Petition: AmigaOS distribution policies and PPC hardware

[Seehund]

While it's nice to see that people are being generally civil, it's sad to see that so few seem to even have read the petition or tried to understand it before coming to a decision.

No, for hopefully the last time, this is not for or against any company, product or entity. Read the petition. Someone for some utterly odd reason even found it relevant to write that he wouldn't want to "hurt" Amiga Inc. and a bunch of other companies. Well, I have no idea how you can come up with the notion that the petition is meant to hurt anyone. Read the petition, think for yourself and for once try to forget about labels, camps and factions.

I see a whole lot of people merely repeating what's said in the April executive update. Hey, guess what, the undersigned don't agree with that. Duh. That's why there's a petition. If you feel the need to argue against the petition, at least provide your own arguments or try to explain WHY you agree with the compulsory bundling and licensing and WHY you think the arguments you're reusing are valid or relevant. There is no point of mere repetition.
Most of my arguments and reasoning are there to read in the petition.

I'll provide a simple step by step instruction:

1: Read the petition and read the April executive update. Compare what's being said.

2: Think. For yourself. This can be difficult, we're all flock animals. If names like MorphOS, AmigaOne, bplan etc. pop up, then clear your mind and start over. This is not about old flamewars and imagined factions. There is no "Amiga" anymore. There is AmigaOS and there is hardware. The company behind AmigaOS has nothing to do with hardware. The companies behind the hardware have nothing to do with AmigaOS.

3: Read the petition and the executive update again and try to think forward, imagining consequenses.

4: Come to a decision. Sign or don't sign. Simple as that. Noone but moron zealots who invent factions and see "the competition" as personal enemies are going to hold your decision against you, whatever it may be. Just make sure you have read and understood for yourself.

Regarding the fsckwits who post abuse in the comments to the petition - the obvious abuse will of course be removed before it's all handed over. Noone has to worry about ending up in "bad company". Whenever you sign a petition you naturally only agree with what's said in the petition, not with any of the personal comments from the undersigned. I'm not gonna censor anything based on if it's "stupid" or ill-informed or just not exactly what I think.

[seer]

Hello Seehund,

it's sad to see that so few seem to even have read the petition or tried to understand it before coming to a decision.

I admit I didn't read all of the petition, but I did read the comments made by a few of the signers.. Sorry, they destroyed the petition for me..

(Tho, I don't think I would have signed it anyway)

[DaveP]

Seehund

Those that have posted the exec update and compared it with the petition are basically pointing out that they cannot see where the petition relates to the executive update.

I realise you are probably feeling annoyed at the moment because you have done something good and some are trying to ruin it for you.

Oh and as has been pointed out before there are people that have not tried to understand it who have made decisions both ways. There are some that seem to think its an anti-Amiga Inc petition and it is those that have damaged the credibility of what you have achieved.

I still dont really see what you are petitioning against, ergo I dont think the petition is something I can sign.

I would happily sign against something that was say bundling hardware and OS together and you could not buy hardware without the OS. However that is not what AInc is doing as far as I can make out.

It *is* apparently what BPlan are thinkin of doing with Pegasos so I am thinking about putting a petition together against that bundling practise because it is typical of the Microsoft Windows and IE bundling.

(fact)
I can buy PPC hardware without AmigaOS 4.
I can buy PPC hardware with AmigaOS 4 IF it has been through the OEM scheme.
I can buy PPC hardware without MorphOS.
(/fact)
(rumour)
I cannot buy a Pegasos without MorphOS and YDL and nor can any reseller. Anyone who OEMs Pegasos is not allowed to modify the "bundle" on resale.
(/rumour)

However I want to see what BPlan have to say about the rumour before setting up a petition. I want to make sure I truly understand what it is they are trying to achieve with this.

No I dont see this as A1 vs Pegasos but I do see the rumoured BPlan move as being far more restrictive than the AInc move.

Dave.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Actually, if you take a look at this Technical Update, you'll find that the "zico" spec is now specifically for Amiga OS 4.  

[redrumloa]

@Sehund

I read the petition and I don't believe I will sign it right now. Constructive and well thought out, however I feel current market conditions dictate the need for such a policy.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Only thing is, Moto got burned by Apple during the whole Mac clone fiasco and are really only focusing cell phones these days.  And IBM is happy turning out Wintel boxes.  Tthe only place you find PPC is in their high end servers (if at all).  

