An open letter.

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txd

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Philippe Lang

Dear Sir.

Amiga produced by Commodore and its successors is an exceptional device for us. There is no one among us who would not agree with the view that it was a computer ahead of its time, thanks to the use of which, many of us tied their future in the IT industry. Surely, we all had an unforgettable childhood and youth thanks to Amiga.
Unfortunately, this wonderful construction did not survive the competition with cheaper and not necessarily better PC. Time passes and many of our beloved machines began to require special care, as the previous owners did not always pay due attention to it. Therefore, with great joy, we received the information that there is someone who will take the trouble to create forms, thanks to which our friends will get new cases and keys. As big fans, we welcome every initiative concerning our hobby with great enthusiasm. It was so also this time. Many of us without hesitation decided to support the collection organized by Mr. Phil... We have been patiently waiting for the happy end of the whole action. The initial successes in the form of production of some keyboards and enclosures, despite some reservations about the quality, caused euphoria not only in people who supported the collection and gave a reasonable belief that the project will be happily completed.
Time was passing and some of us, with growing anxiety, started to read the information that indicated further postponements of the deadlines for the production of missing cases and keys. Appreciating Mr. Phil's commitment so far... we kept our fingers crossed for the success of the project and understood the problems he might have faced during production.
We were recently alarmed by the fact that Amiga 1200 cases were on sale and some of us did not keep our promises made at the beginning of the collection. We make no secret of the fact that lately there has been no clear information about the actual state of affairs, supported by e-mails from manufacturers, subcontractors who were commissioned to produce the cases and keys.
Therefore, Mr. Phil, we expect that you will provide photos or emails from the companies you cooperate with and will dispel our doubts about the actual state of progress of the project for which you have raised a substantial amount of money from us.
By publishing this open letter we want to draw attention to this problem among as many Amiga enthusiasts as possible from all over the world. We hope you will support us and thanks to this Mr. Phil... will publicly answer our question about progress of the above mentioned projects.


Amigists from Poland
 
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Ummmmm.....

The chances of Mr Lang actually reading this thread and even replying to it? A picture says a thousand words!

View attachment 1472045


It took the OP 3 years and 6 months to post that. Most first posts to Amibay just say hi with a brief introduction. Maybe txd didn't get the memo :LOL:
 
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Well, the only thing I want now is to get my money back. COVID is not the explanation, when the epidemic in Wuhan started the project was already very badly delayed - despite that when the campaign was launched we were assured that all the problems are already resolved. Moreover, I've backed for several key sets in different colors, I wanted to make an Amstrad CPC style multicolor keyboard - unfortunately, I was informed that some colors won't be manufactured, and Phil refused to provide a refund, I was only allowed to choose another color.

And that's not all - with A1200 case there was a stretch goal defined, we were promised we'll get a CAD project of the case, for personal use only. Until today I did not get access to the CAD project.

In the mean time the Checkmate A1500 campaign was launched - the cases were delivered with some very minor delay (few weeks, if I'm not mistaken). Recently I got the KA59 mechanical keyboard for the Amiga, and I do not intend to go back to the original keyboard. Most likely my key caps (if they get delivered) will end up listed here. And I definitely won't back any further campaigns by Phil, I don't like such attitude, and waiting for years for something I payed for is not fun to me at all.
 
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Well, surely some people here would love to take over your perk and by doing so refund your money.
 
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"It took the OP 3 years and 6 months to post that (...)"

Seriously, what does it prove? It has nothing to do with this misfortuned campaign. I think the main problem is that the supporters are sick and tired of relying on hearsay that concern mounting obstacles. There's nothing that could substantiate another mishap presented by original fundraiser - he could have recorded some video in the factory depicting current situation or added some print screens of the mail from factory's representative. That's how you handle the crises in modern business. While here all they get is just stories per se.

Moreover, despite the fact the campaign for the A1200 cases hasn't finished since a huge amount of cases are still to be delivered to supporters, these products surfaced in some Amiga stores as ready to buy items. Would you guys find it hilarious if you were still waiting for your case? That raises some eyebrows and questions.
 
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Whinging here won't get your cases, keys or money back any faster. Go grab the guy who sold you the dream.
 
