AmigaOS petition update

[ShadesOfGrey]

:-o
Before anybody starts...  I'm not slamming MorphOS!  I don't really know all that much about MorphOS.  I don't have any interest in learning more unless Amiga OS 4 should fail.  I am also not a member of the 'cult-of-the-name' or whatever.  The fact that I support Amiga Inc.'s efforts does not mean I believe the people running the AI show can turn water into wine (I'm an atheist BTW, I only use 'biblical' references to illustrate my point).  There are, I am sure, MorphOS supporters out there who do not believe Ralph Schmidt (or any of the other former phase 5 employees working on MorphOS) can walk on water.  

I'm posing a hypothetical argument using some very big assumptions based on what I currently know about the MorphOS project.  I could be right about these assumptions, but I could also be very wrong.  It's the question that is important here and not necessarily the assumptions or implications supporting it.
 :-o  

Incidentally, when are you going to set up the same petition for MorphOS? So far it looks as if it will 'only' run on PPC accelerator cards and the one motherboard designed specifically to run that OS (I deduce this from the screenshots showing the words 'Pegasos BIOS extensions' in the OF screenshots from that recent demo.

anarchic_teapot raises an interesting question about the validity of Seehund's petition with regards to the "abolishment of the compulsory dongling/bundling/licensing".

AFAIK bPlan have not announced any licensing terms, OEM or retail.  But it could be inferred, due to no solid information to the contrary, that the MOS crew intend MOS to run on legacy PPC accelerators and a 'proprietary' POP based PPC motherboard.  

Q: Will MorphOS support any other hardware?
 A: MorphOS is open to any new platform or hardware. To have support it
    requires complete specs of the hardware to port the low level
    hardware code.

I can see the "low level hardware code" as being a dongle.  No less than that of the A1's BIOS extension.  And if anarchic_teapot's observation about "Pegasos BIOS extensions" are true.  This to me could further imply pBlan are no more 'open' than Amiga Inc.

IF that were true.   Would the petition be changed to include the bPlan/MorphOS combination?

[ShadesOfGrey]

Your response helps clarify the intent of the petition.  I was never sure if the thrust of the petition was dealing with maintaining an 'open' POP platform or that AmigOS 4 would not run on non-certified, non-licensed, hardware.

If you are interested in keeping one, unified POP/PPC market open to all users and operating systems, with competition on equal terms, then please join us and sign the petition!

If you are interested in helping AmigaOS survive beyond a short period of license-money income and to keep AmigaOS users from being unnecessarily deprived of hardware options, then please join us and sign the petition!

I take it you're more interested in the latter goal?  If so, I'm still a bit confused about the petition.  Everything I know about OEM licenses (incl. The OEM Software Licensing Site) indicates that Amiga Inc.'s position is not unreasonable giiven what we know about the OEM license's terms.  We haven't seen any specifics about an end user (EU) license, which is not the same as an OEM license.  We can only speculate about a retail license based on what Amiga Inc. and Eyetech have said about existing and pending 'Classic' PPC solutions and the A1 (Linux boards if released and A1 dev boards).  I would be willing to sign your petition if Amiga Inc.'s retail and EU licenses were unreasonable.  But as I see it, the OEM license is reasonable.


I had thought your primary goal was the former.  So I wanted to see if you would apply the same petition to bPlan/MorphOS IF their licensing were as 'restrictive' as Amiga Inc.'s.

You state in the introduction that you do not endorse any particular solution.  But to be honest, I did retain some skepticism the petition might just be a ploy to discredit Amiga Inc. and its efforts.

Thank you Seehund for clarifying your position.

:-o
Just so I'm properly understood.  I would be as skeptical of a similar petition regarding MorphOS, x86 AOS, etc.  I really don't like the way the Amiga Community has become splintered by extreme factions supporting one solution to the exclusion of another.  I want to avoid coming under fire from such groups and so the constant disclaimers.