Better terms? thats purely speculative.
Better board deal...the same
Pay less fo the same funtionality still pure speculation.
Of course; all any of us can do is speculate based on what we've read or heard. Works the same for all sides.
That Bill Buck intends to thereby remove choice and competition from the market for both consumers and the companies involved is fact.
People who want AmigaOS on PPC have exactly one hardware choice now, so that won't change. Hyperion has exactly one motherboard for AOS right now, so that won't change. How do you see choice being reduced? The only changes are that Amiga, Inc. is out of the equation, but it more or less deserves to be, in the opinion of many people. And that the Teron board gets replaced by a Pegasos. Are Amiga fans really all that excited about MAI Teron boards that much already? People criticized Genesi for "splitting the market." Now, with this idea that the market is consolidated, they're going to get criticized for that, too? Strange (and illogical) that some people feel they're right complaining about it both ways.
Nor is he "working with the community" as he so often likes to tout.
Well, if you realized the cost of all of those subsidized and free boards, all the traveling to shows, etc. that now the company is even getting flamed for (for some reason), you might reconsider that. Apart from the fact that there are winners and losers in the business world and Amiga, Inc. seems destined to join the losers, I don't think Genesi has really failed to work with elements of the community, as a rule. Please be more specific, if you want to pursue this point.
From the word go he could have lisenced OS4 for the pegasos gotten it certified
From what I understand, this was not a realistic possibility given the conditions Amiga, Inc. wanted to place on Genesi, involving Genesi's internal information and so on.
The same holds true for a significant portion of the community
Well, I don't know how well you can speak for others. In any case, the number of people who want to boycott Genesi for personality reasons is no doubt very small compared to the potential market including both "amiga" and areas beyond such as Linux and embedded systems and so on. So I don't think anyone's going to be losing sleep over these guys. I know I wouldn't, nor would anyone else trying to run a business.
this is just another way the community will be hurt.
Sorry, but I think you're projecting your emotionalism. A market is rarely hurt by a better product at lower cost. Buyouts and consolidations happen. Companies grabbing market share happens. The benefit or harm to the consumer depends on the product details and support details. I know for a fact that Genesi has been very supportive of developers, insofar as conditions allow. But the negative attitude of people such as yourself is a distraction. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Genesi doesn't need to sharpen up its management and Bill Buck couldn't use a little more diplomacy and forethought in his dealings with people at times. But consider the flames he's had to face ever since deciding to dare market a product on hallowed Amiga, Inc. territory. Most people, certainly less hard ones, would have given up long ago. Now think about "fewer choices": an Amiga market led by severely indebted and essentially dead Amiga, Inc.(and don't blame Genesi's lawyers for that -- the facts of the timing don't support that claim), dependent for hardware on outsiders who have nothing to do with the market traditionally and are considered by many to have basic technical flaws in their products etc etc. That'd be a sad state.
I heard a rumour that Gary Hare was taking over as CEO of Genesi, so perhaps there is hope.
Well, rumor has it he would have been good for Amiga; unfortunately he had a look around and realized the futility there. I imagine he'd be a valuable addition at Genesi as well.
-- gary_c
