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Internet News   Internet News : Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
   posted by tomazkid on 5-Oct-2007 13:39:56 (12995 reads)
Amigaweb.net has finally received the answers to the Q&A with Bill McEwen.



Source: Amigaweb.net.

1) Do you think Adam from ACK Software Controls, as a single person, is capable enough to create reliable OS4 compatible hardware?

We are very confident in his abilities, and we are very pleased with the progress that has been made so far. Adam is creating the reference products that will be manufactured by another company and they will be the ones that make the hardware.

2) Do you have any contact with ACube or Troika regarding new hardware?

We do not.

3) Is there any hope of OS4 capable hardware released in 2007?

That is the plan, and hope.

4) Is there any hope for and OS4 licence for Elbox?

Unfortunately, because of legal proceedings, I cannot comment on matters related to OS 4.

5) Why don't you license/start selling Acube's Mac port of OS4 (project Moana)?

Same answer as the answer for number 4.

6) Why is not OS4 for Sam worked out yet? Regardless of the trial I guess both Hyperion and Amiga Inc. wants Amiga OS4 to be sold for that platform, or? So why wait?

Same answer as the answer for number 4.

7) What kind of hardware will OS5 be designed for?

OS5 scales to its host hardware, so anything from mobile phones through stbs, consoles up to servers. Initially covering software hosts Windows-D, Windows Mobile, Linux-D, Linux-E and Symbian for x86 and ARM, and possibly any high profile hardware host.

8) Why couldn't you licence Individual Computers Amiga 500 clone Projetc A? ( It seems like a product that could generate a lot of revenue. Just look at the success of the C64 DTV)

I am not familiar with this company or project. I would need to speak with someone there; my e-mail is bill@amiga.com

Software:

9) Are there any plans for further development of Amiga OS4 if you're able to obtain the source codes?

Amiga intends to continue development of Amiga OS4 once legal matters have been resolved.

10) Is Amiga OS4 for mobile, set top boxes or other devices planned?

Please see the answer to question 4.

11) Is Amiga OS4 for x86 planned or of interest?

Please see the answer to question 4.

12) Amiga OS4 is working pretty well in it's current state, and the main problem at the moment is a severe lack of serious developers to create modern software. For instance web browsers, email clients, ftp clients, office software, video editing, sound editing, games, and so on. Do Amiga Inc. have any plans to support development groups or hire people to get these things fixed/done?

Please see the answers to questions 4 and 9.

13) If Amiga Inc. is unable to secure OS4 from Hyperion, will the new Amiga OS5 be totally different from OS4, and will it be able to run OS3.x and OS4.x applications?

OS 5 details will be more public in the 4th quarter this year. Then you will have your answers to this question.

14) What efforts will Amiga put in place to ENSURE that any transition of ownership will not hinder development and testing of OS4?

Not quite sure that I understand the question.

15) If you do secure OS4 sources, will you include parts of OS4 in OS5?

We want to continue working with the OS 4 team and share with them where we are in progress with 5, and then we can better determine the answer to this question.

16) You've claimed earlier that OS5 will be better than Mac OS X. Can you tell us in what way?

Details for OS 5 will be made public in the 4th quarter of 2007, and then you will have a much clearer understanding and I will let you decide if what I know to be true is accurate.

17) Could you give us some information, tell us about some of the features, and what the current status of OS5 is?

OS 5 is ahead of schedule, and we will be making public announcements concerning the product in the 4th quarter of this year.

18) Where is the OS5 development team located, and how many people are working on the project?

The current team members are in California, Washington, Michigan, England, New Zealand, Germany and Canada. More members are being added and the team will double before the end of this year as we are moving into other areas of development.

19) Will OS5 be a completly independent OS, or will it be hosted on some other platform?

Details will be given out to the public later this year.

20) When will there be a SDK for Amiga OS5?

Those details will be forthcoming.

21) How many people work at Amiga Development India, and is this company used at all for development of Amiga OS or Amiga related software development?

We currently have 63 employees in India and there are no members of the Amiga India team working on OS 5. They are working on other Amiga related products and initiatives. They also have their own products that were purchased by Amiga at the time of the acquisition and these are being sold in certain Asian markets.

22) What is the status of Amiga Anywhere and the situation with Tao?

Amiga Anywhere was in process of moving to our own solution, and this new solution is part of the new OS. The Tao situation simply moved up our timeline, as we expect to have the new Amiga Anywhere available in the next 30 days for public use and development.

Business:

23) What do you think will be gained by spending $10 million on the Kent Events Center?

