Hyperion bankrupt?

[Yasu]

Sooo, people my REALLY love Hyperion then?

[Yasu]

At this point A-Eon would be better off buying MorphOS, getting a license to use the AmigaOS name from Amiga Inc., and renaming it AmigaOS while still offering an edition called MorphOS for PowerPC computers outside their own.  This way Amiga Inc. only owns the name, not the technology.

That's pretty close what actually happened in the late 90's. Amiga Inc. approached the MorphOS developers to ask them about making their OS the new AmigaOS. They talked about it, got a contract they couldn't agree on and Amiga Inc. found Hyperion instead. So if things had been a little different, we would all have used MorphOS as AmigaOS today. Makes you think, doesn't it

[Edit] The MorphOS Team will most probably not sell their OS. They are fiercely independent. But it wouldn't hurt A-Eon to ask/pay them to port MorphOS to their computers too. It will give MorphOS more new hardware (besides the upcoming SAM 460 support) and A-Eon get more potential costumers. And hopefully it would help cross platform porting of software, ending this endless and tiresome sandbox sized bickering.

[Yasu]

@Manu

But it's perfectly possible that it's this hostility, or competition that has made the 3 OS'es come as far as they have. Sparring each other, taking crap from the others and feeling an need to prove their system better. So maybe, just maybe, without the 3 OS'es around to spill their anger towards each other we might have had one OS that gave up somewhere halfway without ever being useful, and the remaining users sticking with retro or fading away.

We just don't know. But we shouldn't assume that the current situation is the worst possible. This might just be the middle ground

[Yasu]

MorphOS has nothing to lose and everything to gain in a deal with A-Eon.  They could continue to sell MorphOS for PowerPC systems and a version called AmigaOS with added features and software for A-Cube and A-Eon.  Even at the lowest price MorphOS sells their operating system (around $75 for one EfikaPPC system) they would make $15,000 if A-Eon even sells 200 and $30,000 for the same amount of computers sold if they were charging the same price Hyperion charges for each X1000 sold.

I don't know about that. They would have if they didn't support the Macs because most people are simply not prepared to invest so much money into one single computer nowadays. But I would still love to see a port to these computers. I think that the one who would gain the most is A-Eon after this bankruptcy mess. Some people are probably refraining from buying X1000 and it's successors because they are afraid that AmigaOS 4 might stop being developed soon (we do have one confirmed case of that). If they at least had an Amigalike alternative like MorphOS they might buy one anyway. That said, I think most if not all people buy an A-Eon computer only for the sake of running AmigaOS 4 on it.

I think the MorphOS Team would port it for the price of one or two free computer(s) or motherboard(s). That might be a little too expensive for A-Eon if they are really not that interested.

[Yasu]

A-Eon should give at least 3 computers and negotiate with MorphOS to sell a version of their OS for A-Eon and ACube's computers at a reduced price.  However, A-Eon should get a license to use the AmigaOS name or renegotiate the license they have with Amiga, Inc., as I'm not sure if the current license they have allows them to sell hardware using the Amiga name without AmigaOS.

I think so too

I don't think Amiga Inc. will be helpful. The OS/4 guy who came and went like a storm asked him for a licence and was demanded 600.000 dollars and 5% of all the profit. I hardly would think that as either advantageous nor affordable.

[Yasu]

Just curious what figure you feel is "affordable".
Six hundred dollars is out of that range?

It's just a name. And that price has to be added somewhere. Would you pay an extra 500$ just for the luxury to call the computer an "Amiga"? It's not like we aren't doing that already anyway.

[Yasu]

A-Eon is most likely already paying that amount in their license agreement with Amiga, Inc.  And $600 a year and 5% in royalties shouldn't be a lot for a company selling overpriced $3,000 computers.  

Amiga, Inc. doesn't have to be helpful, they just don't have to be stupid.  Without someone to license the name to they might as well not even exist.  They don't make or develop anything anyway.  Letting go of OS4 would make their IP more useless than it already is, leaving them only able to license out the Amiga name.

Are they? The X1000 is called an "AmigaOne" and not an "Amiga". AFAIK the "AmigaOne" name was granted to Hyperion in the 2009 agreement with Amiga Inc. Maybe Hyperion is taking a name licensing fee but I have never heard of such a thing.

And it's was not 600$ a year, but 600.000$ up front, plus 5% of all profits.

[Yasu]

Where do you see that?  Original quote says $600.  Seems very reasonable.

Are you referring back to me or do you have another source? I checked and my writing was "600.000 dollars".

[Yasu]

The source is a post someone else linked to:

http://www.amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=37810&forum=17&start=100&viewmode=flat&order=0#710057

You are right. I somehow added three zeros there. 600$ isn't much.

[Yasu]

People pay a lot more than that for apple puters.

Yeah, but Apple make the hardware and own their own brand name.

[Yasu]

Apple doesn't manufacture anything other than smoke and mirrors.  They get their hardware from the same Pacific Rim manufacturers as Dell, HP, etc...

Well, OK, sure, but they still own their own brand name. A-Eon uses the name AmigaOne. Isn't that enough? Why do we need to make expensive hardware even more expensive?

[Yasu]

I just thought of something. Up until now we have all assumed that the best scenario of a bankruptsy is that A-Eon buys Hyperion upright in order for AOS4 not to return into A Inc.'s hands. But is that really the best scenario?

Remember, if HE goes down they will take with them a lot of debt. Debts Trevor has to pay off to get the OS. That sounds expensive. But if no one buys the whole company (who would besides Trevor?), the rights to the OS reverts to A Inc., then it must be in McEwans interest to sell the OS. Cloanto already got the original. And since there is only one realistic buyer A Inc. can't ask for too much.

So, instead of paying off a lot of debts, it might be cheaper to negotiate a transfer of IP rights with Amiga Inc. instead.

Thoughts?

[Yasu]

Yeah, but Cloanto was able too so ...

I forgot about all the parts that's not the property of Hyperion but the individual developers. But my bet is that they are willing to sell it for real money.

[Yasu]

I think the best way forward is to wherever possible* develop for both AmigaOS 3 and 4 in future.

Why exclude MorphOS and AROS? With this small market, cooperation makes a lot more sense than continous devision.

[Yasu]

Hyperion posted a new blog today.  Interesting stuff.  Doesn't act like a company that's "out of business".  Just glancing at it since I saw it pop up on Google+, thought I'd throw it out here for you guys to chew over.  

http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=1184

It's an interesting text, but it's not really news. We have been told the same things with just less details in 2013:

http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=1010
http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=863

[Yasu]

@Yasu

We have said in the past posts we would be open to making our software compatible on MOS and porting it over if there is a commercial demand for it.

We have had a good amount of feedback from AmigaOS 3 users who want to have updated software.  The new PPaint sales for Classic Amigas have been better than anticipated so far, so it seems there is a small market for AmigaOS 3.x software still

I know, but you keep coming back to "AmigaOS 4". I have a hard time believing that there are so many more AmigaOS 4 users that it makes commercial sense and that MorphOS users are so few that it doesn't. If anything they should be about as many on both camps. Maybe AOS 4 users open their wallets more willingly but still.