Class of the 90's

The early 1990's was the most successful time for the Amiga. The product line had been expanded and the machine was receiving widespread TV and magazine promotion. The Class of the 90's was a successful attempt at introducing the Amiga to the educational market. Schools that already had an A500 could purchase the software bundle for £150. This move was largely promoted by Commodore UK who were eager to follow the example of Apple with a strong line up of titles. The machine itself was an expanded 1MB A500, complimented by several productivity titles. This includes Deluxe Paint 2, Maxiplan, ProWrite 2.5, Deluxe Paint & Deluxe Print 2, Let's Spell, Amiga Logo, Dr. T music composition software and a BBC emulator for compatibility with older education applications. Al Hospers, CEO of Dr. T. music software (one of the largest manufacturers of music composition software at the time), said in an interview:

"This is a great collection of software applications. Commodore has a strong chance to leap ahead of Apple in the educational computer field now they have the strong color graphics, sound, and animation that the schools want now for the children ... this is a very strong machine."

While the bundle had a degree of success in persuading UK LEA's to adopt the Amiga, it never had a chance to make its way to the US. This strangled its growth in the market literally handing it to Apple.
BACK