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[News] Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardwareANN.lu
Posted on 25-May-2002 20:50 GMT by Seehund187 comments
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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
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Comment 1Ole-Egil Hvitmyren25-May-2002 18:56 GMT
Comment 2JoBBo25-May-2002 19:09 GMT
Comment 3Jürgen25-May-2002 19:10 GMT
Comment 4Jack Me25-May-2002 19:15 GMT
Comment 5Prang25-May-2002 19:26 GMT
Comment 6Darrin25-May-2002 19:50 GMT
Comment 7Joe "Floid" Kanowitz25-May-2002 20:03 GMT
Comment 8Leif25-May-2002 20:09 GMT
Comment 9Adam Kowalczyk25-May-2002 20:15 GMT
Comment 10Troels E25-May-2002 20:20 GMT
Comment 11KenH25-May-2002 20:29 GMT
Comment 12Seehund25-May-2002 20:48 GMT
Comment 13Troels E25-May-2002 20:50 GMT
Comment 14KenH25-May-2002 21:05 GMT
Comment 15Clousseau25-May-2002 21:12 GMT
Comment 16Joe "Floid" Kanowitz25-May-2002 21:18 GMT
Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardware : Comment 17 of 187ANN.lu
Posted by Adam Kowalczyk on 25-May-2002 22:08 GMT
In reply to Comment 12 (Seehund):
Seehund wrote:
> BTW, you sound like it's a bad thing to want to run AmigaOS on a Pegasos or
> whatever hardware of your choice?
I'm not opposed to seeing AmigaOS on the Pegasos or any other PPC hardware for that matter. Frankly, I'd like to see OS 4.x run on Powermacs as Ebay can supply all the used PPC's the Amiga market could consume. I don't see companies lining up to make PPC motherboards either. Reference designs have been available for years, yet it's only now that MAI/Eyetech and the Far East manufacturer are putting a PPC board out for general market consumption. Even in this case, MAI needed a product to sell it's product and Eyetech needed a PPC solution for an Amiga. Everything just fell in place.
> The point is that no hardware manufacturer/distributor should have to apply
> for a license and start selling someone else's software in the first place,
> not if the software company in question wishes that their OS should be at
> least moderately successful. Amiga Inc. are in no position to demand anything
> from hardware distributors.
Amiga is in a position where it needs to protect its partners and its' IP. The relatively fragile nature of the company warrants the protection that they are putting into the boot ROMs. Hardware cannot be easily or readily duplicated whereas software can. The licensing issue is to protect Amiga, Hyperion, and other players from people going out and buying a non-licensed board and snagging a copy of the OS off the internet or their buddy. If a portion of your business makes an OS as a saleable product, wouldn't you want to protect it? It's just too easy to copy software.
> Even if a petition aimed at bplan to make them accept another company's
> licensing conditions would succeed, you'd still have to repeat that petition ?> for any other current or future POP mobo distributor. The obstacle needs to ?> be removed. Also, if the obstacle isn't removed the chances of seeing future > POP designs and distributors to petition are reduced. There is a POP market
> already, albeit small. That could grow much faster if AmigaOS was allowed to > share the exact same hardware as other PPC OSes and became an addition to
> that POP market.
There is a POP market, I agree. Most of them are lining up to buy the AmigaOne or the so-called LinuxOne and possibly the Pegasos. I'm not convinced they are thinking "AmigaOS". I'm pretty confident they are thinking "LinuxPPC" and they are willing to buy a board capable of running Linux if sold at a reasonable price. So again, I get back to the previous point I've made about directing your petition at bPlan. If enough people want the AmigaOS on the Pegasos, then bPlan should have the sense to agree to the licensing terms. If they don't, they'll lose a customer. That is how the free-market works. You can't walk into a GM dealer and scream and jump up and down and demand a Ford engine.
> Stop thinking "bplan... Eyetech... bplan... Eyetech...".
> Think "AmigaOS... PPC hardware... AmigaOS... PPC hardware...".
I am thinking AmigaOS and PPC hardware. It's just that I support the licensing agreement and have no problem with purchasing an AmigaOne. When Matay delivers the SharkPPC, I'm sure I'll put one of those into my Amiga Classic as well.
> Once again, this petition is NOT pro- or anti- to any of the current one or
> two mobos. The idea is to GET AWAY from thinking about specific distributors > and labels.
Come on now, do you believe that you're petition is truly for the good of the Amiga community? I see it as another stake being driven into the heart of the community to accomplish the idealist dream of a few people that want to run AmigaOS on the Pegasos. I keep pointing this out because there aren't any other POP/PPC motherboard makers out there making motherboard in sufficient numbers. Why else would you start the petition? If there were a half dozen or so companies making absolutely compatible PPC hardware, it might make sense. Even if the AmigaOS was available for free, do you think somebody would step up to the plate and say "Amiga OS is free, let's make a PPC motherboard!" Linux is free and there are some excellent distributions out there, YellowDogLinux being my personal favourite, and there are not PPC vendors lined up around the corner to provide us with a workable solution.
Again, if you want AmigaOS on the Pegasos, petition them.
Adam
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