
                        Letter from the Editor
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

First, let me apologize for some confusion last month. I stated that
two icons would be included so you could take your choice of which one
you would rather have.

Being in the rush that I was in, I forgot to include them! They will
be included in this month's issue (sorry to both Lanny Affleck and
Trevor Morris).

My anticipation is rising as December 8, 9 and 10 approach! If you
recall, these are the dates of Wonder Computers Inc. World of Amiga.
ANT will be there and we will give you a complete run down of the
show.

Christmas is quickly approaching, so send us your Amiga Christmas wish
list.... who knows, maybe Santa will see it!

See you after World of Amiga!


                            NEWS & REVIEWS
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Worms
^^^^^

 Lemmings with really big guns. That's probably the best way to
 describe what type of game Worms is. What's so special about it
 though? Worms (the latest release from Team 17) is a wonderful mix of
 Lemmings (an Amiga classic) and shareware games like Scorched Tanks.

 The game is so well executed, and so simple it's unbelievable! You
 play a team of four worms, and each team contains one captain. A
 random terrain is formed by the computer and your team of worms is
 placed somewhere on the playing field.... now the fun starts!

 Basically, the point of the game is to blow up the other team's worms.
 It's not as simple as it sounds, the other team can move and fire back
 at you!. Only one worm moves at a time, and moves go back and forth
 between players, slowly moving through all worms on the screen. Then
 the circle starts over again. Weapons don't kill an opponent
 immediately either, multiple hits are required to end a worm's life.

 Weapons range from shot guns to air strikes to exploding sheep. There
 are also numerous tools such as: teleporters, ropes, bungies, blow
 torches and hydraulic drills. The best thing however, is that Worms
 can be played by up to four people. This means that there are 16 worms
 on the screen at one time! This is where the fun really exists. If you
 are into Lemmings, or like Scorched Tanks, Worms is the game for you.

 One note, it REQUIRES the PAL video mode, so only Amigas with the ECS
 or AGA chipsets or those users who have invested in a 1MB Agnus will
 be able to view the screen properly. If you aren't sure of whether or
 not you are capable of using the PAL video mode, ask a local dealer,
 or get one of the numerous diagnostic utilities off of the Aminet or
 off of local bulletin board systems.



Publisher:  Team 17
RAM Required:  1MB, 2MB+ for hard drive installation
Hard Drive Installable:  Yes
Hard Drive Required:  No
AmigaOS Version Required:  1.3+




                         IBrowse 0.4 (Alpha)
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 In a past issue a review of the most popular Amiga web browser,
 AMosaic, was presented to you. There is another browser that is
 currently in the works you should know about.

 Currently sitting at version 0.40 (Alpha), IBrowse is a wonderful
 example of Amiga programming. Many of the people who have worked on
 AMosaic have returned to work on IBrowse, along with a few new faces.

 The question is, "Why do we need another web browser?". Well, most
 importantly is while AMosaic does the job, it doesn't do it perfectly.
 IBrowse solves many of these problems.

 Most important to IBrowse is that it becomes more Netscape compatible.
 It supports the centering of graphics and text and it also supports
 the loading of backgrounds while on line. Where AMosaic only shows a
 greyish background, IBrowse loads up wonderfully detailed backgrounds
 from those websites that support them.

 Another glory of IBrowse is that all configuration files are kept in
 the IBrowse directory, thus freeing up RAM as no configuration files
 are placed in ENV: .

 The requirements are higher now, but I personally feel it is worth it.
 It now requires AmigaOS 3.0 and Magic User Interface (MUI) version
 3.0. The usage of MUI 3.0 increases the graphic display speed up to
 30%.

 IBrowse is a wonderful browser, and although it is only in Alpha, it
 is still very usable and relatively stable.



Publisher:  Omnipresence Intl.
RAM Required:  2MB+ is Recommended
Hard Drive Installable:  Yes
Hard Drive Required:  No (but HIGHLY suggested)
AmigaOS Version Required:  3.0+




              Amiga Technologies Announces Future Plans
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Speech by Petro Tyschtschenko at Video Toaster Expo Conference

        
   Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests.
   

   I  am  very  glad  to  be  here  in Los Angeles at our first
   conference and Video-Toaster Show in the United States.

   But let me introduce myself, my name is Petro Tyschtschenko,
   I'm President at Amiga Technologies. I used to work 12 years
   at Commodore  and  I  was  responsible  for  the  world-wide
   logistics.

   I will now say a few words about our organization and how we
   set it up.

   Amiga Technologies GmbH is a 100% subsidiary  of  ESCOM  AG.
   ESCOM  AG  is a public company. 25 % of the shares belong to
   Quelle, the first retail chain in Germany, 12.5  %  to  RWE,
   one  of the biggest German cable and wire providers, 10 % to
   Siemens-Nixdorf and 38.5 % to Manfred Schmitt,  founder  and
   chairman   of   the  board.  14  %  are  split  among  other
   shareholders.