This would have been an investment in technology. There are numerous new technologies that Amiga has developed or recently acquired, and the Event Center would have allowed us to deploy and test these technologies in a real world environment. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach a definitive agreement regarding the Kent Events Center.

24) Wouldn't it be better to spend the kent center money on end-user product development, or to resolve the issue with Hyperion, for instance by buying the whole company?

The Kent Events Center would have been an excellent investment for Amiga. However, we have moved on.

25) Discreet FX offered a while ago to buy Amiga Inc, is Amiga Inc for sale if the right price is offered?

We never received an offer to purchase Amiga. We received a questionnaire. Amiga is not for sale.

26) Can you tell us anything about your investors (Is their focus on OS4/OS5 or something else)?

Our investors are focused on our making money. From a technology standpoint they are focused on our core IP and building on our operating system work.

27) How do you respond to the questions regarding your integrity that have been raised in the local press such as the Seattle Times and the Kent Reporter?

My integrity is intact. Everything that we have said that we were going to accomplish we are indeed accomplishing. Almost every member of the Amiga team that was here from 2000 on is still with us. The rest of the team is here, and we are working together. I have also learned that the press can say anything they want to say, and print quotes with your name attached to them whether you said them or not.

28) In the era of the Mac mini, iPhone, $100 laptop, and Efika, what innovative products can Amiga Inc. bring to the information technology market?

Our plans and product strategy take all of the above question items and others into account. Until I am able to show it to you, I will just have to say that there is plenty of places for Amiga to succeed.

29) How will you get your products into mainstream computer stores?

Our products will be part of other larger company solutions. Amiga is the glue.

30) What is Pentti Kouri's business strategy with Amiga, Inc.? Was he the driving force behind the naming rights deal with the city of Kent?

Please see the answer to question 26. Other than that, I can’t speak for Dr. Kouri.

31) Do you have any contact with the current Commodore company?

NDA’s do not allow me to answer that question.

Lawsuit:

32) If Amiga/ITEC wins the lawsuit, how will you get access to parts of the sourcecode owned by the Friedens and external developers which are not included in the OS4-contract?

Amiga respects the valid intellectual property rights of developers. Otherwise, please see the answer to question 4.

33) Do you think the trial could be solved this year, or is this something that could drag out for years?

Please see the answer to question 4.

34) Is everything on hold until the trial is over?

Those projects that are Amiga OS 4 related are slowed down, but not on hold. We have moved the funds that were budgeted for OS 4 to OS 5 and two new products to accelerate their development.

35) Could you please elaborate how the expected returns from OS4 for a tiny niche market justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit?

Please see the answer to question 4.

36) How could you announce hardware availability in "Summer 2007" without having access to OS4-sources and with the knowledge that you start a complaint/lawsuit against Hyperion?

Please see the answer to question 4.

Other:

37) Is fleecy moss still actively involved with amiga inc?

Yes he is.

38) When can we expect any new announcements?

I would prefer not answering this question. It is not about announcements, it is about delivering products.

39) Will we see a return to Amiga being able to sponsor and attend Amiga shows in the UK & EU ?

We certainly hope so.

40) How do feel about making Amiga OS 1.0 to 3.1 Open Source?

Not going to happen.

Final notes – When we started our work as a team in 2000 we had many great plans and several OEM’s, deals and goals to lead Amiga and the community to a bright new future.
Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned. Products have been delayed and resources were devoted to areas that did not produce what we needed, or what the community had asked for.
We are working very hard on delivering and building the products that you have asked for, and that you need.
I have been reminded time and again about the “Amiga curse.” I certainly can say that there has been more than one time where I considered this to be real.
Today, we are an Amiga that is here to prove that not only is the curse not true, but that we are here to create and deliver products. That we are here to ship products, and while the Hyperion situation is a distraction it is certainly not everything that Amiga is. We are a tenacious group, and when others would have given up we stayed with it, and we are going to deliver.
Bill McEwen
Amiga, Inc.
bill@amiga.com
Tel: ****************
Fax: ****************
    

STORYID: 3980
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PosterThread
number6 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 15:58:34
#21 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@tomazkid

Quote:
or
d) he was forbidden to answer that by the lawyers.


Nope.

He DID answer it.
A non-answer would be like his other non-answers "Please see the answer to question 4."
In THIS case the question was asked and answered.

