I really don't want to get involved with this mess, so I'm going to offer this, and say no more on the subject:
I think this whole issue exposes a flaw with Wired's "pop journalism" technique.
1) It seems Mr. Downes submitted OS4 for the vapor award very shortly after submissions began. It is possible it was the first nomination for OS4 and subsequent nominations merely added to the count and were not checked for new/alternative info.
2) As a reader, Mr. Downes is very much entitled to submit an opinion. However, as an employee of Genesi it seems near impossible to leave some level of bias, no matter how small, out of his opinion.
3) Wired made no attempt to verify Mr. Downes identity (as an employee of a competitor). This I can forgive (I didn't even know this myself until I started reading this thread), but a really good journalist would have discovered it.
4) Most importantly, Wired apparently made no attempt to verify Mr. Downes' statement. Note that the following are assumptions, not fact:
a)They didn't check any community sites, either AW or AO (or others), to see what's been happening in the community/market.
b)They didn't check with AmigaInc, Eyetech, or Hyperion on the status of OS4 and the A1 boards.
c)They didn't even talk to Genesi to report about a currently available AmigaOS alternative.
Bottom Line: Wired is reporting opinion as fact, and that's extremely unprofessional for a supposed "reputable news source."
Final Point: Can we bury the hatchet, please? No more muckraking, no more trolling. I'm so sick of reading this stuff...
Dislcaimer: No offense is intended to Mr. Downes, AO, AW, Genesi, AInc, Hyperion, Eyetech, or any other party with the exception of Wired.