   In August 1994, almost one year before the  21st  of  April,
   when  ESCOM  AG  took  over the rights of Commodore, Manfred
   Schmitt, Chairman at ESCOM AG, told me "Petro,  I  want  the
   Amiga".  From this day on, I was in charge of setting up the
   deal that the Amiga Community was waiting for:  Taking  over
   the  rights  and patents of Commodore International and give
   the Amiga a new home.

   It was a very difficult task, the situation  with  Commodore
   was  complicated  and many companies were also interested in
   getting the baby. But our strategy to keep silent about what
   we  did  helped  us  to be faster and more efficient. Nobody
   knew about ESCOM before the deal was completed.

   The next  goal  was  to  build  up  the  company.  This  was
   announced  officially  during our press launch in Frankfurt,
   30th of May, 1995. Amiga  Technologies  is  now  located  in
   Bensheim, 60 km southwards of Frankfurt and a few miles away
   from  Heppenheim  where  ESCOM  has  its  headquarters.   We
   currently  employ about 40 people and are growing on a daily
   basis.

   During our last press conferences, we made lots of  promises
   and  commitments.  Today,  I  will rather show you something
   more concrete: Here is an Amiga 1200 and here is  the  first
   Amiga 4000 Tower.

   These  two  products  you  can  see here today represent the
   tremendous work done by our team in Germany,  together  with
   our strategic partners in only three months.

   Ladies  and  Gentlemen, we have sold our first 20,000 Amigas
   1200 in Europe. These were not only sold to our distributors
   and  dealers,  all  of  them  went  over  the shelves to the
   end-users. Our Backlog is still 60,000.

   The demand is more than satisfying. We are happy to see that
   the Amiga didn't lose its appeal towards the customer.

   The   success  is  like  in  earlier  Commodore  times.  The
   difference is that now a new  management  of  competence  is
   installed.  Motivated people who love and know the Amiga are
   taking care of the business.

   Our strength is that we are a dynamic team. We react quickly
   to  new  situations.  And  we also learned from the mistakes
   Commodore made.

   Some people over here  think  that  ESCOM  AG  acquired  the
   intellectual  property  of  Commodore  just  to  build a few
   computers for the Christmas  season  and  leave  the  market
   afterwards.  Ladies and Gentlemen, that is neither my style,
   nor the kind of business I like to do. Amiga is a long  term
   project, we want to re-establish a market and give the Amiga
   the position it deserves because we believe that our product
   is a good alternative to PC's and Macs.

   Escom  invested  several  times the amount of money that was
   spent for the takeover of Commodore. We want this investment
   to fructify in the future.

   The   US  market  is  very  important  for  us.  Ladies  and
   Gentlemen, I want to make  a  commitment  here:  We  do  not
   intend  to  concentrate  our  efforts  only  on  Europe. Our
   location is in Bensheim. But our market is  world-wide.  The
   A4000T is the product that is wanted most in the USA. We are
   currently thinking of the possibilities that we  could  have
   to market the A1200 here too.

   The  American market is not only important to us for selling
   hardware. There also is a  great  potential  of  development
   intelligence  here.  Newtek  for  instance  is  an important
   strategic partner for us.  We  want  to  support  the  Video
   Toaster  and  are currently negotiating with Newtek to build
   up a strong partnership and set up license agreements to get
   new products basing on the Video Toaster technology.

   Another   partner   for  the  American  market  is  our  new
   distributor SMG. SMG will  take  care  of  distribution  and
   spare parts for the North-American market. SMG is well known
   and appreciated as a service provider for a long time.

   The Set-Top-Box is an important topic at Amiga Technologies.
   We  have now finalized several agreements in the USA. I will
   mention our  agreement  with  Viscorp  that  has  just  been
   finalized a few weeks ago. Omnibox in Connecticut is another
   company we are currently dealing with.  Through  Set-Top-Box
   systems, we are confident that the Amiga platform will enter
   into millions of households. No other computer  manufacturer
   is able to provide a system that multitasks with 2 megabytes
   of memory.

   Our partnership with SCALA brings MM300 to the user  out  of
   the  box.  All  Amiga models fitted with hard drives include
   that popular multimedia package. More than a partner,  SCALA
   is  also an important customer for Amiga Technologies. SCALA
   purchased 1000 Amiga 4000 Towers to provide their  customers
   with  high-end  multimedia systems. My understanding is that
   Newtek will be following with another  1000  units  for  the
   Video Toaster market.

