alt Hacker NewsI've less than zero love for Commodore stuff, I'll admit up front. Even as a retro computing enthusiast and computer historian I think the adoration that Commodore (both the C64 and Amiga) get far outweighs any practical reasoning of what the machines are capable of
But the thing I've truly struggled to understand, particularly with PeriFractic and his bleating of "I OWN THE COMMODORE NAME NOW!" is just
...who cares? If you like Commodore stuff, great. Do things that make you happy. But does having a C64 with "the commodore name" printed on it owned by some slop peddling youtuber (both in his embracement of LLM's and that bizarre "dumb phone but also not" project) truly change anything for fans?
If you're buying an "A1200 accelerator" does the fact it says "AMIGA" on it make it more valuable than if it just said "68K accelerator" or some other generic term?
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I think you are greatly minimizing what Mr. Fractic has done, I don't get the phone thing either. He got a lot of the original developers of commodore and the original molds, the guy is a super fan and I can't think of anyone better to continue the brand
It plays well into the Amiga fanbase mythology that Commodore and especially the Amiga shoud have been THE personal computer of the masses, not the IBM compatible x86 machines. But somehow in the early 1990 history took a wrong turn.
After its demise the Amiga/Commodore brand and intellectual property was split and changed hands frequently leaving behind a fragmented and often adversarial landscape of companies. So this fragmentation maybe can be seen as an obstacle for the Amiga to once again rise up and get its revenge against the x86/x64/ARM... you name it.
I think therefore Mr. Fractic is the perfect fit for this computer. The idea is a bit... over the top.
I grew up with C64 and Amiga and I still hold it dear in my heart, it had many great games back then, but I'm not buying into the new Commodore thing at all. It comes off as a bit off and goofy, maybe even problematic.
While I'd like to see all Commodore related brands to come together under one roof once again, I think funding it via the creation of new hardware by a for profit company to be ridiculous and ill fated. Let the dead be dead. I would have wished for a non-commercial custodian like entitiy instead, that just makes sure that people who use the brands and IP can do so for a modest fee if it's DIY projects or small companies selling add-ons just so they have the legal security of not getting sued for mentioning Amiga or Commodore somewhere in their texts and releasing all Amiga and C64 hardware and software under a FOSS license for the public to fix and enhance if they like.
But this just seems to me like just another post-Commodore company meddling with the legacy and legal stuff.
I stopped paying attention to perryfractic years ago. He used to make interesting videos, but when he started repeatedly faking tearing up at nostalgia and getting his totally uninterested wife on camera, I just stopped being interested
Then also knowing what a mess the Amiga/Commodore licencing is, when he said he bought Commodore but not Amiga, I completely disregarded it as just adding more confusion to the situation (and then there's the insane decision that is the commodore phone)