![[AMIGA]](amiga.gif)
"Amiga Computer Inc. had its beginnings, strangely enough, with the idea of three Florida doctors who had a spare $7 million to invest. They thought of opening a department store franchise, but they wanted to try something a bit more exciting. So they decided to start a computer company. Yeah, that's it! A computer company! That's the ticket!" [RJ Mical]The original Amiga computer company ran into financial trouble and was bought out by Commodore Business Machines sometime in 1984. The original prototype, called the Amiga Lorraine, eventually became the Commodore Amiga 1000 and entered the computer market late in 1985.
Unfortunately, the Amiga system was just too advanced for the times.
"With the Amiga release in 1985, Commodore introduced to the computer market a number of features that are becoming mainstream requirements in the mid-90s. Such features include preemptive multitasking, plug-and-play add-in cards, realistic graphics and sound, high speed disks, realtime response to the user, multiprocessing, compatibility with television and videotape, smart I/O support, microkernal-based OS, etc." [Dave Haynie]
April 21, 1995 - After nearly a year in limbo, Escom AG of Germany purchased the rights to Commodore, creating Amiga Technologies.
April 12, 1996 - VIScorp (Visual Information Services Corporation) has signed a binding letter of agreement with Escom AG to aquire Amiga Technologies.
July 15, 1996 - The deal between Escom AG and VIScorp falls through and Escom AG files for bankruptcy.
March 27, 1997 - Gateway 2000 offers to buy Amiga Technologies from Escom AG's court appointed bankruptcy lawyers.
May 16, 1997 - Gateway 2000's offer to purchase Amiga Technologies is finalized. Amiga Technologies is renamed to Amiga International.
The Amiga saga continues.