"Hyperion and Cloanto allegedly close to finalizing settlement"

[kolla]

One more week!

And then?

[kolla]

So just hot air as usual.
How utterly unsurprising, tit-to-tit talks with Hyperion never worked for anyone before either.

[kolla]

Well done to both parties for screwing what little is left in AMiga OS.

Soon enough it will be time for Hyperion to play the "bankrupt, but not bankrupt" game again, this time in the Netherlands. There are some good reasons to move to the Netherlands, for example some Caribbean islands outside of European juristictions... Belgium does not have such.

[kolla]

Right. When reporting a robbery, it’s important to be fair and balanced and blame both sides equally.

Knuckleheads.

[kolla]

And which of the inanely litigious companies do you think should not be blamed for this mess?

Claonto.

I am not a huge Cloanto fan per se, but wow are there are lot of misconceptions about what Cloanto's contributions have been over the years - they are accused of "milking" despite financing and supporting development of UAE through the years. As well as other projects.

No one is benefitting from this. Not either of them, not other developers, not customers. No one.

Certain individuals at Hyperion benefit from having a semi-operational shell company.

[kolla]

It is quite possible to only open source what legally can be open sourced, and leave the rest closed sourced. This is exactly how it works with operation systems like macOS and even Windows. In time, closed source components can be replaced with open source components, if that is desirable, and by user’s choice.

Regarding rights and licenses, it is just as questionable that all of them were transferable to post-commodore owners in the first place, it can be just as “illegal” for Hyperion...

[kolla]

Who? The willing party, Cloanto. How? By research and contacting original owner/authors. As I am sure you are aware, most of the source files do have copyright and license information.

[kolla]

Your contributions are irrelevant to the topic of open sourcing OS 3.1 - of course there will have to be a new start, again. I have been saying this all along.

[kolla]

No purpose for you perhaps, but then why would you care one way or the other?
People have been doing things with the OS 3.1 sources, but keeping it private. Except you and Gulliver of course, you had no issues releasing various leaked v42 components in BB3+4, legal or not.

[kolla]

If you believe that a closed model is "undemocratic", I disagree. This is not "dictatorship". Democraty does not mean "everybody does what (s)he likes", but "finding consensus" and "finding compromizes" between multiple interests.

Look at your own team then - it consists exactly of people who have been doing whatever they liked, even when it meant distributing AmigaOs components that are copyrighted and closed source. And I have been told by several people who are officially involved with OS development, that the software license is to be ignored. Well, duh. So clearly legality and morals means nothing for neither the OS team nor Hyperion, and we are back to everyone doing whatever the f they want, share and enjoy. As long as you’re one of cool guys. If not, expect all kinds of threats, from white knights and “officials”.

The consensus has been clear and obvious for years - Amiga OS should be made freely available for anyone to alter, hack, modify, compile, develop and distribute as she or he likes, without having to worry about legal nonsense.

[kolla]

I have attempted to reach some in the past, as an individual. And it is a legal mess: some people have passed away, and that makes things even harder.

So how do Hyperion get away with it? They have contacts to “the other side”?

The problem is that there is no consensus at all: everyone and their cat want a different thing. That is why we have companies fighting each other, users going different routes, and amigans trolling other amigans.

Exactly, there is no consensus and never will be, so what is the point in pretending.

[kolla]

And I have been told by several people who are officially involved with OS development, that the software license is to be ignored. Well, duh.

Discussion is one thing. Lying into the face of everyone by making such claims is another. Nobody told everyone to ignore licenses. Actually, if we had been told to ignore licenses, we would have delivered Reaction as part of 3.1.4 right away. Kolla, this is slander, and it has been reported to the moderators.

Excuse, but this is no lie - and you very well know it. The software licenses for OS 3.1.4 has quite a few unclear points and quite a few requirements and demands that I find unacceptable. Hence I refuse to buy more copies than the one I did buy (original 3.1.4 with shrink-wrap license not presented at PoS, but after PoS), and only have 3.1.4 installed on a Minimig (still no straight answer from any “official” whether installing and using 3.1.4 on Minimig is in accordance with the license) - yet you have been saying over and over that nothing stops me from buying more copies for my other systems. Also I have been told “who reads licenses anyways” and similar.

If anyone is doing slander here, it is you and not me.

It’s no secret that Gulliver and later Minuous were the ones behind BB3+4 - which also contain components from the leaked source archive - what is the legal status of BB3+4?

[kolla]

I have repeatedly asked the vendor, Hyperion, for clarification on the official support forum, through mail and through the consumer rights channels. No answer. How do one “return” a copy that Hyperion keeps available for me to download? How do one reclaim the money from a seller that does not communicate?

[kolla]

Luckily, I am not your customer then. Gulliver wrote some days ago that “the writing is on the wall” and that open sourcing is unavoidable...  he is certainly giving the impression of being part “the team”, having access to code and whatnot. And as usual, Hyperion remains silent.

[kolla]

Should Thomas be civil too, and abstain from personal attacks against people who don’t share his views, or does he have some sort of carte blanche because of his “position”?