[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.
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Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardware : Comment 169 of 187 | ANN.lu |
Posted by gz on 28-May-2002 05:55 GMT | In reply to Comment 163 (Graham): >Well, as has been pointed out, if I wanted to sell my Xyzzy PPC motherboard into the Amiga market, >I go to Amiga and get it certified, and then I can sell it into the Amiga market, with the OS at the same time.
The amiga market is so small that it is more than unlikely that any xyzzy pop motherboard manufacturer would ever want to try it out on our flea markets. Having to sign a compulsory licence deal with AI for getting a "permission" will even harder scare 3'rd party manufacturers away from us.
Why would any company outside amiga community want to go through such a strange legal proceeding when they don't have to do that in the "real" world? Especially when our small market doesen't seem to justify worth going through all the trouble.
In my opinion software is made for HW and not HW made for software. A strictly software company shouldn't be in a position allowing them to dictate hardware manufacturers of how to proceed with their products or how to sell them.
You can say that nobody has to sign the licence (which they don't) but that is no good for us customers either because it would leave us short with another possibly good HW choice. We can say all beautiful things we can think of this compulsory licence deal, but we will always end up with a closed market in which AInc has control over a market it does not own. Owning a brand name does not give you the right to claim control over an area of industry in which a software company has no part of.
Even microsoft with their dubious business "ethics" isn't dictating intel and amd what to do with their mobo design and selling.
No, the only market which allows a stunt like this pulled off, is the amiga market which has such a marginal and loyal following and where the hunger for seeing new products for the past 8 years has grown so big that it can blind them.
There are good aspects in the licence aswell, such as the stated software piratism control, and the quality of service assurance. However these things sound more like an excuse to me to cover the control over the market part of the deal. It's about securing profits of future AmigaOS's with the "expense" of 3'rd parties. In overall it's a good plan that can benefit AInc and the customer with possibly better and more reliable service.
It doesen't make it right to "gently force" HW manufacturers to secure Amiga Inc's profits, a task that the company should try to do themselves, one way or the other. It's ANY software company's own problem how they intend to tackle piratism in their products. It's not the problem of a 3'rd party HW company. They have their own problems, such as setting up a reliable service and help network. And if they don't do that, it should mean they don't get Amiga certified, BUT it shouldn't restrict them from selling a product freely in our market.
The freedom of choice should be on the customer.
Whew... Anyways that's all just my opinion so don't sweat it if you don't agree :)
I can't be more right than you are because we both have valid points, just from different sides of the coin. |
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