciate it Paolo. :)
What are your general thoughts about the show?
The show has been really nice. Not so crowded, as the Amiga name is no longer a catalyst that is able to move the masses, but it is very well presented and realized.
A niche of old Amigans attended the show and followed all the presentations with much interest.
How was AROS received?
I'd say very well received. Every visitor at the show came to my table to see AROS in action, and they literally stumbled in front of it. I got two typical reactions: the "Wow! I can't believe it's true!" and the "I had tried it long ago, but now it's simply another thing!".
Here in Italy we'd say Cinderella transformed into a princess.
There were many interesting things to see at Pianeta Amiga 2007, but in my humble opinion AROS was the guest star.
Can you tell us more about the presentation you gave?
I tried to talk about AROS at 360 degrees, and it was a good choice. Although Pianeta Amiga is a niche-Amiga based show, I thought most people wouldn't know exactly what AROS is, what AROS should do and what to expect from AROS. I was right. So I tried to touch every aspect of the operating system, it's nature and it's purposes, it's pros and it's limits. Hard to do in a 50 minute presentation with a total of 30 slides, but I also tried to keep attention alive until the end of my conference.
What else did you talk about in the presentation?
Everything. I started with a short "What is AROS?" topic, then I showed everything we have gained in previous months, from customizable windows and menu transparency to FAT support and more. I focused on the growing community, talking about AROS-EXEC forums and other AROS websites (Yes, there was also a slide for The AROS Show!), then I showed some "nice applications" running on AROS: Lunapaint, AROS VICE, Murks!IDE and some tools and commodities like SFS defrag and DepthMenu.
I also gave a mention to the incoming new Installer, which created a lot of expectations. Talking with people at the show, I noticed that the lack of a proper installer is what kills the interest in AROS at a very early stage.
But I think that the best thing I explained, is that AROS is not an enemy or a wild competitor for the new Amiga systems. It is, really, a big opportunity and a friendly alternative to enlarge their user base. As AROS may run on every platform and help the Amiga developer community to grow. Everyone can develop his applications on AROS and easily port them to any AmigaOS flavor.
What are some of the questions people asked you about AROS?
I think exclamations were more interesting. I seen visitors literally stumbling in front of my demo AROS machine. They were amazed seeing a cheap old "$100 PC" acting like an Amiga computer. They couldn't believe an AthlonXP 1800+ with 256 megs could run so fast. The other reaction generally was "Wow! I've downloaded an old ISO long (very long)ago, but now AROS is really impressive. Practically a different thing all together!".
The questions were always the same. About compatibility with hardware, compatibility with (old) software and, amazingly, about running AROS on PPC-driven platforms. Over all, the most interesting question was: "AROS is really promising. Why is it so unknown?".
What did you think of the new SAM440 board?
It's an interesting platform to run AROS on. Its good someone still tries to break the x86 monopoly in desktop computers, because competition is always a good thing for end users, and I'm really proud ACube is an Italian company. I really hope they succeed in selling it with AmigaOS or any customized smart operating system, as I don't think people will spend more than 500 euros to buy a 667 MHz PPC board, only to run Linux on.
Did you happen to speak with Bitplane Editor Nicola Morocutti at the show? If so, what did you talk about?
Nicola is a smart guy. We talked about the same topics you can talk about with your friends on Saturday evenings with a bottle of beer in hand. Getting serious, we also talked about expanding AROS space on the magazine.
What other interesting things did you see at the show?
The Minimig and the GP2X hand held console. They are great for nostalgic/emulation purposes. I saw the promising SAM440 like everyone else, and exchanged some interesting points of view with Michele Battilana from Cloanto.
What other presentations did they have at the show?
Oh, there were lots of presentations, but I had to be at my AROS booth. So I couldn't listen to them, sorry.
Do you have any other thoughts you would like to add about the show.
It has been a friendly place to go. You might feel the ancient community spirit of the never-ending Amiga days. This year visitors were rather scarce, but this allowed us to talk with everyone without being in a hurry. I'm sure AROS did a good job at Pianeta Amiga 2007, and I hope I gave my little contribution to its credibility among the community. I know this contribution was small, but you always have to start somewhere.
Thank you Paolo!
As promised, here is Paolo Besser's findings at the Pianeta Amiga 2007 show in Italy. I want to thank Paolo for representing AROS at the show.By the way, to my surprise, Paolo informed me that he included an AROS Show slide in his presentation at the show. This makes Paolo the coolest guy in the world! I really appreciate it Paolo. :)
What are your general thoughts about the show?
The show has been really nice. Not so crowded, as the Amiga name is no longer a catalyst that is able to move the masses, but it is very well presented and realized.
A niche of old Amigans attended the show and followed all the presentations with much interest.
How was AROS received?
I'd say very well received. Every visitor at the show came to my table to see AROS in action, and they literally stumbled in front of it. I got two typical reactions: the "Wow! I can't believe it's true!" and the "I had tried it long ago, but now it's simply another thing!".
