AMIWEST 2004: BEN HERMANS INTERVIEW


Read what Ben Hermans had to say today at Amiwest 2004 regarding the future of the Amiga, OS 4 and current developments.

The text is available now at SWAUG.org.uk Website


http://www.swaug.org.uk
South Wales Amiga User Group

@swaug

Cheers - definately a good short read

So whats all this about a secrect game project

Daz

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@swaug

Thanks for the transcript

The secret project....hmmm....A new Elite would be nice

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@swaug
Sounds very promising! The future is looking bright, and having a shortage of cd's after shipping 1000 is a very good start!

@jtubbs

The fact that they almost ran out of boards is OK. But what next? When will they manufacture more boards and what will be the batch size?

I have seen some posts of people that want to buy a new board, now that OS4p is here. But for instance, would a batch of another 1000 boards be a good decision?

I think this will be a tough decision. At least I know I wouldn't have clue on what to decide.

@swaug

3D for my 9200! Great!

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ikir

@jiyong

Quote:

But for instance, would a batch of another 1000 boards be a good decision?

Not at the moment, no. There are new A1 models nearly ready so Eyetech are not going to produce a batch of the old ones at this stage as the announcement of newer products would kill (or at least heavily dent) sales of the old stuff.

In the computer industry this is known as the 'osbourne effect' and I'm sure we're seeing an A1 shortage because Alan has been around long enough to know how easily it can kill a company stone dead.

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Quote:

Q: What about security and viruses? We are using security through obscurity, the PPC format is alien to x86 hackers.

Didn't quite like this bit tough.. Security should be a main issue theese days - troughout the whole design process.

@steego

Quote:

Didn't quite like this bit tough.. Security should be a main issue theese days - troughout the whole design process.

AmigaOS' only chance for security at the momemnt is security through obscurity - there is no other way. There is no multi-user file access, no isolated address spaces, nothing that can remotely guarantee security.

Lots of changes are required to get this in; and programs poking in system structures aren't going to make this any easier.

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@Rogue

> There is no multi-user file access, no isolated address spaces, nothing that can remotely guarantee security.

But it is on the plan for a future version? (No need to say when, but just if these IMHO much needed features, of many, are planned for a future AmigaOS version)

If you can and/or are allowed to say that is.

/Björn

@Rogue

Lots of changes are required to get this in; and programs poking in system structures aren't going to make this any easier.

Tho I understand the problem, maybe there needs to be some guidelines set out for programmers so if future versions of Amiga OS are going to use multi user support and security measures..

One problem here offcourse is that plans change..

[edit]

I suppose it's up to AmigaInc/KMOS to make this call.. And to set the standards for it

[/edit]

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@Orgin

Whilst the market is small we will be no worse off than we have been
with our classic Amigas.
There is plenty of antivirus sofware for OS 3.x and as far as I know
there is not yet a reason for OS 4 native Virus checker.
A third party firewall might be a good idea as more A1 users migrate
to broadband internet.

@Rob

Quote:

A third party firewall might be a good idea as more A1 users migrate to broadband internet.

Routers with built in firewall should do the job.

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@Orgin

Quote:

But it is on the plan for a future version? (No need to say when, but just if these IMHO much needed features, of many, are planned for a future AmigaOS version)

Aboslutely. It is possible in more than one degree, and we are working towards that. The scope is very important in this question.

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@Rogue

Okey, very good. Thanks for answering.

/Björn

@Seer

Quote:

Tho I understand the problem, maybe there needs to be some guidelines set out for programmers so if future versions of Amiga OS are going to use multi user support and security measures..

We are working towards providing API'S for all possible aspects. There needs to be both the means to avoid problematic accesses (by providing API's) as well as rules and means to enforce it (isolated address spaces etc). Like I said we are working in that direction, but it will not work for existing software. It will not come automatically.

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@Rogue

Sounds like you guys still have a lot of work to get through. Good luck.

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@DrBombcrater

Quote:

Not at the moment, no. There are new A1 models nearly ready so Eyetech are not going to produce a batch of the old ones at this stage as the announcement of newer products would kill (or at least heavily dent) sales of the old stuff.

My guess is that we would lose some sales if Eyetech wouldn't produce any boards until we get the micro A1. I would also like to stress that the micro boards will not substitute completely for the current G3/G4 boards.

Perhaps it would be a nice idea if Eyetech would replace the sound chipset. IIRC, the sound chipset on the micro A1 should work.

So what would be the minimal batch size that Eyetech would need to produce the current boards and keep the prices as they are now?

@jiyong

Quote:

My guess is that we would lose some sales if Eyetech wouldn't produce any boards until we get the micro A1. I would also like to stress that the micro boards will not substitute completely for the current G3/G4 boards.

A non-sale means you lose your profit margin but producing boards that won't sell costs the full cost of the board, which is several times higher.

The replacement for the XE board is the XC, and it seems that will be arriving in a similar time-frame to the microA1.

Quote:

So what would be the minimal batch size that Eyetech would need to produce the current boards and keep the prices as they are now?

Doing a production run, even a small one, costs large amounts of cash. Eyetech may not have the funds to order a batch of XEs when a run of MicroA1s (and possibly XCs) is on the horizon.

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@Rogue

Well I guess I'll have to be confident that you'll be keeping this in the back of your minds at all times

Atleast you're not bundling the os with explorer and outlook...