Quote:
8) Why couldn't you licence Individual Computers Amiga 500 clone Projetc A? ( It seems like a product that could generate a lot of revenue. Just look at the success of the C64 DTV)

I am not familiar with this company or project. I would need to speak with someone there;


#6


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Fransexy 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 15:58:39
#22 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 8-Jun-2004
Posts: 2334
From: Elche (Alicante), spain

Unfortunately, because of nonsense proceedings, I cannot comment on matters related to this Q&A.


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kirka 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:08:31
#23 ]
Member
Joined: 14-Jun-2004
Posts: 94
From: Boston, MA

@Hans

Can you compare OS 5 running on a software host to a mainstream product?

Is anybody else selling an operating system to run on another operating systems? I am not talking about emulation OS's.

OS 5 just does not sound like an operating system to me.

Kirka

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jorkany 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:12:19
#24 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 1-May-2005
Posts: 920
From: Space Coast

These interview answers explain the open-sewer odor I've been smelling way over here in Florida today.

Last edited by jorkany on 05-Oct-2007 at 04:12 PM.


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jorkany 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:15:44
#25 ]
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Joined: 1-May-2005
Posts: 920
From: Space Coast

kirka,
Quote:
Is anybody else selling an operating system to run on another operating systems? I am not talking about emulation OS's.


Inferno. Though it isn't for sale, it's free:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_%28operating_system%29


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Kicko 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:20:30
#26 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 19-Jun-2004
Posts: 5009
From: Sweden

I like the answer to the question:
38) When can we expect any new announcements?

EDIT: I feel positive energy in the air ;)

Last edited by Kicko on 05-Oct-2007 at 04:21 PM.

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BinoX 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:34:01
#27 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 2-Nov-2005
Posts: 711
From: Cornwall, UK

Quote:
31) Do you have any contact with the current Commodore company?

NDA’s do not allow me to answer that question.


So.. "Yes" then? Since if there wasn't any contact there would be no NDA to stop him from answering :)

--edit-- Scratch the rest of this post.. was just me whinging and nit-picking and wasn't very constructive at all...

I hope that SOMETHING happens in this quarter anyway...

Last edited by BinoX on 05-Oct-2007 at 04:38 PM.
Last edited by BinoX on 05-Oct-2007 at 04:37 PM.


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walkero 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:34:58
#28 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 4-Mar-2004
Posts: 396
From: Athens

Is the "Please see the answer to question 4." a new Amiga trademark, like "When it's done."?


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number6 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:41:26
#29 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@walkero

Quote:
Is the "Please see the answer to question 4." a new Amiga trademark, like "When it's done."?

Dunno. But it sure makes more sense than his response about Individual Computers and Jens Schoenfeld. Sheesh!

#6


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Gleng 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:57:37
#30 ]
Super Member
Joined: 12-Dec-2004
Posts: 1071
From: Blighty

@Wiesel

Quote:
...all eMails in the context of licensing the kickstart 1.3 binary file, the price for 250.000 units and finally getting me a proof of ownership of said binary file.


Maybe he just forgot! Yes, that must be it!

@Bill McEwen

Quote:
Details for OS 5 will be made public in the 4th quarter of 2007


Hmmmm! I'm sure they will! *nods head enthusiastically*

Last edited by Gleng on 05-Oct-2007 at 04:58 PM.


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AmigaPapst 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:57:45
#31 ]
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Joined: 2-Nov-2003
Posts: 634
From: Amigavatikan


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Wiesel 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:58:00
#32 ]
Member
Joined: 24-Dec-2003
Posts: 42
From: in the cloud

Seems like he does remember me, and finally, after his last eMail in february, he promises again to have his lawyers contact me. I'll keep you updated.

Oh, the Header points to him having a new computer now. First it was "Billsbox", then "BillsCompaq", and now just "com", which is a result of Outlook V12 not putting the computer's ID in the MSGID. However, the mailservers do:

Received: from BillMcEwenPC (207-225-233-228.tukw.qwest.net [207.225.233.228])
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 09:15:16 -0700
Message-ID: 004201c8076a$ebae0fc0$c30a2f40$@com

I'll keep you updated (though I have something far better than Kick1.3 now).

ciao,
Jens

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RobertDupuy 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:58:16
#33 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 1-May-2003
Posts: 125
From: Unknown

Why does Bill even bother? Most of the people he really disappointed aren't even here anymore to convince...and he woudln't convince them, regardless.

Basically he is trying to get a reaction from the last few hangers on....the Amiga community isn't even about Amiga OS anymore...to be frank.

We are typing from our Mac and XP machines, and we love some old games, but, except for a just a few of us, our favorite games are running on PC, or Xbox, or PS3, or Wii...

our daily OS is LInux, or Mac, or Windows...

our business interests long moved on...

