Interview with KMOS CEO Garry Hare (25 Mar 04)

[boing]

I'm heartened by his accolades for Neely Gardner for his ethics.  But can a guy who worked for Disney, and advised Fortune 100 companies about Latin American "investments" really be that ethical?  Latin America has had all kinds of oppression since wayyy back, with much, if not most of it due to corporate interests rolling over the democratic interests of the residents there.  I hope he was advocating *ethical* behavior.

  I liked the BallBlazer and Fractalis references.


"KMOS, Inc. acquired the Operating System from Amiga, Inc. to bring full cross-platform, multimedia functionality to wired and wireless devices."

Sounds not so good.

When exactly, did Amiga Inc agree to sell the AmigaOS rights and when did they do so?


Itec has been an investor in Amiga since the purchase of the assets from Gateway. It remains an investor today. Itec is also the Senior (first place) Secured Creditor of Amiga Inc. KMOS purchased the OS asset from Itec.

Sounds like Itec got tired of waiting for Moss/McEwen to start shipping products and making a profit. So they had to sell the OS.

It's going to get weird if Amiga Inc owns the name, but not the AmigaOS.  Thank you Fleecy and Bill.  WTF!?  

And doesn't Hare check his spelling or syntax or grammar before sending his replies back to the interviewer?  Not professional looking, especially from an academic.  Hope he is more careful in the future.


If I remember correctly, it was a horoscope title

Sounds more like a Mac community bit of crapware.  Horoscopes..WTF!??


I quickly responded that as long as there was litigation between the companies he would have to communicate through legal counsel.

Maybe I'm unwashed but that seems a tad unfriendly.

What exactly did the business card look like or say?  If Hare was not the Amiga CEO, did he, and why would his card say he was the CEO back in 2003?  I don't know who to believe here.  I don't think any of this bruhaha would have come about if Hare's cards were accurate and honest.  I can't see how one can blame Buck for Hare's questionable self-made business card calling himself Amiga CEO.

What would Neely Gardner do?

DE running on Linux could open a broader market. It could be a good thing for Amiga and the DE developers.

But is it good for the Amiga as a computer?  If it pays for hardware development, fine.


I do think it's worthy of note that so far, the PegasOS fleet is closer to being a success than anything else from other companies so far.


Early the next morning we got going. The work group asked what I would like to see. Proving I had no idea what I was talking about, I asked for every post on every board from the November 2000 date of the original agreement. There was a very long pause. One of the guys finally asked if I had any idea how many posts that meant. I guessed, "probably a couple hundred".

Uhhhh.  This guy hasn't got a clue about the Amiga, does he?


Greg's posts were always thoughtful, well written and useful. His, "Who is the OEM?" post became the foundation for an entire legal argument

Open source legal strategy?  :-)

[boing]

Hare's chronic usage of first name's is annoying.  Instead of saying "Bob" why can't he say "Bob Public, chairman of Company XYZ".  Not all of us know who is contact are.  yeesh.


As usual, the good stuff needs no comment, so I'll respond to the things that concern me.


After Amiga's first filing, I received a call from the CEO of, as far as I could tell, a Company completely unrelated to the Amiga/Thendic dispute. He was very upset that he didn't get to file a Declaration. I explained that his Company wasn't involved in this dispute. He said, "so what", and offered to pay part of the legal costs. Interesting.

  Well that's nice to tweak us and then not tell us any more.  :-(


I like Amiga's DE product and, particularly their distribution agreement with Microsoft and, I trust, others. Given my content background it is a natural interest. But I am focused on the requirements of a specific customer.

MS?  Ick.  You get too close and they Borg you.  Anyway who is thie specific customer?  i ask because he didn't say SQUAT about the ex-Amigans who want a modernized Amiga.


Really, I think it bites that there's even an issue about the PegasOS computer.  If the AmigaOS4.0 runs on it, great!  No license should be required.  This is as insane as the USPO allowing software methods to be patented by software companies (like the guy with the patent on using the XOR logic function to do reverse video for cursors, etc.).  Corporations and lawyers are making a mockery of the common sense that was supposedly once the bedrock of innovation.



 One of the features that attracted us to the Amiga OS in the first place is that, by definition, it is cross-platform. Improvement in any one market should improve the others, including the desktop. If the same application played across all platforms and devices, so much the better.

Uhhh, does this guy even know what the Amiga is, or what the Amiga OS is?  It was converted to mostly C by 1990 (with notably slowdowns) and here it is 2004 and we still don't have it ported.  C being portable or even easily ported has always been a glib claim.  Cross assemblers and transassemblers, that's the way to go.


Hey whatever happend with that Chinese Lotus Amiga?


A while back I was in China talking with one of the ministers concerned with economic development

How about asking about human rights while you're there?  Just asking.  :-)


I've never owned an Amiga Computer and, as far as I can remember, never touched an Amiga keyboard.

Freaking wonderful.  He's an unwashed heathen?  At least Fleecy had an Amiga, albeit belatedly and he was just a software guy.


Its a free country - at least mine was until a few years ago.

OK, well at least we're on board with the Bush and Ashcroft thing.


I know many of you reading this might consider buying a computer due to the operating system installed.

Some of us care most about novel hardware.  Then comes the good OS.  A good OS on merely-adequate hardware is a waste of effort.