Due to recent developments, this information is no longer current. A major update is planned soon.
Digital convergence is the vision of the future of technology - a blurring of boundaries between computers, information appliances, digital television, audio technology, Internet communications, telephony, even your house. All based upon computer technology. It doesn't mean the end of TVs, CD/DVD players, games consoles, or even your computer - it just means that technology is becoming increasingly more versatile and integrated. It's a Good Thing, not a Bad Thing - trust me.
The only problem is that current Industry Standard technology is so poorly equipped to handle it. Kludged 70s technology, uprated for the 1990s, is the main type of system available - and it's nearing the end of it's useful upgrade path. Processors are setting blistering paces, but are hampered in the rich, multimedia world due to poor OS support or ill-designed hardware extensions (i.e. MMX). The Amiga had a key advantage when it was first launched, and if Amiga play their cards well (and the Amiga is one helluva card) the digital convergence revolution is going to be presented with one serious package. New and revolutionary ideas need new and revolutionary technologies - the new Amiga aims to really set the pace.
Let's face it: no update to the Amiga is going to allow it to compete with current systems. But current systems are aimed at the short term, so why not push the Amiga to the future and let everyone else catch up for a change. They had to do it back in 1985, it's time they did it again. Cutting edge technology is for the rest - the new Amiga is going to blow the boundaries of contemporary computing.
Think of it another way: if Commodore hadn't gone bankrupt, what would the Amiga look like now? Where would the Amiga be going right now? The Amiga is so much more than just a computer...
Details of the new Amiga are very sketchy. However, don't think in terms of A1200 and A4000. New Amigas are going to take a variety of forms - from low-end home systems to high-specification graphics workstations. Add to that the lucrative markets for games consoles, set top boxes, cheap notebook computers, palmtops, home electronics and so on. The OS is likely to make it to systems which don't feature the mystery chip - including CHRP PowerPCs, Alpha workstations and various devices which were originally designed for, say, WindowsCE.
One thing of particular note will be two levels of compatibility: Class One and Class Two.
Class One compatible devices provide support for most Amiga software, can be located on an Amiga network and can make use of most Amiga peripherals. The interesting thing is that this compatibility could be provided for both Classic Amigas and non-Amiga machines.
Class Two provides the full works - this is Amiga NG territory. Class Two devices will make use of everything for the new Amigas, and will be built by Amiga or under license.
The aim with Class One is both to provide limited support for non-Amiga devices as well as produce an environment which bridges the Amiga and non-Amiga worlds.
The Amiga NG computer systems will be available as prebuilt multimedia computers, or as ATX form factor motherboards (suitable for use in industry standard PC cases). The MCC forms the hub of the distributed Amiga environment for a specific location. Think of it as the main server, which also happens to be a worthy successor to the classic Amiga desktop machines.
ATI are the graphics systems developer, offering their (as yet undisclosed) next generation graphics processor for the standard chipset. This chipset is believed to run on a modified MIPS processor core (judging from a previous ATI press release). The system aims to take industry standard components away from the package of the existing IBM PC compatible architecture, which is hindered by the baggage of backwards compatibility and processors reaching the end of their productive development path.
Hardware support pencilled in for the Amiga MCC include:
