7 November 2003

By Ray Czosek

Today we get a chance to sit down with one of NCSCAUG's own members, Jim Wingard. Jim is an AmigaDE developer who operates his own software company, Omniscience. Currently, Omniscience has developed two AmigaDE products, Lexical IQ and Omni-Structure. Thanks for sitting down with us today Jim and bringing us up to speed on the current state of AmigaDE development and a bit of history about it.

[Omniscience] Not a problem. Thanks for the opportunity.

[NCSCAUG] How did you become involved with Amiga computers and programming for them?

[Omniscience] I saw my first Amiga in 1985. I was a collage student at the time, and working at one of the “new home computer” stores called Datasoftque. Our main business was sales and repair of Commodore Vic-20s and C64s, however, Chuck, who was the owner, never put all his eggs in one basket, so we also sold PC clones from NEC, AT&T, Northgate, etc. Anyway, when the Amiga first came out ,Chuck got one for the store. We played with it whenever we could wrestle it away from the customers. Many of you can remember how radically different the Amiga was from anything else on the market back then. We had a ton of orders for new Amigas that upcoming Christmas. So many, in fact, that we could not fill them all, and they were back ordered for months afterwards. I’ve been an Amiga fan ever since.

I became involved with programming for the platform relatively late, since I only started creating apps for the AmigaDE. By day, I work for a Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO) site here in the United States and my group develops in house applications for very specific needs in the nuclear industry. For example, another fellow and I developed an AI program to mix the nuclear material used to power the Cassini satellite that will rendezvous with Saturn in the next few months. While many of the projects are challenging and very satisfying, they are projects that I am assigned. They are not projetcs that I necessarily choose to pursue because of my own interests. Developing for the AmigaDE allows me that privilege. When Amiga announced that it was going to pursue the development of DE applications, I saw it as an opportunity to not only do different kinds of things, but, it also gave me a chance to pitch in and help support a platform that I love.

 

[NCSCAUG] Could you take us through the process you went through to become an AmigaDE developer as well as your thoughts on the ease of the process and the level of support available to you from Amiga, Inc.?

[Omniscience] Well, the first step was to buy the SDK. At $99.00 (US) it was a bargain. Especially when you consider the cost involved with developing applications for Qualcomm, Appforge or Microsoft. Next I signed both the NDA and SDA agreements; again the conditions that Amiga requires you to operate under are easier for me to comply with than those of the competition. As for the development process, Amiga has published a set of standard practices in the Pipeline documentation that clearly define the process and expectations of getting your applications through the QA and approval stages.

While their resources may be very constrained, I have never been “hung-out-to-dry”. In fact, I have many times, had Fleecy’s personal involvement in helping to define and trouble shoot any problems I have encountered. Amiga has also, been instrumental in helping developers foster working relationships with one another. For instance, I am no artist by any stretch of the imagination, but Amiga guided me to an excellent graphic artist named Andy Hall. You will see some of his handy work in the upcoming release of Lexical IQ - Personal Edition and Lexical IQ - Smartphone Edition.

 

[NCSCAUG] Does Amiga, Inc. currently offer support in areas such as product marketing and suggesting user requested applications? Where do you feel that they need to offer further assistance?

[Omniscience] Yes. Amiga offers suggestions on potential applications. Quite often Fleecy will send out emails to the developers pointing out areas were no application currently exists in the DE world. It is then up to the development companies to decide if that particular application presents a good business opportunity for them.

I believe Amiga is still struggling with product marketing. I’m not a marketing guy, so I’m not going to presume that I have an answer on how to do it any better. I know that Amiga is working hard to create channels for the development companies to utilize. However, I am not privy to any information concerning concrete deals that have been made. Like everyone else involved, we’re just keeping our noses to the grindstone and praying that God and good fortune will reward us for our efforts.

 

[NCSCAUG] Many people have claimed that AmigaDE is "nothing special" and offers no advantages over other technologies like Java. What are your thoughts on the power of the current development environment, and how does it compare to the earlier versions? i.e. where does the software excel and where does it need improvement?

