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Super Member |
Joined: 19-Jun-2005 Posts: 1714
From: Melbourne, Australia | | |
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| @COBRA
Quote:
Are you suggesting that AInc denied to give license to sell OS4 for hardware other than the no-longer-produced A1, because they thought demand was too low? |
I am suggesting just that, yes. If there had been a demand for 100,000 units, AI could have made a (small) killing on licensing fees alone. If there was demand for 100,000 units of hardware, and 100,000 copies of OS4, demand which has a limited shelf life ---- do you really think Hyperion and AI would fail to come to some sort of agreement on how to exploit that demand, part the prospective customers from their money, and actually for once in their life make a profit on something?
100,000 units at, say, $500, with $200 of that being profit --- that's 20 million bucks. Yes, they would squabble over percentages, but if each day of squabbling reduced the total by 500 units (i.e. a hundred grand profit), how long do you think the squabbling would last?
Instead, you have to do those calculations with a short-term demand of 1000 units or less. Let's for the sake of the argument assume 1000. And let's even assume that you could still make $200 profit per unit (yeah, right --- your development cost per unit just went up 100-fold, and your production cost probably doubled or tripled... but hey, it's just an argument, so let's ignore reality). Now you have $200,000 to play with, and most of that will still be there three months from now. Where is the incentive to come to an agreement? A share of $200k is simply not enough for either party to be motivated. It's not going to make anybody rich, or happy, or even look good to their respective financiers. Heck, producing 1000 units of licensed OS4 hardware right now at $500 would achieve exactly one thing --- it would show that there is no market for 1,000 units of OS4 at that price.
Oh, and as for "AInc denying a license" --- you *are* aware that AInc would *love* to license their operating system AmigaOS 4 to hardware developers, yet has this minor little problem of not actually *having* their OS because the company contracted to write it is holding it hostage, don't you?
Or you could adopt Hyperion's view, which has consistently (at least until December last year) been that any hardware other than the A1 and the classics is not covered by the existing OS4 development/licensing contract, and that thus obviously Hyperion releasing OS4 for other hardware would require a new contract between Hyperion and AI --- which getting might just have become ever-more problematic due to the way Hyperion has treated AI regarding their last contract.
At least, this time Hyperion had the good graces to return the money. Of course, that only highlights that they kept it the other time.....
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