OS 3.1 Open Sourcing Question

[beakster2]

Hypothetically, what is to stop Amiga Inc releasing the OS 3.1 source code under a GPL or similar license?

As a 20 year old operating system surely it no longer has any commercial value.  I believe Hyperion owns the rights to OS4.0+ but Amiga Inc still has 3.1 so could do it if they wanted to.

If they could legally do it, would any amount of pressure from the community persuade them I wonder.  I guess its doubtful as they are too busy licensing the brand to consumer electronics companies.

[beakster2]

No point in it, it's already been reimplemented 3 times over.

The point would be from an enthusiasts perspective it would be interesting to read, understand, compile and generally play with.  Not just 3.1, earlier version would be very interesting too.

[beakster2]

Common sense ?

greets,
Staf.

Why would opensourcing it at this stage be insensible?  ID software open sourced Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake with no ill effects on their business.

If there are problems with 3.1 specifically, 3.0 or even 1.2/1.3 would be nice to see in the public domain.

Regarding the patent concerns I think all of the patents have now expired.