Shareware and Aminet for A\Box.

Anyone that have owned an Amiga, know why shareware is so great. Shareware is free software, that you can download from Aminet or an BBS. If you don't like it, you just delete it. And if you like it, you keep it. Maybe you buy the later versions of the program. And the amount of shareware to the Amiga is simply enourmous. Especially when we compare to the amount of shareware that exists to the other platforms that have many more users. The reason to why there are so many great professional developers to the Amiga, can be that so many people have learned to use the Amigas abilities while they were coding demos or other shareware programs to the Amiga platform. The demo-coding scene, is one of the places where the best coders, graphicians and musicians are being handpicked by professional companies today. To create shareware is like practice for creating professional software later.

Phase 5 have marketed the A\Box, as the reincarnation of the Amiga. Wouldn't it then be obvious, that Phase 5 should try to create the same creative environment to the A\Box that have always existed to the Amiga ? Shareware is great. But I don't think any computer company have taken advantage of the shareware and used it in their marketing. If Phase 5 can take advantage of the amount of people that want to make shareware, they can use it in their marketing. To be able to get free software from a place like the Aminet for the Amiga, is a good point for buying an A\Box.

The amount of shareware that is available to the Amiga, have helped it survive in the latest years, when new professional programs haven't been seen too often. A huge amount of shareware to the A\Box will help it to survive in the first months, and attract more Amiga users over to the new platform. The Amiga users is used to have a wide choice in different shareware programs, I really think they would like this choice on the A\Box too.

What can Phase 5 do to make people create lots of shareware to the A\Box. Simple !!!... create an Aminet for the A\Box. And support the developers !. The Aminet have been like a thumping heart in the Amiga Community, that have refused to stop beating, and kept the Amiga alive for years. Phase 5 should build a stronger heart, based on modern web-technology, and the fact that every single computer owner will be on the internet within the next decade. I think that many people know that even if the Aminet is great, it can get much better.

Why didn't Amiga Technologies make the Aminet ?  They are the people who should have made the Aminet ! It have helped the Amiga for years. If Phase 5 create something like the Aminet for the A\Box, they would get better contact with their customers, and show that they support the developers of the shareware. This new ftp/web site should be an default place for people to get their new shareware. It should also include news that concerns the A\Box. If Phase 5 can't afford it, they could just throw in some commercial ads. Any company that sells A\Boxes should be happy to have an ad on a webpage that is visited by A\Box owners every single day. Hardware developers and Software developers would probably also like an ad at these pages. So Phase 5 can even make money on doing this ! I don't give a damn if there is commercial ads on this page, I just want it to exist. The A\Box is supposed to be the next Amiga, what is an Amiga without the Aminet ?

The site should be maintained by Phase 5, to keep in touch with their customers and to maintain a A\Box community. Hardware support is something many people appreciate, and an Aminet for the A\Box would be an excellent place to offer this support for Phase 5's customers. One or two people should be able to update this site easily. With links to sites that concern the A\Box (Online magazines, developer homepages etc..etc..) this site could be the top of the pyramid for A\Box users that is on the WWW. The idea of making this kind of website myself, have been on my mind. But it should be done by the people who know the A\Box best: Phase 5 ! Shareware sites like the Aminet also exists for other computer platforms, but they are never runned by the main people. For the PC this can be explained because there are so many different fabricants behind it all. Even if Intel and M$ have total control on the PC-market, there still are PC's without products from these companies. But since Phase 5 will be running this show alone, they should take advantage of this. It's also important to start the preparations for this at an early stage. It should even be mentioned in the manuals that come with the A\Box, maybe even a whole chapter about it. So anyone would know how to get there, to navigate through these webpages and find what they were looking for. And that's one of the reasons to why I decided to write this article so early. Phase 5 should have this website ready, when the first A\Boxes is for sale. Buyers could go home, find the chapter about this website. Connect to the internet, and get the software they want from Phase 5's web/ftp site. Free !

A site that wants to become the new Aminet for PowerUP have been created. A site for the A\Box is a obvious, natural and necessary thing. If such an website wasn't created for the A\Box, people would still have one big reason to keep their old Amigas. The Aminet.

It could be discussed if this massive support of shareware will prevent the professional developers who do this for a living to survive, if the shareware programs can outcompete the "real" programs. I don't think this will be a problem. If you want a good wordprocessor or video-editing program, you will have to search for a long time, to get anything that can be compared to the professional programs. The shareware are the small bricks while the professional software are the big bricks when you construct your creative and productive environment of your computer. We need the professional programs too.

The Amiga community have been built up over many years, the great way of communicating by using the internet can create an A\Box community much faster. And this is exactly what the A\Box need to survive it's birth in a computer industry that is more tougher to compete in than ever. Phase 5 should take advantage of the internet to both to be able to offer the same things that the Amiga can offer on the internet, and take this even further to outcompete any competitor in this area.

By John Lysfjord May 97