Executive Update - Amiga Status Announcement

[Rodney]

Cool, but this realy isnt new - i was hoping for screen shots at the bottom of the page :}...

O well, nice to see another update from Amiga Inc. Nice to see they in someway are going to try to garentee quality.

I hope this ROM thing really works too. It sounds like their binding the OS to expensive almost-custome hardware, hopfuly not so.

[Rodney]

As far as i can tell, the platform is still Open, and well documented. This is good because it'll alow Amiga Inc to control the copywrite of AmigaOS as well as let developers port their Operating Systems to the platform easily, unlike Apple hardare.

Having a custom ROM does sound as if it could just be adding custome hardware. But as i understand, this isnt a big part. It just replaced the OpenBIOS and this isnt used by the operating system. So it shouldnt have an effect on porting of OSes or anything of the kind!

So its still very open. Anyone can make an AmigaOne machine, they just have to pass Amiga Inc Quality Checks. - Kinda like an ISO Quality Audit, only an "Ami Quality Audit" .

I dont think its going to be a big deal. If it ensures quality with AmigaOS, good one em . If this improves performance of AmigaOS, good on em ...

[Rodney]

This, to me, is a very straight forward press release. If you want to have Amiga approval, you have to apply for it.
Typical really, that in 'our' community, it has to be turned into such a big issue. One minute, Amiga isn't (allegedly) interested in the desktop any more, then, as soon as they try to protect it via a minimal amount of quality control, all the ejit trolls come marching outa their caves claiming all sorts of nonsense, PAH! (if you don't know what I'm on about, go and look at the thread over at ann.lu - actually, second thoughts, don't bother).
Anyone with at least half a brain, would see that ANY company, in ANY industry, has to maintain a quality control system, whether it's through 1st party (their own), or 3rd party (anyone associated) products. Anyone in the UK or Europe who's had to suffer the ISO9002 stuff, would KNOW what approval systems are all about. This is a walk in the park in comparison.
There's no hidden agenda here, if you go to Amiga with a solid business plan, an approveable product, it ain't gonna be hard to get an 'Amiga Approved' stamped on your resume. All this is mainly about protecting YOU, the consumer.
After all, what would you prefer: buying a product from an established RELIABLE company, or an 'allegedly' compatable product, from some back street merchant? The choice is yours.

-john

I also feel this is a good idea. When AmigaOS comes out with some server type OS or one that is aim at the corporate enterprise, quality assurance is going to be a big thing. Companies are going to want the performance of their systems garenteed, and i think they are now waking up to this. Or, atleast they will when they realise they can get these garrentees with AmigaOS.

This isnt going to restrict the distribtution of AmigaOS. Although It seems to me that it may now, be hard to run AmigaOS on the same hardware that Macs run on, being they both need ROMs now, right? And if other Operating Systems take a similar approach it may make it hard to duel boot!

MS are big on trying to keep buggers from copying their stuff, i would not be surprised if MS was to do soemthing like this. Im surprised they havnt already!

Anyway, i dont believe its all doom and gloom. Its still cheap hardware and the hardware is still very well documented and understood. This also wont stop the porting of other OSes to the hardware.

[Rodney]

Perhaps AMIGA Inc should explain:

What if a user want to buy AMIGA ONE motherboard just for running Linux, without buying AMIGA OS and AMIGA ROM? Is this possible?

If the user want to try AMIGA OS later, can the user buy the latest version of AMIGA OS (with AMIGA ROM)?

Eyetech are an entirly different entity to Amiga Inc. The AmigaOne is not Amiga Inc's board. It is Eyetechs board. They sell it to anyone , however they want!!!

If you want a board that doesnt run OS4, then get a board!!! Eyetech just wont fit it with the AmigaROM! This just means you wont be able to run AmigaOS4!!!

[Rodney]

AInc are becoming a real business and not just some little pseudo-amateur setup. First they eliminate the threat that XL posed, now they're doing the same to the pegasos. Well, thats just the way big business works. You have to be ruthless.

In my opinion, this move has just killed the pegasos project. There were many who liked the look of the pegasos hardware but wanted OS4 who will now have to buy A1 or Shark hardware. As for the actual future of the PegasOS (OS) - ah, well figure it out yourself. There aren't enough existing Amiga users to support the current market, so I don't see how less than a third of this market could survive on its own. Looks like there is a reason for RS's vicious paranoia after all.

Remember, this is my opinion and not the truth. Feel free to believe it or not, or try to convince me otherwise with good evidence. Flames from anonymous users will simply be ignored. Or made fun of. Preferably the latter.  

Thats a very good point! - Anyone who was planing on getting a pegasos to run AmigaOS4 will either, seperate themselfs from AmigaOS and stay with MorphOS or get the A1 and stay with AmigaOS.

On the other hand, i believe that AmigaOS will be bundled with a ROM. If this ROM could fit into a pegasos, well, those pegasos loving people might still have a change to play with AmigaOS.

Anyhow, some of this does sound a bit dodgy, but im sure this is the way companys like AInc and MS are goign tohave to go, pirating is getting way out of hand, infact, has been for a long long time. Its pretty much what killed the Amiga (i cant count how many games/utilities/apps we had copied :})