My evening with Commodore USA, LLC

[Kronos]

Mmmmm let me recap the events sofar:

- some obscure furniture-salesman sets up a website under a trademark he clearly didn't own (or had a licence for)

- on this website he advertizes some really crap lowend non-mobile laptops

- he hires the 1st forum-fanboy he runs into as his CTO

- he claims he created the site to find out who really own C=

- he negotiates a agreement with the wrong C=

- he steals images from various websites, and photoshops them just as much to disguise their sources

- he gets a licence from the real C= and Amiga.inc

- he does some big mouth talking about using AROS

- he downtalks AROS

- he talks about Workbench5 and multimillion ad-campaings but fails to get even the most basic things straighten out

Did I miss anything ?


I mean 11 years ago with the Bill&Barry-show it wasn't that much different, only that these 2 knew how to execute their megalomanic-investment-scam with style (just not with success) having big offices and suchlike.

[Kronos]

As far as source code, I'm sure C=USA will abide by the different license agreements requirements and make the code available.

Dunno sofar he take on someele's IP was more in line with Hyperion's take on such matter:

"open-source is good when you taking, but teh evil if you have to give"

"stealing is no crime if you get away with it"

[Kronos]

@red

Amino's initial plan was an investment(IPO)-scam, thats quite clearly documented on the net. When that failed (as they were a wee bit late for the dotcom-bubble) they went to scamming their costumers.

NotC=USA might not shown much evidence to write them down as a scam, but there have shown plenty evidence to show that they are not to be taken serious.

More in line with iWin or Escena sofar.

@dammy
And there I was thinking using a (slighly) funny avatar for personel use and blatantly ripping other peoples images and trademarks to support you buisness were somewhat different......

NotC=USA have shown quite clearly how little regard they have for other peoples IP when it came to trademarks or pictures I see no reason why that would change if and when it comes to upholding the terms of the GPL (or similar licences).

[Kronos]

It is what it is, a PC in a beautiful retro case.

Yeah, but .....

If your doing something like that as an DIY-project, you might be seen as the übercool-ultra-geek at the next retro-event, but if your buying it off the shelf all you get is an ultra-unergonomic PC at probraly insane pricing

So in the long run it's doomed to fail, just like that >2000$ mobo based around an EOL-CPU.

It's just that NotC=USA might make the bigger splash.

[Kronos]

@red

Here comes what everybody has been waiting for ..... the car-analogy !!

Why does BMW sell so many "Minis" ?

Is it because it somehow looks a bit like the old Minis ?

Or is it because it's actually a real good sporty upmarket small car, competing well with the likes of the VW Polo-GTI ?

How many BMW-Minis would we see on the street if they were just as cramped as old ones ? With just a bumpy ride due to the ultra-small tires ? With next to no crash protection ?

Thats why NotC=USA will fail (after some initial selling frenzy).

The C64-Joystick was a so much better attempt at doing a modern C64, concetrate on what the C64 was really good at and sell it at bargain price.

NotC=USA is enforcing all that was akward/bad of the C64 onto a bog-standard (more likely sub-standard) PC without adding any real value.

[Kronos]

OK, I just spent some time reading the 43-page settlement between AI and Hyperion.

That is actually the whole point:

Hyperion has NO legal standing against NotC=USA whatsoever. If Amino gave them a licence they shouldn't given out then it's just Amino who are in breech of that contract not NotC=USA.

So Hyperion would be forced to sue Amino over it, if they win (after another 2-3 years ) Amino has to revoke NotC=USA's licence, at which point NotC=USA might choose to sue Amino dragging out the whole for a few extra years.

Royal clusterf....