Amiga Arena Interview

*Please Introduce yourself for the Readers!

Hello, I'm Massimo Tantignone. I became an Amiga user in 1986
when I bought an A1000, one of the very first that arrived
in Italy. The machine impressed me deeply for its graphic and
multitasking abilities. I began developing software for Amiga
immediately, at first using the bundled AmigaBASIC interpreter,
then (since 1987/88) exclusively in C.
I love programming my Amiga even more now than when I started,
but unfortunately I can find less and less free time to do so;
this is why, these days, my software gets updated so rarely.

*Since did you Start to Work with the Amiga?

As I said, in 1986. I wish I had one sooner, but they weren't
available in Italy before that date...

*Which Amiga Modell have you got?

An A3000 desktop, bought in 1990. Yes, this Christmas will mark
its tenth birthday! It still works splendidly as it did when it
was new (actually better, since I upgraded it in many ways).

I also still have my original A1000, and even a spare A3000,
just in case the unthinkable should happen :-)

*Which Amiga OS Version is used by you?

OS 3.1 and OS 3.5, on different partitions.

*Which Software Develope you?

My main project is VisualPrefs, a GUI enhancer. Whenever I can
find the time, I also develop FullPalette, WindowToFront, the
select.gadget, and other minor utilities like the recent TRAP.
The full list of my projects can be found on my web page.

*Would you continue Develope for your Software?

Actually I'm already doing that :-)
If you mean "after the new Amiga will be out", I'll certainly
keep developing for the classic OS for some time after that,
although of course I'll eventually migrate to the new OS if
it's really as great as it promises to be.

*Get you enough Feedback and Registration for you Software?

Let's put it this way, if I were to live on registration money
alone, I'd be dead since a long time ;-)
My only shareware product is VisualPrefs and for it I got less
than 400 registrations in 3 years, so you can see what I mean...
but I don't really care as I don't do this for the money, but
rather for the fun of programming the Amiga.
Feedback is good, although it is made up almost exclusively of
bug reports or enhancement requests. But I guess this is normal,
people tend to remain silent when they're already satisfied :)

*Would you Develope your Software for the AmigaOne?

Yes, although I don't think there's much of it which would make
sense on the new system. I'd rather develop something completely
new for the AmigaOne.

*Would you change to the New Amiga?

I will for sure unless it turns out to be a complete disappointment,
which I doubt will happen (judging on what I've seen to date).
But this doesn't mean I'll immediately leave the classic platform.

*When have you used your Amiga at last?

Let's see... right about now, I'd say ;-)

*Which was your last Soft/Hardware Product you buy?

Hmm... software: AmigaOS 3.5, Magellan II, CyberGraphX 4, the
latest Developer CD and the new Amiga SDK; hardware: two Amiga
Designer Mice, a 32 MB SIMM, a CD-RW writer and a 4.3 GB SCSI
hard disk.

*Which Software used you on you Amiga?

SAS/C most of the time (and TurboText as a text editor). My
favourite Internet applications are AWeb and Thor, although
I also bought IBrowse and Voyager. Then I have other programs
like Personal Paint, Wordworth, TurboCalc and TypeSmith, but
I rarely use them, as I simply lack the time.
The only games I played in the last five years: The Settlers
and Worms :)

 OK> *Which Soft/Hardware would you buy in the Future?

I might buy more RAM and an even larger hard disk, but I don't
foresee many Amiga-specific hardware purchases. Well, actually
I would consider an A3000 version of the AmiJoe accelerator or
of the Mediator PCI card, but I don't see these coming anytime
soon. I would also have been very interested in the BoXeR, had
it been available two years ago; now I care much less about it.
Of course the AmigaOne is on my purchase list :-)

As for software, there's not much that I need right now, so it
depends on what will come out. I'd gladly buy any new release of
the classic AmigaOS (3.6, 4.0, whatever) as well as any updates
to the software I'm already using. And then there's always the
upcoming Worms: Armageddon ;-)

*Do you belive on the Amiga comeback?

I have always believed in it, and I won't stop now for sure!

At least from what I've been able to see so far, I'd say that
Amiga Inc. is developing a product which appears to be not only
new and exciting, but also rich of those concepts we love from the
classic Amiga (thus being, I think, more than worthy of the name).
If all goes well, I think the new Amiga has the potential to take
the world by storm just like its predecessor did 15 years ago.

Thank you for your Answer!

You're welcome :)

(c) Amiga Arena 2000