Amithlon/Berniethlon development mothballed

[bhoggett]

Bernd Meyer has today announced that the Amithlon project has been mothballed indefinitely.

Source: amithlon.net

[bhoggett]

@Targhan

1. Amiga Inc. sends a threat to Bernie.

2. Bernie, to cover his tail, informs H&P

3. H&P tells Bernie not to worry about it (they believe they have a
legitimate licence).

4. Bernie worries about it.

5. Bernie pulls the plug with H&P

Not quite right:

1. Amiga Inc tell H&P to stop.

2. H&P ignore them.

3. Amiga Inc tell Bernie the product is illegal and that action may follow. No direct threat against Bernie is made.

4. Bernie requests proof of licensing from H&P.

5. H&P refuse to show proof, saying "don't worry about it".

6. Bernie waits for Amiga Inc to make joint statement.

7. Amiga Inc seem reluctant to act.

8. Bernie decides he must act on his own.

the rest from 6 to 10 is about right, though there's a lot of c##p between 9 and 10 that really brought this on.

Time for an avatar change.   :-(

[bhoggett]

@Targhan

However, I think the rift between Amiga/H&P probably started earlier over OS4.

No, it started earlier than that, probably as an indirect result of the extremely shady deal between Amiga's previous owners (in the person of Petro most likely) and H&P. Remember, Amiga Inc have never received any license payments for AmigaOS 3.5 or 3.9, and while the deal surrounding 3.5 falls under the previous regime, it is hard to see how H&P think they should not pay licensing fees for OS 3.9.

I think the only solution was for a contract change between H&P/Bernie that would protect Bernie from legal action. Then, the war would have been contained to Amiga/H&P.

'fraid not. The Amiga Inc licensing thing was just the catalyst. Bernie's dispute with H&P is about the latter's failure to carry out their contractual obligations, and goes a lot deeper than the licensing issue. I have no doubt more details will appear on Bernie's "diary" as the month progresses.

I may not agree with everyone's business
practices, but I refuse to let those practices destroy my little part in this community.

Up to you. Of course, refusal to take any sort of action against certain people will probably be seen by those people as full endorsement for their actions and encouragement that they should continue. The reason the Amiga community is so rife with corruption and chicanery is because too many people are prepared to turn a blind eye due to some misguided sense of protectionism.

[bhoggett]

Just to put in a good word for the UK distributors, as far as I'm aware most of them stopped stocking the item when the controversy originally surfaced. I had a number of people complaining they could no longer source it anywhere locally after that.

Kudos to all those distributors who took a stand. I understand the economic argument made in this thread, but as long as no one is prepared to stand up for what is right, this sort of rubbish will continue.

When you have a garden full of weeds, what do you do? You pull them out, even if that only leaves you with bare soil, so that your own plants may eventually germinate and grow. Well, if we don't stop the Amiga weeds from killing off the genuine developers, will be garden be worth having?

[bhoggett]

@ne_one

From Bernie's letter it appears that he's pulling the plug on Amithlon, but I get the impression that he's likely pulling the plug on a larger scale. If so, this will be a tremendous loss.

Certainly, I believe Bernie has no intention of remaining in the Amiga market at all. After all that's happened, would you?  He's a talented programmer, who will do much better for himself by focusing that talent elsewhere.