Not being a developer, my concern has not been technical but
socio-economic and political and my position has always been very
clear:
Since we, the Amiga community, were left to our own devices, we had
to invent some infrastructure concept that would allow the Amiga, if
needs be, to survive even without a "mother-company". Pondering these
problems lead our little initial team to explore all sorts of
possibilities, some perhaps a bit off the wall, others very
rational.
My main contention has been that as we approach the end of a
millenium, our so-called civilization was bound to embark on a
thorough self-examination of its past, present and future and what was
happening to the Amiga was, by fateful coincidence, the perfect
"parallel" to that.
Three years into this, it is now patently obvious to me that our
planet is shifting into new directions. History and technology have
combined to bring about the possibility of a truly new civilizational
phase. The "global" revolution is changing just about every
parameter. It is changing communications, exchanges of information,
culture, politics and business.
To give more authority to this idea, let me briefly point to some
quotes from Dee Hock, legendary founder of Visa, (one trillion $/yr
company with 500,000,000 customers!), author of the "Chaordic"
organization concept (Healthy, adaptive systems will always exhibit a
kind of dynamic tension between chaos and order: encourage as much
competition and initiative as possible throughout the
organization--"chaos"--while building in mechanisms for
cooperation--"order.") He says:
"Command-and-control model of organizations that grew up to support
the industrial revolution have gotten out of hand. It simply doesn't
work. They are not only archaic and increasingly
irrelevant. They have become a public menace, antithetical to the
human spirit and destructive of the biosphere. We could well be on the
brink of an epidemic of institutional failure."
His idea with Visa was to create a "different" kind of
organization: a nonstock, for-profit membership corporation with
ownership in the form of nontransferable rights of participation. Hock
designed the organization according to his philosophy: highly
decentralized and highly collaborative. Authority, initiative,
decision making, wealth--everything possible is pushed out to the
periphery of the organization, to the members.
Can you imagine the Amiga Community turned into an organization
based on similar principles? I can.
Let's take business. I have mentioned this before, "globalism" is
changing business and business is changing the world. With unsettling
speed, two forces are converging: a new generation of business leaders
is rewriting the rules of business, and a new breed of what are called
"fast companies" is challenging the corporate status quo.
"That convergence overturns 50 years of received wisdom on the
fundamentals of work and competition. No part of business is
immune. The structure of the company is changing; relationships
between companies are changing; the nature of work is changing; the
definition of success is changing. The result is a revolution as
far-reaching as the Industrial Revolution."
(Editorial, FAST COMPANY magazine)
We are just beginning to comprehend this new world even as it's
being created. This much is known: we live and work in a time of
unparalleled opportunity and unprecedented uncertainty. An economy
driven by technology and innovation makes old borders obsolete. Smart
people working in smart companies have the ability to create their own
futures -- and also hold the responsibility for the consequences. The
possibilities are unlimited -- and unlimited possibilities carry equal
measures of hope and fear. A good dynamic.
Changes are under way in how companies create and compete, shaping
how work gets done, inventing the future and reinventing
business. People are exploring uncharted territories with new tools,
techniques, models, and mind-sets. Talk is about "knowledge workers",
management innovators, ideas merchants (!), "change agents", a new
business vocabulary that captures and expresses these new experiences,
structures and functions.
More than ever and anything, this is the time to be on the cutting
edge, to experiment, to innovate, to design, practice and promote new
ideas, solutions. The time for new communities to emerge and converge,
to identify new business values and cultures; to merge economic growth
with social justice, democratic participation with tough-minded
execution, explosive technological innovation with old-fashioned
individual commitment.
Time also to debunk old myths and discover new legends. A new
community needs its own legitimate heroes and heroines, its models and
mentors. At the same time, it's open season on pretenders, phonies,
and purveyors of business snake oil.
Ever since the demise of C=, I have thought that the Amiga is the
perfect vehicle -- and container -- to explore these exciting new
perspectives. Now, IMHO, we must do our darnest to convince
AmigaInc/GW to understand and commit to this concept of creating a
truly innovative business/community model. By subscribing and
contributing to such an adventure, they could have an even bigger
stake in their future, gain a great deal of prestige, credibility and
sustainability; get a lot of free publicity and coverage and make
themselves and everyone involved a lot of money over a long time. If
properly organized, being ahead of the crowd and times pays
off. No doubt about it. Finally, as every sane human being would wish
for himself, and Carl Sassenrath in particular(!), a lot of fun could
be had by all.
To forge the kind of community the Amiga Gestalt by its very nature
was, and is, philosophically destined to promote, two key words, IMHO,
matter more than anything else: OPENESS and INCLUSION. And at the very
highest possible level.
To conclude, and to prove I'm not alone on this thinking track, one
more quote from Dee Hock and remember, he's one of the most successful
businessmen of his generation, not a looney Amigadroid, a naive
idealist or a religious maniac:
"We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying
and another is struggling to be born--a shifting of culture, science,
society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has ever
experienced. Ahead, the possibility of the regeneration of
individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has
never known, and a harmony with nature, with one another, and with the
divine intelligence such as the world has never dreamed.";
giorgio gomelsky;
Copyright © 1998 Giorgio Gomelsky
