[News] Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardware | ANN.lu |
Posted on 25-May-2002 20:50 GMT by Seehund | 187 comments View flat View list |
There's a petition aimed at Amiga Inc. set up at http://www.petitiononline.com/amigaos/ for all those who disagree with Amiga Inc's presented plans regarding compulsory OS/hardware bundling and licensing.
An excerpt from the petition:
On April 12th, 2002, you, Amiga Inc., published your plans regarding distribution policies for the forthcoming AmigaOS4 in an "Executive Update" on your web site.
In short, what you say and what we the undersigned object against is this:
* Any hardware capable of running AmigaOS must first be modified with "AmigaOS specific extensions" to its "boot ROM" in order to be allowed to run AmigaOS.
* Such hardware and its distributors must be approved and licensed by Amiga Inc. and the hardware distributors must also sell and support AmigaOS4.
* AmigaOS will only be available bundled with such hardware.
We think that the above will seriously hurt AmigaOS users, the POP/PPC hardware market and thus ultimately you, Amiga Inc., yourselves.
To read the entire petition and sign it, please click here.
Before those imagining sides, factions, camps and personal enemies everywhere start commenting, it must be emphasised that this poll is not intended to "promote" anything else than the success of AmigaOS, the POP/PPC hardware market, free choice and ethical business practices.
|
|
List of all comments to this article |
Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardware : Comment 135 of 187 | ANN.lu |
Posted by Anonymous on 27-May-2002 13:08 GMT | I support Seehund's petition. Partly because I feel community initatives are a good idea (and I'd like to see a more varied and organised approach to it), and partly because I can see no valid reason for Amiga NOT to adopt a voluntary system akin to an Amiga 'Seal of Approval'.
This way, branded/approved systems are certified to conform to Amiga Inc specifications, while hardware developers are given much more to freedom to make their own hardware, without being bonded to a draconian licensing policy that forces them to ship AmigaOS with every machine they manufacture.
It also allows for the potential of OS 4 being developed for a variety of "unlicensed/unapproved" hardware, such as generic PowerPC/CHRP, PowerMac, Intel x86 etc hardware, and reach a larger audience.
I still think Amiga would be better off just openning up the whole OS project - open source it, and set up a funding mechanism to reward participating developers - and push AmigaOS into new markets. Then they can leverage the attention and support from new users and developers to help them get software written for AmigaDE, where they can make their money back.
But regardless of this, *compulsary* licensing is not the way to IMHO. If having a 100% compatible system IS your number one priority, go get a branded/approved system. If not, a clear warning that non-approved/non-branded systems won't be supported and may not be compatible is enough of a warning to disclaim Amiga Inc responsibility; the manufacturer will then be responsible for support issues.
AmigaOS development need not take into account unapproved systems as Amiga Inc will owe nothing to non-approved systems, but it will open up more choice and flexibility for manufacturers, and thus by logical extention, us users and developers. |
|
List of all comments to this article (continued) |
|
- User Menu
-
- About ANN archives
- The ANN archives is powered by #AmigaZeux. It was updated daily (news last: 22-Oct-2004; comments last: 18-May-2005).
ANN.lu was created, previously owned and maintained by Christian Kemp, www.ckemp.com.
- Contribute
- Not possible at this time!
- Search ANN archives
- Advanced search
- Hosting
- ANN.lu was hosted by Dreamhost. Sign up through this link, mention "ckemp" as referrer and he will get a 10% commission on any account you purchase.
Please show your appreciation for any past, present and future work on ANN.lu by making a contribution via PayPal.
|