[Omniscience] I'm not sure what some people mean when they say that one language is better than another. Different languages are suited for different purposes. Most of the modern languages in use today will allow you to do pretty much anything you want. You just have to know how to do it. Quite honestly, one of the things that attracted me to the Amiga SDK was the fact that I didn't know anything about the VP language. I saw this challenge as an opportunity to learn something new.

The current development environment is very powerful in my opinion. I enjoy the flexibility that the VP language affords me. Add to that the enhancements that Amiga has developed and you've got yourself a pretty comprehensive environment to create just about anything you can imagine.

What needs improving? The documentation. There is plenty of it, and it does contain the information you need, but it can sometimes be a real bear to find what you are looking for. The other thing that is needed, is a simple step by step tutorial for people who are new to developing VP apps. It's not impossible to figure things out, but, it is a rather steep learning curve.

 

[NCSCAUG] What do you feel the overall state of the AmigaDE development community is right now, and would you recommend others to become developers for the AmigaDE platform?

[Omniscience] I think the AmigaDE development community is in the process of maturing, and I hope it will continue to for years to come. When the community starts to stagnate that's when it will start to die. I would recommend that anyone with an interest in creating something new and unique, and a desire to really do something to support Amiga, jump in and give it a shot. After all, haven't you ever looked at something that had become a great success and said, "You know, if only I had been able to get in on the ground floor of that, I'd be a lot better off today". That's how I see it. This is possibly my opportunity to be better off someday. Hopefully that day is not too far off!

 

[NCSCAUG] Having one of your products, Lexical IQ, picked for inclusion on one of the Amiga Game Packs must have been exciting. What was the quality assurance process like when submitting products to Amiga, Inc. for approval?

[Omniscience] Yeah, we were pretty excited when we were told that Lexical IQ had been selected. In fact, I went out the next day and had company T-Shirts made for everyone.

The QA process is pretty thorough. We, of course, put the applications though extensive testing before we send them off to Amiga, so that minimizes the number of issues to deal with in order to get the app approved for release. Any issues that have come up have always been rapidly identified by Amiga, and we of course dealt with them as quickly as possible also.

 

[NCSCAUG] Omni-Structure is listed as the first in a series of three tools to be released. Could you tell us a little more about what Omni-Structure is, what the next two tools will be, and the expected release dates?

[Omniscience] Well, to be honest with you this is an embarrassing issue. The truth is that the web site is in the process of being updated and the Omni-Structure application will be removed from it. When we first developed the site we were in the process of designing and developing the Omni series of database tools. These tools were to provide a simple interface to the Amiga database structure (one of the enhancements that Amiga has added to the SDK), however, after some very serious consideration we decided that the potential market that this product would appeal to was too small to warrant the level of effort needed to do it properly at this time. As a result we have suspended further development of these tools.

 

[NCSCAUG] What was the development process for both Lexical IQ and Omni-Structure, and how long did it take from idea to completion as well as the level of effort, any roadblocks, etc.

[Omniscience] We used a traditional Waterfall process for Lexical IQ. However, our current projects are being developed using the Unified Process and UML, thus helping us to taking advantage of the OO capabilities within the Amiga DE.

In terms of development time, it is hard to say. The first version of Lexical IQ took about 3-4 months altogether, but we were also learning the VP language at the same time. Kind of a baptism by fire approach. I would say that today we could produce a similar kind of product in about 1-2 month’s time.

It seems that the real challenge (as with most software projects) is defining exactly what the requirements are and how to build your beast. Once you’ve nailed down the “what and how” of your project the actual implementation doesn’t take too long. Beyond that, there is always the matter of coordinating schedules with outside help.

 

[NCSCAUG] Currently Lexical IQ is not listed on the Amiga-Anywhere web site for purchase, even though it has been released on the Amiga Games Pack. Is it only available in the game pack bundle or can it be purchased separately?

