Amiga Case Designer Faces Intimidation

[Darrin]

http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=35684&forum=33&start=20&viewmode=flat&order=0#664476

Well, sly threats are easier than providing support.

The funny thing is, they don't even own the righst to the Amiga name, they just license it.

[Darrin]

Good question.  The Daddy was never intending to sell these with Amiga labels on them as the end user can do that.

X500Plus has nothing to do with teh Amiga and you can equally say that the design was inspired by the TRS-80, Dragon 32, BBC Model B, Sinclair QL, Atari ST or any other number of machines.

This is just an example of C-USA's support for the "Amiga" community of which they are no part.

Remember, The Daddy was the person who spotted that the factory photographs were fake.  This is "payback".

[Darrin]

Sounds like a friendly request to me...

I grew up around lawyers; that wasn't even slightly intimidating..  ;-)

desiv

No, a friendly request is done in private via PM or email and involves words like "please", "thank you" and "would you mind".

[Darrin]

@Darrin

Maybe you should edit the topic name before they whine about the word A****.

---
redfox

LOL.  I'll wait to hear from their lawyers first.  

[Darrin]

@Daddy
Thanks for removing the offending material.
Good luck with your case project.

translated:

Bravely bold Sir Robin
Rode forth from Camelot.
He was not afraid to die,
Oh brave Sir Robin.
He was not at all afraid
To be killed in nasty ways.
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin.

He was not in the least bit scared
To be mashed into a pulp.
Or to have his eyes gouged out,
And his elbows broken.
To have his kneecaps split
And his body burned away,
And his limbs all hacked and mangled
Brave Sir Robin.

His head smashed in
And his heart cut out
And his liver removed
And his bowls unplugged
And his nostrils raped
And his bottom burnt off
And his pen--   ("That's... that's enough music for now lads, there's dirty work afoot")

Brave Sir Robin ran away. ("No!")
Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!")
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled. ("no!")
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about ("I didn't!")
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking ("I never did!") to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.("all lies!")
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Robin!("I never!")

[Darrin]

Slightly off topic. I think it is a mistake to only promote this case for the Amiga community. I think there are many more potential customers in other retro markets such as Atari and others. You could easily double sales by targeting the retro computing industry in general instead of just this one. Also no dickheads to worry about. You said you needed a minimum of 50 orders to go ahead? Have you tried the other hobby platforms? Just my 2 cents...

Good point.

The case has been designed to take certain form-factors and a lot of retro enthusiasts would be interested in this.

[Darrin]

You have quiet friends..  ;-)

LOL.  Actually most of them are Scottish and far from it.  

I still don't see the big deal with the initial request, even in public.
He didn't say "Hey, you're a thief!  Take that down or I'll fix you!!!"

"Please, thank you, and would you mind" would have been polite and friendly.

That being said, the follow up, when he said he did that in that manner because of someone being a "vocal critic"...  That's the type of statement that goes to intent, and takes the "leeway" out of the original comment.

I still think it could have been a friendly comment.

But I agree now, that it probably wasn't.
I still wouldn't call it intimidating or a threat.

But I would call it non-professional...

desiv

As you say, his "follow-up" shows an insight to the true intentions.

Still, on the plus side The Daddy probably doubled his orders.  

[Darrin]

Is there even a picture of the case anywhere in this link?  I can't find one..  (I even went to the other forum and can't find it there either..)

Here's some pics I managed to snag.  None of them say "Amiga" (There is AmigaOS which is Hyperion's and "Amica"):

[Darrin]

I'm thinking it would be nice for my FPGA arcade.

I've had The Daddy test the keyboard using a USB-PS/2 adapter and it works, so I should be able to route the cable out of the back of the PC case and plug it into the PS/2 socket.

Plenty of space for the Daughter Board too.

[Darrin]

I'm assuming that this:
http://img.alibaba.com/img/pb/478/179/381/381179478_436.JPG
will be perfect for extending the SD card access to another point on the case?  Should work for the Minimig too.

[Darrin]

The keyboard is a bit "Mac" for me tho...  Not my favorite...

desiv

They keyboard is like the one I have on my new HP Pavilion dv7.  It took me a few weeks to get used to it.  

[Darrin]

Just curious, but how different in your mind is this than when Ben also was forced to defend the Amiga Inc. IP?

It must be nice for them to just sit back and watch others take all the heat, eh?

#6

Surely what The Daddy did was legally fine within "fair use".  The only issue I saw was that he should have stated somewhere in fine print that "Amiga" belonged to "Amiga Inc".

[Darrin]

Who decides that, you? A trademark has to be defended, period. Yes, as usual CUSA took care of it in the worst possible way, but there's no reason to make a major fuss about it. A decade ago, Ben Hermans prevented MorphOS coverage in German TV for the same reasons, AInc once wanted Amiga fan websites to officially license the name from them...

Definately not you, that's for sure.  How about Amiga Inc?

You're a moderator on AW - instead of moderating Franko for labelling other users as "scum" and "scumbags" (CUSA people are people too...), you congratulate him on "stepping forward" and then come over here to create even more drama ("Amiga Case Designer Faces Intimidation")...

I congratulated him on offering to pay The Daddy's legal expenses.  This was an important news story to share, as witnessed by the responses here.  Plus, as a non-moderator on this forum I have more freedom to express my opinions.

FAIL.

Yes, you and C-USA have failed.

Edit:  In fairness, it isn't clear what I was congratulating Franko for and this was pointed out to me.  However when I went back to add the quote to the part I was responding to I discovered that the thread had been locked, and even I can't edit my own posts in a locked thread.

[Darrin]

OK...getting more feeback here:

http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=35607&start=80&post_id=664797&order=0&viewmode=flat&pid=0&forum=33#664797

What about silks creening the  X500 PLUS in the centre (or left) rear of the top? (Does that make sense?

The case could be used for a multitude of different motherboards.  I'd leave it blank or you'll just have one more think to worry about and people to complain about.

You're "feature creeping" again.  

[Darrin]

@ The Daddy

As I keep saying, and as CommodoreJohn says, leave the drives out.  We can install our own if we need them.

If you put them in then you open up a can of worms with people complaining about type/style/colour/brand/etc plus it will jack the price up.

Some people won't want an optical drive at all.  It would be no use to me with an FPGA Arcade.  If I want one later it will probably connect to the daughterboard so I'll need to see what connections are needed.  Might even use an external.

Keep it simple.  The less options and less parts the better.