Arghhh!!! Lost most of my first reply to a 'backspace' accident! Thought I tweaked FF, but apparently not on this box.
@samface
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Secondly, I find your theory that Amiga Inc. would only pursuing the lawsuit against Hyperion for "stopping" AmigaOS4 not very plausible. It's quite evident that they do not want to just put an end to Hyperion's development and marketing of AmigaOS4, they want the source code. They don't need the source code if they just want to put an end to Hyperion's development and marketing of AmigaOS4 |
Really? How else would AI stop Hyperion's development and marketing of OS4? And what does their wanting the source code have to do with continuing OS4? Doesn't the lawsuit claim they invoked the buy-back clause to obtain the source code? Wouldn't that be an expedient way of halting Hyperion's development if not marketing of OS4? After all, they might have to let Hyperion reap the 'profits' of selling OS4 to the scant few who have hardware that can support it. But if there's no OS4.1, etc. from Hyperion, It's game over for Hyperion. At least as far as OS4 is concerned anyway. That is if the legal costs don't shut them down first.
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Now, of course you may argue that they want it to secure their IP for increasing the value of their IP portfolio or whatever. However, considering the money they are spending on the lawsuit and the $2 million they offered to settle out of court, I doubt the source code would increase the worth of their IP portfolio that much. Surprisingly enough, it seems more like money is of less concern for Amiga Inc. right now. Not sure wether that is a good thing but still... |
I don't argue that at all.
However, I do have doubts as to what original IP AI actually own. From what I understood, AI only own the name, the patents and other IP are still retained by Gateway. But I have heard it said that Amiga may actually own OS1-3 and that Gateway only held onto the hardware patents. Of course the core of DE and AA do not belong to AI, but to the now defunct Tao. Furthermore, it's likely that AA2 doesn't belong to AI either. Even if it is not elate, AI does not have the resources to have built a replacement on their own. Especially if AI of India had no hand in AA2/OS5 as McE claims. Not unless they manged to pull a Microsoft, which in this day and age is very unlikely.
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It's also not completely unrelated that they have now hired Jamie Krueger and that court documents reveals that they have also offered certain AmigaOS4 developers to come work for them instead of Hyperion (wether they accepted is unknown). It seems clear to me that they have something cooking, something related to AmigaOS4. |
Sorry, but I don't see this as proof. Don't forget, many an Amiga legend has been in the employ of AI and been burned. Jamie Krueger may just be the next sacrificial lamb meant to keep up appearances. Mr. Krueger aside. As I said in my response to your posts form the original thread, it's also just as likely those developers turn AI down cold. Nobody knows. But I think AI would have revealed those tidbits to show that they have a vested interest in the success of OS4. That they are willing to settle with the tertiary parties involved with OS4, regardless of Hyperion.
It seems to me that the only future OS4 has under the auspices of AI, if any at all, are as a 'lite' version of AA/OS5. That is to say, they keep OS4 around to demonstrate how much 'better' AA2/OS5 is. And that's only if AA2/OS5 aren't merely vaporware and can actually offer some of what AI claim (specifically run as a native OS and really go toe-to-toe with Java & .Net).
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BTW, your argument that Hyperion's "inability to pay its contractors is a direct result of AI's sabotage" can just as well be applied the other way around. Maybe Amiga Inc. wouldn't have ended up in the financial bind that they did a few years back if Hyperion had delivered on time as they agreed to by the contract? Something which might also have prevented alot of their infamous track record that you mentioned.
Besides, what did Amiga Inc. do to "sabotage" AmigaOS4? If you're refering to that they didn't give Hyperion a license to develop for more hardware, you have to remember that they didn't complete the development for the hardware they did get a license for until very recently. What difference would it have made if they got to develop for any hardware they wanted, are you saying other hardware would be faster to develop for or something?
And once again, Hyperion drafted the contract themselves. They were as aware of the terms as anyone could be. To keep blaming the terms of the license agreement that they agreed to really isn't an excuse for anything. |
Then AI should have negotiated a hard dead line. Instead the gave Hyperion wiggle room by providing for Hyperion's "best effort". And if AI had insisted on a straight port of OS 3.1 instead of going along with the expansion-of-scope that ultimately led to today's OS4, things might have been different still.
While I agree and will concede that Hyperion should have drafted better terms with respect to OS4. Especially when KMOS got involved and Hyperion could have probably renegotiated the entire deal instead of continuing under the existing one (who knows, maybe they tried). You also seem to have forgotten something. The AmigaOne partner for hardware. After Eyetech dropped out, AI refused several overtures from parties wishing to take Eyetech's place. Granted this may not have been a good idea given that some endeavors were probably woefully inadequate. But this was after all AI's responsibility. They were the only ones allowed to issue a hardware license. Until Hyperion tried to usurp that responsibility.
[edit] Some variation of the following paragraph went missing first time around.
As to Hyperion's 'failure' (caveat, "best effort") to complete OS4 contributing to Eyetech's demise, I concede this point. I'm sure Eyetech was royally annoyed having A1's that could only run Linux and a marginally complete OS4. It also didn't help that MAI wen under. However, AI didn't help the situation any. AI could have renegotiated with Hyperion so AI could add additional programmers. Or invoked the buy-back clause then and there. Hiring Hyperions contractors or shop around for someone else to continue development. Perhaps then Eytech would have stuck around long enough to see if AI could get OS4 back on track.. That is if AI actually saw OS4 as derailed. No, instead AI was busy with DE/AA and pretty much ambivalent toward the Amiga Community... Until they needed to raise funds with a T-Shirt scam.
As for the speed of development. Most of the heavy lifting has been done. It's now a question of porting OS4 to other systems. If those systems are PCI based PPC motherboards, about the only hard part is writing drivers for the specific chipset (north/southbridge). Most everything else should fall into place, with the possible exception of SoC based solutions.Last edited by ShadesOfGrey on 30-Jan-2008 at 02:03 PM. Last edited by ShadesOfGrey on 30-Jan-2008 at 01:34 PM. Last edited by ShadesOfGrey on 30-Jan-2008 at 01:32 PM.
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