[Omniscience] At this moment it is only available on the game pack, however, with the upcoming release of Lexical IQ - Personal Edition and Lexical IQ - Smartphone Edition we are hopeful that these will be available through a number of different venues. I am really not at liberty to discuss the details just yet.

[NCSCAUG] The software required for compiling applications into files that can be read by the AmigaDE Player is currently held exclusively by Amiga. Do you think it should be released to developers so that they may compile and release their products independently of Amiga, Inc.?

[Omniscience] No. Amiga has put a great deal of effort into creating the AmigaDE line of products and they deserve to be paid for it.

 

[NCSCAUG] Many have suggested that the AmigaDE Player, like other technologies, should be available for free to increase the user base as well as interest in the platform. Do you agree with this concept, or do you think it should remain a separate product?

[Omniscience] Yes, I think it would be nice to make it freely available for use, however,I don’t know that Amiga can justify doing that at this time. Remember, companies that can afford to make their players freely available, have somehow managed to cover that cost elsewhere.

 

[NCSCAUG] Recently to those outside the development circles it seems as if AmigaDE has taken a back seat to OS4. Do you view the situation the same way, and how does it affect your existing and upcoming product line?

[Omniscience] I don’t believe that DE has really taken a back seat to OS4. The Amiga Roadmap has always stated that OS and DE development would run in parallel. Often times, when you have multiple projects in simultaneous development and limited resources to work on each, you find yourself faced with having to put something on the back burner while you concentrate your energies on the item that has become the “top priority”. In my experience this usually happens right before you’re ready to issue a release of a product.

As for how it will effect our plans for future developments, it doesn’t. We will proceed with developing the DE products that make good sense to create.

 

[NCSCAUG] Are you planning to port any of your products to OS4.0 or will you wait for AmigaDE to be ported for OS4.X?

[Omniscience] No, we will wait for DE to be ported to OS4.x.

 

[NCSCAUG] Amiga browsers have been lacking in many ways, and fall short in many of the modern browser standards. What do you think of the AmiZilla project, and do you think it could eventually be ported to AmigaDE?

[Omniscience] I like the Mozilla project in general, but I don’t know enough about AmiZilla to comment on it.

 

[NCSCAUG] Where do you see the AmigaDE market 1 year from now, and again 3 years from now?

[Omniscience] I am hopeful that after OS4 is released, the interests in all things Amiga will pick-up. I’m not expecting any great on slot of new users; however, if the release is coordinated and handled correctly, I could see opportunities for everyone involved with the various Amiga projects to benefit. If that happens, Amiga Inc. would have more resources with which to implement their plans and that of course would mean better opportunities for the DE market.

My goal is to build my company by creating useful applications to run in the DE environments be that on a PDA, Smartphones or whatever. If the Amiga Roadmap does come to fruition, then I see the possibility for a very bright future for all. Whether that will be in 1, 2, 3 years or in 6 months I don’t know.

 

[NCSCAUG] Is there anything that you would like to say to the Amiga community or those who may be considering programming for AmigaDE?

[Omniscience] Only that there are a lot of different products that need to be made for the DE dream to become reality. Some of them are suited to people who are good at graphic games, some are useful little utilities that any descent programmer could create, and some haven't even been imagined yet. Like I said earlier, this is the ground floor and I am convinced that as long as we, the Amiga community, are willing to do the work that is required, the opportunities are out there to be had. At the risk of sounding like a cheerleader, I am glad that Amiga has opened the door for all of us to participate.

 

[NCSCAUG] On behalf of your fellow NCSCAUG members, as well as the Amiga community I'd like to thank you for helping us to understand the AmigaDE development process and market from a developers point of view. If you'd like more information on Jim's products, please visit http://www.omniscience.us

About Omniscience:

Omniscience is a software company specializing in programming for Amiga Digital Environment (AmigaDE) compatible devices. Our company creates utility software for developing AmigaDE applications, as well as, programming to run on these devices. We strive to produce constructive, entertaining and educationally stimulating software that is appropriate for a broad spectrum of interests.