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And yes first batch of keycaps have been shipped to all backers, except fancy colours (low volumes) which were pushed back and then impacted by COVID and never rescheduled to date by the contractor.
People don’t understand that you can’t change supplier in the middle of the way because the manufacturing process has been fine tuned with one only. Especially the printing which took months to master.
And even if you could, it would still take months to be scheduled in another factory... you guys don’t think seriously that there is in China some empty factories waiting for production contracts, do you?
The keycaps moulds probably not but each of the 2 moulds for the cases weighs over a ton... another logistics issue...
Also for those who think that the Kickstarter is a lot of money and should give Phil some weight in the negotiation of his manufacturing slots, you are dreaming. A friend of mine is doing plastic injection in Shanghai and has some of his machines 24/7 365 days a year occupied by just one contract from Walmart for coat hangers. He even had to buy some presses just to dedicate to one customer... nothing Phil can compete with. Each mould cleaning time change a colour takes hours if not days in a production facility without human beings. Production swaps is what costs money in this industry, not volume. Just like flying in a plane only cost money when you land or you take off (staying in the air cost nearly nothing).
Now writing this kind of post to show how courageous you are instead of taking the time to chat with Philippe is ridiculous and childish... the guy is approachable and will talk to you if you wish, but this kind of message doesn’t seem to me being the best conversation starter...
I personally have backed more than 20 keycaps sets and plenty of cases for A1200 and A500 that I am waiting for. And I’m waiting because I know this industry very well and know that Philippe does all he can - he also got another job and a life, the A1200-net thing is a hobby for him, he does that because most of all he also want keycaps and cases for himself and his friends.
Now I won’t comment anymore on this post.
 
It's not true, I'm still waiting for my two keycaps set for A1200, any strange color (I chose black and white), only italian layout that must still be produced. It's almost 4 years now...
 
Rakeim132 You don't think any of us talked to Phil?
what do you think Phil told us? Consider.
Well you can defend him you have the right but the truth is that this man is not serious.The last collection from the indiegogo campaign was in 2019, long before covid-19, Phill announced that after 3 months we will get Amiga 1200 cases and Amiga keycaps, and those are the facts, that's not funny.
We have doubts, above all, that we only receive empty words, not supported by any materials from factories ... There are no pictures of films showing the production stage
 
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Ok so as I understand it the first backers got their key caps if I am correct so the molds and everything else is set, now the 2nd group of backers have waited how long to get their key caps? I bought several of the 1200 cases in black and I love them so it is a little confusing to me of what is really going on since that Covid excuse is starting to get old. I just hope the people get their keycaps everyone really needs them.
 
Ok so as I understand it the first backers got their key caps if I am correct so the molds and everything else is set

No, I'm from the first backers and I'm still waiting for my two set of keycaps. Only UK and Usa layout were printed from the first kickstarter, all the other layouts (including italian) have to wait for a new production running, never happening until now :(
 
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An open letter.

Same here.

Ordered Italian layout sets with standard colour at the first campaign. They notified that the Italian layout was postponed to the second one.

Fine. Ordered some additional Italian keysets during the second one.

In essence, despite the efforts, waiting for the two keysets campaigns to deliver. To be fair, I did receive the A1200 cases and hope to get the A500 ones as well.
 
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Now writing this kind of post to show how courageous you are instead of taking the time to chat with Philippe is ridiculous and childish... the guy is approachable and will talk to you if you wish, but this kind of message doesn’t seem to me being the best conversation starter...

The open letter was thought out and, IMHO, respectfully worded. It isn't childish in the slightest. This isn't the view of a single backer it is the view that many have expressed frequently in various forums for years. Not all of us have the benefit of experience in the industry to be able to extend "Mr Phil" more benefit of the doubt that is otherwise deserving. And we do need to extend LOTS of that. I met Phil once in Germany at Amiga34 and had the impression (and still do) that he is a straight shooter. The more frequent posts from the project recently with demonstrative progress re-enforced my faith in the project. Still, there are only so many times you can write "Because of COVID....", "The server farm burned down......" and "Please be patient........" before people are.......well........not.

And the original poster isn't alone in his feeling. I think it is in the Project's interest to perhaps recap why all these factors contributed to such an extraordinary delay. There are many who have had his concern for years now.

Unless the project leaders see this as a common concern and not just words of the few impatient, those who write to Mr Phil might just get the same empty words to placate them. Words that will no doubt be copied here and elsewhere to anger the backers further.

I think the motivation behind the letter is completely understandable. Even if the approach isn't.
 
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