Anarchic_Teapot : "Time and money, both things they can ill afford?"
As meerschaum rightly points out, it would not cost Ainc either time nor money. :-P
"The Amiga community itself is not large, and DE doesn't even run on the official AmigaOS yet."
This is quite true - but at the end of the day, who are Ainc marketting their product to anyway? I haven't seen any Amiga ads in any PC or Mac magazine, in fact the Amiga community is all they have left. After all who would be daft enough to shell out THAT kind of money for software that is more expensive and less developed that its peers? :-o
As for relying on future Pegasos sales, that's a bit difficult when the current model is supposed to be practically sold out and there's no sign as yet of the touted replacement.
Eh! Are you suggesting that the Pegasos is not going to be successful by suggesting that Ainc shouldn't, "Rely on future Pegasos sales?". If so, why do you then go on to say that the current Pegasos range has "Practically sold out". Thats a bit of a paradox, but in any case, you seem to have missed the point of the discussion - why do Ainc not allow the DE to be ported onto parallel hardware? :-?
I personally think bhoggett has hit the nail on the head as at the end of the day, what do Ainc have other than a trademark monopoly on the Amiga? You have to defend you IP in situations where the business will lose money as a result. I guess it all breaks down to 2 avenues for Amiga to follow:
1. Business model - release a solo product that fulfills all the needs of the community; aggressively protect their IP and succeed with superior software.
2. Community model - allow a group effort incorporating all the community sectors that make our current community. [open amiga anyone?]
I see merits in both models, but of course, Amiga for me means passion and not money, so I would prefer model 2!
By all means have your beliefs, but try to season them with a bit of perspective
OK. I will. I have been waiting almost 10 years for some sort of development on a 'new amiga' and now it seems that all I see is a torn community and wasted effort. I'm, close to giving up on this scene (as it seems so are others) so what would you prefer Mr. Teapot : A product or another Lawsuit?