Kiss of Death

One of the first things we did when we took over Aladdin 4D was to develop a multi-platform strategy for the relaunch. We had always believed that limiting the user base to only Amiga customers was holding it back. But while it may have been a sin to make Aladdin 4D available only on Amiga OS it is an equal sin for products like Caligari TrueSpace to only be on Windows. 3D animation software is such a niche and has such a artistic but sometimes fickle customer base, to assure success it must be on more platforms. By limiting your package to only Amiga or even Windows is a sure Kiss of Death. Of course you could take the multi-platform approach that Cinema 4D or LightWave takes and make your product available on Windows & Mac. Or you can go a little further like Maya does and have a Linux version as well. But why stop there? We have an idea of a future world where customer choice is king and computer platforms are not as limited as they are today. By making your product available for platforms that are just reemerging like Amiga OS 4.0 or MorphOS you may just discover a new technique or tool set you might have otherwise missed.

By also making your products available on something new like AROS you may just be surprised what loyal new customers and feedback you get. By giving these obscure but exciting platforms a chance you might just give your application a chance to be successful and not die. It's good to help others and support their hard working efforts. We hope that by being this brave and supporting these additional platforms we can be a catalyst for change. It shows a great appreciation for the customer when you allow them to use your package in such a flexible way. Maybe they have a new idea for a model or animation and started creating it at home on their Amiga. On their break at work they can continue to work on it or finish on Windows. Maybe their friend has a Mac and they want to work on it at their house or show whats being created.

The computer platform will be blurred and Aladdin 4D and it's set of software tools become the focus of new animations the customer is creating. In that type of creative unlimiting environment maybe the next great animated feature can be born. Aladdin 4D avoided the Kiss of Death of course but it was a close call. At one point paramedics were called in.