This is an old habit. It's also a community.... but its probably the last community to be interested in Bill's proclamations, which have a long history of turning into nothing...and ACK isn't looking any brighter as a choice.

We are just waiting for the bitter announcement why it didn't work and the finger of blame pointing back at the community...nothing new.

Poor people in Kent...they didn't know what was going to hit them, but WE DO!

Forget it Bill!

I've never been more proud of this community....for so many years it was split vs. 'optimist' vs. 'realist'...and now we all are 'realists' thanks to Amiga... we will invest our optimism in projects that warrant it.

Last edited by RobertDupuy on 05-Oct-2007 at 05:00 PM.

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ssolie 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 16:59:20
#34 ]
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Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 2755
From: Alberta, Canada

@number6
Quote:
Dunno. But it sure makes more sense than his response about Individual Computers and Jens Schoenfeld. Sheesh!

I know it is bash-Bill's-head-in day but people do make mistakes and forget things.

Now observe as I am immediately labeled an apologist for not grabbing a pitchfork and joining the mob again.


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Seer 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:00:23
#35 ]
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Joined: 27-Jun-2003
Posts: 3725
From: The Netherlands

Quote:
I like the answer to the question:
38) When can we expect any new announcements?

EDIT: I feel positive energy in the air ;)


An announcement will be announced as soon as we have an announce-able announcement that can be announced otherwise we won’t announce the announcement that will have the announcement.

Or something like that..


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Seer 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:02:24
#36 ]
Team Member
Joined: 27-Jun-2003
Posts: 3725
From: The Netherlands

@Sollie,

You're forgiven, BAF..


/edit

I do agree with the statement, notice also that he forwarded this to AW (and Amigans.net ?) and not to the intended Amigaweb.net webmaster.

Last edited by Seer on 05-Oct-2007 at 05:08 PM.


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Gleng 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:07:16
#37 ]
Super Member
Joined: 12-Dec-2004
Posts: 1071
From: Blighty

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, to be honest.


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number6 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:20:43
#38 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@ssolie

Quote:
I know it is bash-Bill's-head-in day but people do make mistakes and forget things.


Heh! I'm not upset with anyone really. I am just continually having to post over and over how crappy communications is here between literally everyone.
I don't even know when this latest q/a was actually written and can't even put it into a perspective (time frame) with the "open letter" and other communications.
If the developers and parent companies had chosen to use the protected forum on AW that we took the time to create FOR them, we could avoid a lot of this confusion.
*sigh*

#6


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wajdy 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:21:13
#39 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 27-Oct-2006
Posts: 192
From: Amigania

Quote:
31) Do you have any contact with the current Commodore company?
NDA's do not allow me to answer that question.

This could be a NEWS !

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fairlanefastback 
Re: Amigaweb.net Q&A With Bill Mcewen
Posted on 5-Oct-2007 17:33:27
#40 ]
Team Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2005
Posts: 4886
From: MA, USA

Quote:
Poster: wajdy Date: 5-Oct-2007 13:21:13

Quote:
31) Do you have any contact with the current Commodore company?
NDA's do not allow me to answer that question.

This could be a NEWS !


Time for us all to buy Commodore stock then I guess. LOL. Maybe Hyperion should too. The annual shareholders meeting is being held in their own counrty of Belgium later this month. At least it might be nice to have a voice from the Commodore side if Bill really has signed an NDA with them.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071003/20071003005709.html?.v=1

Quote:


Commodore Calls an Annual Shareholders Meeting
Wednesday October 3, 8:55 am ET


BAARN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Commodore International Corporation (OTC:CDRL - News) has announced that its annual shareholders meeting will be held on 31 October 2007, at 4:00 PM, at the Hilton Hotel Antwerp, Belgium. The agenda for the meeting was also announced.

This call for the annual shareholders meeting, together with the agenda and proxy form, has been placed on the corporate website found at www.commodorecorp.com and has been sent out to all registered shareholders of the Company by post.

About Commodore

Commodore International Corporation (OTC: CDRL.PK - News) is a designer, creator and full-service provider of digital media products, content and services. The company sells a complete line of portable digital media products under the Commodore brand, and provides legal media downloads and streams which enables consumers to wirelessly access a wide catalogue of content straight from their own device.

Last edited by fairlanefastback on 05-Oct-2007 at 05:40 PM.
Last edited by fairlanefastback on 05-Oct-2007 at 05:39 PM.


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