Returning Amiga will find few friends

Back in the late 1980s and early 90s, the likes of Atari, Apple, Commodore (with the Amiga) and even Microsoft were pioneering operating systems and hardware that allowed us to do exciting new things. The important difference between then and now is that these were things we actually wanted to do.

Today, there is less innovation. Microsoft is still bringing new and desirable features to the table, but is running out of ideas fast. Apple has done very well with MacOS X, but should have done it six years ago, before Windows 95 came along and stole millions of Mac users away from the platform. Then there's the Amiga.

The platform is dead in the water, and has been since Commodore went bust in the mid-1990s. Since then, the Amiga name and technologies have changed hands more times than Manchester City has fired managers in the last few seasons. It currently rests with a group of people who once worked for Amiga when it was briefly owned by PC maker Gateway.

Amiga: on the way back, but is it wanted?

Their aim is to start again with a new software and hardware platform under the Amiga name. It's a sensible move in theory, because the old Amiga technology is worthless in today's computing landscape. However, this group of VC-funded dreamers couldn't have picked a worse time to try to thrust yet another unwanted platform on the world.

The company is targeting the palm-sized PC market, which is already saturated with devices from Palm, Sony, Handspring, Hewlett Packard, Casio and Compaq.

The market for keyboard-based miniature devices is tied up by HP and Psion, and remains one of the strongest application platforms for Windows CE.

The laptop market is already flooded with Windows-based x86 computers, and the situation is much the same for the desktop market.

Take me back home

In short, there is only one open market left for a new OS platform to thrive, and that's the budget home PC market - exactly the space that the original Amiga, along with the Atari ST, once occupied.

Since their demise, this space has never been fully exploited by PC manufacturers, who still struggle to break the sub-£400 price point with existing hardware.

But time is running out for a new entrant to stake its claim. Satellite, cable and digital terrestrial set-top boxes are gaining ground, by offering email, web access and interactive shopping, games and information services through the TV.

Meanwhile, Sony is preparing the next step in its PlayStation 2 strategy: a Unix-based operating system along with keyboard and hard drive, turning this monolithic games console into a fully-fledged home computer.

Change the world? They're too late

You will never buy an Amiga-powered device or a PlayStation 2 for your business. But these, along with set-top boxes, are the way your customers may come to access your website and send you email, or the way your staff access office networks from outside.

Client access is increasingly less likely to be via a traditional Windows-powered desktop PC. Of course, the PC will survive, but it will no longer be the main point of interaction between individuals and data. Its role will be more that of a server or internet gateway, with smaller, possibly wireless, devices providing the interface to the data.

So what does this mean for Amiga, or the many other companies trying to convince us that their device or OS will change the world? Simple: it means they're too late.