Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

Qnternet on the up
Online Information 96 took place at Olympia recently and attracted 22 per cent more people
than last year's event. As the world's largest exhibition and conference for the on-line informa
tion industry, it showed the industry was growing and it has already sold 70 per cent of space
for next year's show.
Showing that '96 was a positive year for on-line developments, Demon Internet announced
1996 was its most successful year to date. Cliff Stanford, Demon internet founder and manag
ing director said, "Our aim in 1996 was to ensure that Demon Internet customers had the best
possible service and to make their access to the Internet as simple as possible." Demon gave
users extras such as homepages and a free 5mb virtual Web server. It predicts, though, that 1997
will be even bigger.
On the other hand however, results published by Key Note say that although the Internet is
transforming the workplace, the internet revolution is still being snubbed by home users in the
UK. in 1996 only 3 per cent of homes were connected to the Internet compared to 14 per cent
of American homes - showing the UK is way behind in terms of accepting the net.
It predicts that this will change and rise to 4 per cent by the end of next year and 12 per cent
by the year 2000. In terms of actual homes connected, this means that the 900,000 users in
1997 will rise to 2,600,000 by the end of the century.
ASTER VISION
liyama has announced a new 15" monitor which
supersedes the current model, the Vision Master 15.
The new model, the Vision Master 350 will cost £260
and comes with a three year warranty. New features
include 0.28mm dot pitch fiat square tube, a 350mm
diagonal viewable screen with non-glare and anti
static coating, 29-69KHz horizontal and 50-160Hz
vertical scanning frequencies, and push button digital
user controls.
MIGA FOUNDATION NETWORK
A new enterprise has been set up in
Norway to collate as much data as possible
on all things Amiga. Jon Lennart Berg wants
to set up an internet based service for
Amiga users all over the world. He told
Amiga Computing why he wants to set up
such a service.
"Ever since the death of Commodore, the
voice of the Amiga community across the
world has been a silent one. It is under
standable developers are keeping their dis
tance because the backbone we called
Commodore, is no longer there to keep
them updated with vital information -
information about the common hardware
setup, general interest and total market
demand. And by all means, companies
should not be expected to obtain such
information themselves."
His scheme sounds ambitious, "The list
of services such a network could do is end
less. My first goal is an on-line information
service, providing world-wide overview of
all things Amiga related, including market
demand for specific software.
Also, user-groups and retailers that are
giving their support should be represented,
and the list updated. But most importantly,
a full scale hardware/software report, this
will be the most important service the net
work will supply."
His intentions are then to target compa
nies to get them to port software onto the
Amiga - he even hopes to get Warcraft-ll
onto the Amiga. He also hopes to address
the issue of piracy.
For more information write to:
The Amiga Foundation Network
Jon Lennart Berg
BlvingeVn. 19
N-3173 Vear
Norway
Membership Fee is : 25-Nkr, 2 English
pounds, or 5 US dollars.
DISTRIBUTED
Fl Software/Licenceware has said that it
is interested in hearing from program
mers of high quality Amiga software who
would like to have their programs dis
tributed via the Fl Licenceware scheme.
Fl had to put a hold on taking on
any new titles over the past three
months due to technical difficulties, but
it claims this is all sorted out and Fl is
ready to push ahead and add to the
existing 150 exclusive titles currently in
its catalogue.
For more details contact Steve Bye
at Fl Software, 31, Wellington Rd,
Exeter, Devon. EX2-9DU. Or, for a
faster response, e-mail Steve at
steve^f l lw.demon.co.uk.
The new
Vision
Master 15
Amiga Computing
MARCH 1997
Chart Time
CTI have released its December Charts which
reveal that Turbo Print Pro! 5.0 is still at number
one for Amiga Productivity, Aminet 16 is also
still at number one in the CD charts and Hugo
tops the bill for Amiga games, followed closely
by SWOS and Capital Punishment.
Newsies Step
Foreword
If you live in the Huddersfield area and want to
know how to get more from your Amiga, you
may like to pop along to the Huddersfield
Amiga User Croup. Meetings are held fortnight
ly and topics include DTP, graphics, Comms and
Wordprocessing, as well as how to get your
Amiga connected to the Internet. Phone Geoff
(01484 543534), Tony (01484 460888) or
Robert (01484 654291) for more details.
AmigaPhile
pressies
For the Amiga Fanatic in your life, you may be
interested in the Amiga Atlanta 10th anniver
sary video. The two hour + video includes the
evenings events and speakers and is available
in either NT5C or PAL standards, with discounts
available for other Amiga usergroups that
would like to arrange a group purchase for
their members.
Shoppers
frustration
Isn't it the most annoying feeling when you've
just bought something only to find it available
five pounds cheaper down the road? A new UK
only Web site has been set up to remove this
annoyance for those looking for a computer-
related bargain. It has over WOO computer
products listed and where they can be bought
from at the best price. Simply type in
www, s treetprice. com
Stop press!
With events moving so fast in the Amiga world
at the moment, it's hard to give you up-to-the-
minute news in a monthly magazine. However,
we aim to keep you informed on a weekly
basis through our Internet site. This ensures
you hear the news as soon as we do - the
minute a story breaks we will post it on the site.
At the time of writing this issue, no deal to buy
Amiga Technologies had been completed.
Please follow the News link from our main
home page (http://www.acomp.demon.co.uk/)