BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents... ----------------------------- Rant! -------- This month I'll be boring you with.... The apparent death of Commodore..... 1 - Adios Amigos? On Thursday the 5 of May a report in the Guardian read as follows: "Commodore International - a pioneer of the personal computer industry - said on Friday that it was going into voluntary liquidation, while its Commodore Electronics Ltd subsidiary sought court protection. David Pleasance, joint managing director of Commodore Business Machines UK Ltd, said that, like chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code, this provides protection for creditors, 'but in the Bahamas'. "On Tuesday, Pleasance said that the UK company was continuing to trade normally, and that Commodore was 'close to securing an investor to purchase a majority of the company'. He expected the subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia - between them, responsible for most of Commodore's sales to emerge 'largely intact'..... "An Internet newsgroup called comp.sys.amiga.misc announced the availability of First Annual Commodore Deathbed Vigil Party T-Shirts. Bryce Nesbitt, former head of the Operating Systems Group at Commodore-Amiga Inc, wrote from Commodore's offices in West Chester, Pennsylvania: 'We ask you to dim your monitors to half-brightness in respect for the passing of Commodore. Today is a day of world-wide mourning for the Amiga, and a day for prayers for a quick sale of the Amiga technology to one of the several interested bidders....." So, WILL products like the Amiga and CD32 survive? Basically, it lies in the hands of 'Commodore Europe' and the new investor's idea on what it wants to do. Although we can see David Pleasance seems remarkably sure of his company, Commodore 'Europe' just can't survive long on the rocky road they are now on without some new support - and fast. The survival of the Amiga vastly depends on this. Time will only tell, but whatever happens it is a sad time for the whole industry, I believe. BMK BMK - o -