Amiga Inc answers your questions (updated)

[bassdude]

@ Plaz

Thanks for the Welcome. Been here for years and years just never posted. I'll take creamware over protools. :-D

It would be nice to get some serious audio apps running for amiga. Maybe one day. (creamware never though so i'll still have to run peecee  :-( )

[tomazkid]

@Bassdude

You could get in touch with DaveAE about soundcards you want support for.
He is doing a good job with making drivers for OS4, news about the latest cards supported here.

[Troika]

>>>I sent multiple emails to the prescribed technologylicensing@amiga.com but never received any response whatsoever. Not a list of questions, not an empty email, not a header, nothing at all.<<<

I could tell our story, but that would not be professional.  Our plans continue forward, and I await Hyperions irc at BB4. :-)

[jahc]

Quote:

We have been working since last November on locating a hardware partner for new PowerPC based hardware and we have made some slow but successful progress. I hope that this Hyperion issue can be rectified so that we can get it completed, and then we can get the hardware ready to ship.

Quote:

I have had conversations with the Freidens about this, and once we have the legal situation resolved then we can put that horse before the cart. If we can not do it with OS 4, then I am sure the FIVE can take care of that issue.

Quote:

We have made offers to Hyperion to resolve this matter that we believe are fair, but we have been turned down on three separate occasions.

I would really like a follow up to these quotes from Amiga Inc. Can you shed any more light on the situation? Is there an end in sight? Whats the problem exactly? Is Hyperion wanting too much?

This is really depressing. I'm a hardcore Amiga guy and I cant bear the thought of giving up Amigas again. But it looks like I'll have to with the current legal situation. I'm currently figuring out in my head which platform I'm going to switch to if needs be.

[System]

Updated 10:52pm Wednesday, Sept 13th :

Wayne Hunt -- Bill, there is a lot of concern that "OS5" is "just another add-on to Intent".

Bill McEwen : Amiga OS 5 is NOT built on top of Intent and it is not related to Tao. This is 100% Amiga and yes there is a path from OS 4 to OS 5.

[tomazkid]

@Wayne
Now that was a very good and needed clarification  :-)

[Tomas]

@Wayne
Thanks for clearing that up

[redrumloa]

Aros? :idea:

[legion]

miga OS 5 is NOT built on top of Intent and it is not related to Tao. This is 100% Amiga and yes there is a path from OS 4 to OS 5.

I wish he was clearer on this.  It could be "100% Amiga" and still just be a bunch of crap hoisted on top of a linux kernel.  Wayne: any chance you could ask him to share a bit of the design details?  is it OS3/4 based, at least?? :-?

[dammy]

This was an asset purchase agreement, and once completed, Amiga, Inc. of Washington (which now owned nothing) closed its doors.

However, Bolten Peck won his case against you and Amiga Inc WA in 2002.  Has Peck been repaid with the funds gained from the sale of Amiga IP, trademark, and other assets?  If not, why not since that was court ordered?  

We, the Amiga community, watched you burn through millions of dollars of VC money, then burn through your employees who were apart of our community and I won't even touch the "on schedule and rock'ng" non-truths that have been told.  Why should you, your fellow executive officers, or any of your corporation(s), ever be trusted again?

 :popcorn:

Dammy

[coldfish]

Re; OS5 talk.  
I'm happy Ainc have been forward-thinking enough not to let everything lie with Hyperion and OS4.  Though the OS5 talk sounds very premature, its nice to know theres one -official- possible future beyond PPC under way.

Ive always felt the host hardware is irrelevant, so long as its powerful and affordable, I could care less what architecture is printed on the silicon.

Having said that, when and if we ever see OS5, it will be interesting to see if a -commercial- Amiga based OS is of any real value compared to all the other -free- alternatives to Windows?  
Most people who were going to have already made the switch to Linux and settled in with it, they won't neccessarily want to switch-back to a closed commercial OS.

[narcea]

My two cents...

I contacted Amiga quite a while back about a business prospect and they responded quickly and professionally.
Have things changed?

Not to be negative but we need results not more promises.
I have been hanging out here for what seems like forever and I must tell you this sounds like the same old regurgitated junk.

I really think that if something doesn’t happen it’ll be the last straw for the community.
(how many are left?)

I have already gone from owning an Amiga 3000 (and 500) to running WinUAE to no Amiga at all. Yes I’ve tried AROS it’s far from ready. For years now I keep asking myself why I bother.

Bill I enjoyed reading your answers, a lot of it was pretty interesting but do me one favor…don’t answer anymore questions until you have a tangible product we can actually purchase. It doesn’t help when you reveal new (OS/Hardware) products while the ones you promised in the past have yet to come to fruition.

I understand you may have legal battles to fight and contracts you cannot talk about, really I do, but that’s not what I want to hear about anyway. What I want to hear is what product is available and where I can get it, look at it, smell it, and yes even taste it.

[NomadOfNor]

Well, one good question they would do good to answer:

Will there be emulation for Amiga OS 4 within AmigaOS 5, so that we can continue to use any programs developed for Amiga OS 4?  An answer to the affirmative on this would go far to dispel the fear among some of us now that OS 4 is a dead end even before it ships...   :-D

[weirdami]

es there is a path from OS 4 to OS 5

Cool. I wondered about how if Amiga was doing 5 while Hyperion was doing 4 if anyone would want 4 at all because five is coming and also if 5 wasn't at all to do with 4.

He did say something about how 5 may come out with 4 never having had come out, but also that Hyperion was  already paid and should get paid more, even though they owe Amiga money. It might be some kind of weirdness if there was a 5 without a 4 being released, but who really cares.

4 is pretty much already done anyway (according to Hyperion) so 5 CAN be based on it even though work is on-going on both of them

It's a little unusual that there had been no leaks or even rumors of OS5 being worked on at all. They must be a dedicated crew that keeps at it instead of going out and getting drunk and having their lips loosed by secret agents for the blue side. ;-) It's a little like the original Amiga crew in that respect... if my amazing speculation is correct. :-P

[amigadave]

This is what I read from the responses.

1.  Amiga Inc. and Hyperion are fighting each other over the rights to AmigaOS4.

2. Amiga Inc. has already executed their buy-back option and paid Hyperion, but Hyperion is unhappy with the amount they got, so they are fighting to keep AmigaOS4, or get more money.

3.  I am guessing that AmigaOS5 might be based on AmigaOS4, as it is conceivable that Amiga Inc. had access to an early version when they executed the buy-back option and paid Hyperion to help bail them out a little.

4.  It is not surprising that we don't have any AmigaOS4 hardware at this time with the requirement that the company must have an annual gross (or is it net) income in excess of $500,000 before they can even be considered as qualifying for a license.  The market for AmigaOS4 and its hardware is so tiny, most companies that are large enough to meet that requirement are not interested because the return on investment is likely to be negative for years and may never turn a profit if things don't change in Amigaland.

[JuSho]

Bill McEwen -- Yes, Amiga actually entered into a contract in 2005 with a firm to develop some products based on the Amiga classic technologies and we are looking forward to seeing those products. We have also been in discussions with the creator of the MiniMig, but he decided to go another direction.

Nobody interessted what that is? Could that be the Coldfire project(s) ? Elbox ?