   The demand for the Amiga 4000 T is also very high in Europe.
   We know that the price tag has been set quite high. This  is
   due  to  the  fact  that  the Amiga 4000 T is actually a new
   product for us. Setting up its production was  an  expensive
   task  that  needed  the  competencies  and  know-how of many
   people. My special thanks to Jeff Frank and Georges Robbins.
   The production costs are currently about 40 % higher than in
   Commodore times.

   Actually, we planned to bring out the Amiga  4000  T  before
   the  Amiga  1200, but the complexity of this product made it
   impossible to respect  the  schedules.  But  finally  it  is
   available, the first models came out of the lines this week.

   It  was a great moment for us when the first Amiga board was
   finished in our A1200  production  facility  in  France.  It
   happened on the 13th of September 1995. Here it is, just for
   your eyes.

   Ladies and Gentlemen, please be aware, the Amiga is the only
   computer  which  has a multitasking operating system that is
   not in alpha or beta  stage.  Of  course,  we  look  at  our
   competitors.  I  recently  went  to  a fair where a computer
   manufacturer proudly presented its new machines. I asked one
   of  the guys at the booth to demonstrate me the multitasking
   abilities of his system and he replied "Please  wait  a  few
   minutes sir, as soon as this disk formatting is completed, I
   will show you real multitasking......." I said: "No  further
   questions."

   It  is  really  encouraging  to have a strong feature and to
   find out that some competitors don't even know what it is.

   Ladies and Gentlemen, our strength, more than  the  hardware
   platform,  is our Operating System. AmigaOS is excellent and
   will become even better. We have decided to port it to other
   platforms  as soon as possible. Of course, we are also aware
   of the features that our system lacks. Long awaited features
   like  memory  protection,  virtual memory and strong network
   abilities are on top of our todo list. The next  version  of
   Amiga OS will hopefully include all these important things.

   We  also  need  software  for  the  Amiga.  It is absolutely
   necessary to continue development on  existing  products  as
   well  as  getting  new  applications  developed or ported to
   AmigaOS. We are setting up the support for Amiga developers.
   This  will  be working through BBS systems and Internet. The
   german node cbmehq is already up and running in Bensheim. We
   now  also  have  an  Amiga Technologies Web page. We will be
   very active on the Internet in the future.

   Ladies and gentlemen, it is more and more evident every  day
   that  the  combination  of  Intel  and  Windows  95  is  not
   satisfying for many people. It is  also  a  threat  for  the
   computer market that a monopoly like this tends to establish
   itself.

   Therefore, it is important that systems like  Amiga  improve
   their  market  position,  so that the user can still find an
   alternative way. To improve our  market  position,  we  know
   that we need to improve the product. This improvement has to
   be done on the hardware and the  software  side.  The  68000
   processor  family  from Motorola which is still powering our
   models will end its evolution after the 68060.

   We knew from the beginning that we had to  look  for  a  new
   processor.   There  were  many  options  possible.  Motorola
   proposed the Power  PC,  there  was  also  the  HP  PA,  the
   Minisparc   or   DEC  Alpha  processors.  All  of  them  had
   advantages and  disadvantages,  the  choice  was  very  hard
   indeed.

   Ladies  and  Gentleman,  we  made our choice. The next Amiga
   will be called Power-Amiga. We  removed  PC  for  esthetical
   purposes.

   Let me now explain this choice.

   The  Power PC processor is fast... Especially when it runs a
   decent Operating System. We believe that with  an  Operating
   System  like  AmigaOS,  the Power PC processor will show all
   the power that it has, it will be  faster  than  with  other
   operating systems.

   Another  important  reason  for  our choice is the strategic
   partnerships that this processor brings to us. Apple already
   did  the  experience of a migration from 68000 processors to
   Power PC and we can take advantage of this experience.

   Motorola and IBM will also  be  precious  partners  for  the
   Power  Amiga project, on the software side as well as on the
   hardware side. Of course we are also in talk  with  IBM  and
   Apple.

   Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  all  in all the Power Amiga project
   will be involving  more  than  a  dozen  companies.  We  are
   confident  and  think  that  such a synergy will make things
   happen very fast. Our team is ready to go.

   Thank you for your attention.


                               The End
                               ^^^^^^^

Well, again that's it for this month! ANT is off to WOA and we'll
return with some news on what we saw and heard at the show.
        
I hope some of you are able to make it, it should be a great show!

Also, don't forget to send your Amiga X-Mas wish list to us here at
ANT. Send it to the usual address:

                       Glen_Miller@KIWI.COM

                            Special Thanks!
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'd like to thank the following people for helping out with ANT.
Remember, if any of you readers out there would like to help out, just
write me at the usual address.
 
Colin Thompson - Formatted the ASCII version of ANT for me.
Lanny Affleck - Created our standard Workbench icon. 
Trevor Morris - Created our Magic Workbench icon.

Unless otherwise noted, all articles are written by Glen Miller and
may not be reproduced in ANY way without written permission.

        
