Exploring the often-overlooked history and technological
innovations of the world's first true multimedia computer. Long
ago, in 1985, personal computers came in two general categories:
the friendly, childish game machine used for fun (exemplified by
Atari and Commodore products); and the boring, beige adult box used
for business (exemplified by products from IBM). The game machines
became fascinating technical and artistic platforms that were of
limited real-world utility. The IBM products were all utility, with
little emphasis on aesthetics and no emphasis on fun. Into this
bifurcated computing environment came the Commodore Amiga 1000.
This personal computer featured a palette of 4,096 colors,
unprecedented animation capabilities, four-channel stereo sound,
the capacity to run multiple applications simultaneously, a
graphical user interface, and powerful processing potential. It
was, Jimmy Maher writes in The Future Was Here, the world's first
true multimedia personal computer. Maher argues that the Amiga's
capacity to store and display color photographs, manipulate video
(giving amateurs access to professional tools), and use recordings
of real-world sound were the seeds of the digital media future:
digital cameras, Photoshop, MP3 players, and even YouTube, Flickr,
and the blogosphere. He examines different facets of the
platform-from Deluxe Paint to AmigaOS to Cinemaware-in each
chapter, creating a portrait of the platform and the communities of
practice that surrounded it. Of course, Maher acknowledges, the
Amiga was not perfect: the DOS component of the operating systems
was clunky and ill-matched, for example, and crashes often
accompanied multitasking attempts. And Commodore went bankrupt in
1994. But for a few years, the Amiga's technical qualities were
harnessed by engineers, programmers, artists, and others to push
back boundaries and transform the culture of computing.
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