Here in Italy we'd say Cinderella transformed into a princess.
There were many interesting things to see at Pianeta Amiga 2007, but in my humble opinion AROS was the guest star.
Can you tell us more about the presentation you gave?
I tried to talk about AROS at 360 degrees, and it was a good choice. Although Pianeta Amiga is a niche-Amiga based show, I thought most people wouldn't know exactly what AROS is, what AROS should do and what to expect from AROS. I was right. So I tried to touch every aspect of the operating system, it's nature and it's purposes, it's pros and it's limits. Hard to do in a 50 minute presentation with a total of 30 slides, but I also tried to keep attention alive until the end of my conference.
What else did you talk about in the presentation?
Everything. I started with a short "What is AROS?" topic, then I showed everything we have gained in previous months, from customizable windows and menu transparency to FAT support and more. I focused on the growing community, talking about AROS-EXEC forums and other AROS websites (Yes, there was also a slide for The AROS Show!), then I showed some "nice applications" running on AROS: Lunapaint, AROS VICE, Murks!IDE and some tools and commodities like SFS defrag and DepthMenu.
I also gave a mention to the incoming new Installer, which created a lot of expectations. Talking with people at the show, I noticed that the lack of a proper installer is what kills the interest in AROS at a very early stage.
But I think that the best thing I explained, is that AROS is not an enemy or a wild competitor for the new Amiga systems. It is, really, a big opportunity and a friendly alternative to enlarge their user base. As AROS may run on every platform and help the Amiga developer community to grow. Everyone can develop his applications on AROS and easily port them to any AmigaOS flavor.
What are some of the questions people asked you about AROS?
I think exclamations were more interesting. I seen visitors literally stumbling in front of my demo AROS machine. They were amazed seeing a cheap old "$100 PC" acting like an Amiga computer. They couldn't believe an AthlonXP 1800+ with 256 megs could run so fast. The other reaction generally was "Wow! I've downloaded an old ISO long (very long)ago, but now AROS is really impressive. Practically a different thing all together!".
The questions were always the same. About compatibility with hardware, compatibility with (old) software and, amazingly, about running AROS on PPC-driven platforms. Over all, the most interesting question was: "AROS is really promising. Why is it so unknown?".
What did you think of the new SAM440 board?
It's an interesting platform to run AROS on. Its good someone still tries to break the x86 monopoly in desktop computers, because competition is always a good thing for end users, and I'm really proud ACube is an Italian company. I really hope they succeed in selling it with AmigaOS or any customized smart operating system, as I don't think people will spend more than 500 euros to buy a 667 MHz PPC board, only to run Linux on.
Did you happen to speak with Bitplane Editor Nicola Morocutti at the show? If so, what did you talk about?
Nicola is a smart guy. We talked about the same topics you can talk about with your friends on Saturday evenings with a bottle of beer in hand. Getting serious, we also talked about expanding AROS space on the magazine.
What other interesting things did you see at the show?
The Minimig and the GP2X hand held console. They are great for nostalgic/emulation purposes. I saw the promising SAM440 like everyone else, and exchanged some interesting points of view with Michele Battilana from Cloanto.
What other presentations did they have at the show?
Oh, there were lots of presentations, but I had to be at my AROS booth. So I couldn't listen to them, sorry.
Do you have any other thoughts you would like to add about the show.
It has been a friendly place to go. You might feel the ancient community spirit of the never-ending Amiga days. This year visitors were rather scarce, but this allowed us to talk with everyone without being in a hurry. I'm sure AROS did a good job at Pianeta Amiga 2007, and I hope I gave my little contribution to its credibility among the community. I know this contribution was small, but you always have to start somewhere.
Thank you Paolo!
posted by Paul J. Beel at 10:51 PM
2 Comments:
Nice show report, From various pictures out on the web the attendance did look quite low but that is to be expected I suppose.
I agree with the points of the SAM440 being over priced for an amiga machine.
A hundred dollar PC or an upgraded minimig has is more likely to grow the market as people will either have then sitting in a cupboard around or buy a minimig on a whim.
Although if the SAM440 has some embedded customers then I assume ACube are being sensible and recouping much of the development in the initial runs which could perhaps lead to cheaper boards in the future.
It should be fun to see how all this pans out. AROS certainly seems to be raising it's profile over the past year.
5:28 AM
Excellent report! Thank you very much, The AROS Show! Reports like these - along with some really nice and "descriptive" photos - really add to the sense of an AROS community! As I think that a lot of people don't have any "physical" contact with other AROS users, having the opportunity to check in with the latest in AROS presentations is really nice (I just have to say it again, I love the photos - they strip the AROS project of its "faceless" anonymity, if you know what I mean :). Simply put, the photos make AROS much more personal! :) Thank you again for a nice report!
Kind regards from Sweden!
1:26 AM
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