"NutsAboutAmiga" raises a very good and valid point in the
"Change in Amiga.org ownership" thread over at AW.net (a thread that was completely *massacred* by moderator "Amigadave", who is also a moderator here, BTW).
He simply ask the question:
WHY? I think more people should do the same and ask themselves this question, and then try to answer it. I mean, it wasn't like Amiga.org was in need of "saving", there was no need for pity or charity, it wasn't like the site would have closed down without their intervention or anything like that. So why?
Not everyone agrees in that "NG" is real Amiga, not everyone agrees in that OS4 is the best "NG" solution (or that it's even a good, usable, stable, feature complete enough option at all), not everyone agrees in that PPC is a viable HW platform for "NG", not everyone agrees in that $3,000+ "NG" machines that builds on everything just mentioned is the way forward for Amiga (or a way at all). Some would even say that some or all of those thing just mentioned are actually *bad*!
But then there are stake holders in all those things, that has a
*financial interest* in the success of them.
Matthew Leaman is a self-proclamed OS4 development sponsor, post Hyperion (and their unpaid developers who simply left). While not a stake holder in the OS4 IP (Right? Or is that the next "big announcement"? Are *you* the owner of the "X-kernel"?), he is playing it by the ringside, by investing in core driver and SW development for OS4, like modern GFX drivers,
etc,
etc. Given the current poor state of the OS4 project, he "is" OS4 today, his investments clearly makes him a stake holder, official or not.
Matthew Leaman is today also A-Eon, who owns the X1000/"Nemo" motherboard that is used as a core component in a certain computer system. His investments (and official role and position in the company), clearly makes him a stake holder in the particular HW offering (as well as future offerings) provided by this company.
Matthew Leaman is of course also "AmigaKit", who is putting together those $3,000+ "X1000" systems based on the "Nemo" motherboard. This (AmigaKit) was his first and probably the dearest ("Amiga" related at least) business of his. He is *the* stake holder in the system building and retailing business of the X1000/Nemo/OS4.
(Of course, in many of the above mentioning's of "Matthew Leaman", you could also blend in "Trevor Dickinson" to various degrees (degrees that may still be changing, not that it matters for the point of this post))
To summon it up, there is a lot of
*financial interest* from some stake holding parties in the success of some very particular and rather narrow options in the "Amiga World" today!
The last piece of the jigsaw, the missing piece of the puzzle, is how the market *perceives* what's being offered! Where are purchase decisions being made? Where are consumer's information being gathered before a major investment?
--> ONLINE DISCUSSIONS <--The by far biggest, oldest, and most "reliable" source of information and online Amiga discussions is probably:
Amiga.org!
The takeover of Amiga.org is simply a move from strong stake holders of *one particular "amiga offering"* to gain control of the online perception of their product! It couldn't be anything else!
Some people ask: So you are going to place banners and advertising all over the place now? A rather naive question IMHO. Of course not. The point is gaining control over the database, over everything that has been said - and is being said - about what the stake holders are interested in (read above!).
Moderation! Editing! Banning!The last time we saw this kind of "involvement" from a strong financial stake holder, was when Eyetech/Hyperion wanted to promote their (original) "AmigaOne" system. They were strong financial stake holders in that particular HW/SW/OS solution. The only problem was that a competitor was way ahead, and had a far better product. They were many years behind the competition, so they played out the FUD card, and didn't like the response (here on Amiga.org). This caused the "exodus" to AmigaWorld.net, causing lots of Amigans to simply leave Amiga.org for this "greener pastures" that was "telling the truth", and where insane moderation policies was enforced.
This corporate "community takeover" was the explanation to how the "Articia S" became "*flawless*", how MorphOS became evil and had AmigaOS copyrighted material inside it (OK, I know that those claims were earlier than this, but they were certainly being repeated (under the moderators guardian)), how the Pegasos didn't have the MAI approved fixes (though bPlan were the ones providing the fixes to MAI in the first place), etc.
Posts disappeared, threads disappeared, user accounts disappeared. Everything in an ambition to *control* the community's perceived version of "truth"!
And they didn't even *own* the site, they didn't *own* the database! They simply had a force of very loyal moderators at hand!
This site is now owned and controlled by financial stake holders of an OS, Motherboard, and System provider, that that was first announced in 2009 (where "OS4 developments for it begun"), and as of present date they haven't been able to fully deliver according to the original promised specs!
Now they are setting the stage for the "NG of the NG" of OS4 thingies... The "Cyrus" (which isn't even using the controllers they have been developing drivers for, which means the driver situation resets to zero). Hence the Amiga.org purchase.
Since this "takeover" happened, we have seen what could only be described like an "Orchestrated Reverse Exodus" to Amiga.org. Which is kind of funny in its sadness. In my view, history is repeating itself, just in a different way, in a different direction.
Amiga.org has been here (there was another version previous this one) pretty much since the Internet became mainstream. It has always been *inclusive*, *tolerant*, and *open*. I have been a proud member since 2002, two years before OS4 was released in its first, *sad* state (I know, because I was a paying customer). I have always expressed a "different kind of view" here (in terms of OS4), sometimes very unpopular in some peoples eyes, and I have taken beatings for it. But now, I expect to be kicked out and banned. Maybe because of this post?