It also doesn't help that the Amiga desktop market is currently like a rain drop in a vast ocean.  Or rather a single H2O molocule in a vast ocean.  Even if they are interested in a alternative PPC desktop platform and are secretely rooting for any of the many alternative OS'es.  They'll wait for smaller firms like Eyetech or bPlan to get the ball rolling.  

It would be nice to see Amiga Inc. working harder to promote the Amiga OS and Amiga One initiatives instead of the AA Entertainment Pack.  So far everytime Bill McEwen shows up on TeccTV's Screen Savers he only really mentions AOS and A1 as an afterthought or as an answer to a direct question.

[KennyR]

I'm not signing this dumb petition. Amiga Inc. aren't doing anything illegal, which is more than I can say of the 3rd party AmigaOS code use (whether reverse-engineered or otherwise) of Amithlon, MOS or AROS. Open software is a pirates paradise. If you want to be open, get Linux - and be used to always having to survive on handouts.

Just as well petitions are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, eh?

[Argo]

or certification.

[Argo]

Wow, a troll magnet....

[ShadesOfGrey]

First off, we have no idea of what the cost is to a hardware vendor/manufacturer.  So we cannot speculate as to whether or not any manufacturer/vendor would find this cost exorbitant.  

Second, if the only necessary change to their hardware is a change to a systems firmware, I don't see how or why this would be terribly expensive.  This isn't taking into consideration other means of hardware based copy protection like a USB or serial port dongle.  I would suspect if any such dongle were required, Amiga Inc. would be responsible for their manufacture.

I most assuredly believe in the freedom of choice.  But one thing you may not recognize is that besides Eyetech and bPlan, I have found no other manufacturers of open PPC desktop systems.  I did find these three manufacturers, Total Impact, SBS Technologies Inc., and AG Electronics on the OpenPPC Project web site.  They all make interesting stuff, but none are desktop solutions...  Not unless you count SBC's as desktop solutions.

[Fats]

I'm not signing this dumb petition. Amiga Inc. aren't doing anything illegal, which is more than I can say of the 3rd party AmigaOS code use (whether reverse-engineered or otherwise) of Amithlon, MOS or AROS. Open software is a pirates paradise. If you want to be open, get Linux - and be used to always having to survive on handouts.

Piracy is not more related to open source software then proprietary software. Both have a license and if you violate them you are a pirate. Then it doesn't matter if it is a proprietary or an open source license. Only it is much easier to violate a proprietary license then an open source license.

Secondly, I am an AROS developer and I don't like it to be compared to a pirate. The AROS developers are very concerned about intellectual property so tell me what we are doing legally wrong and I'm sure it will be corrected in no time.

Staf.

PS: To get back to the original topic. In an ideal world people would not use software they haven't paid for. Unfortunately this is not the case and the only way to survive as a new OS software company is to be sure that your software is delivered with the hardware. So I think Amiga Inc. had to do the necessary evil with their licensing.

[ShadesOfGrey]

As I said earlier in a response to comments made by EyeAm.

If this doesn't come to pass and Amiga Inc. shows no signs of relaxing their license(s).  Then I'll sign a petition, join a mail campaign, or whatever it takes to make Amiga Inc. change its license.

But for right now, I don't believe Amiga Inc. is being unfair or unreasonable.

[blubbe]

@Shades of Gray

Could you please shut up about OS5 this OS5 that.
I nkow about nothing about it and would be surprised if you know more. not even Amiga
knows for sure. Hasnt history proven time after time
that theese things evolve over time and may take any
direction (hopefully a good one).  And why do you
put = between AA and DE, they are not the same thing. I belive the DE is described in the Amiga World
aticles.. its quite a bit to go yet. From my understanding, the DE = OS5. If OS4 even will be
used as basis for this or not, we dont know.
it could be somethng completely different.
Nothing against that if that should proove
necessary (how is that word spelled ?)

So why not just enjoy the ride. The future will take
mysterious ways anyway

[hnl_dk]

@blubbe

I think you got something wrong!

Amiga Anywhere is the new name for AmigaDE, so it's realy AA=DE )

AmigaDE is not the same as AmigaOS 5, but will be part of the operating system!
I see AmigaOS 5 as a symbiosis of Amiga Anywhere/AmigaDE and AmigaOS 4.x + lots of extra goodies )

This is just my own hypothesis, I don't think anyone realy knows yet ;o) But thats also just my own hypothesis  :-D

[Argo]

I thought AmigaAnywhere was the DEplayer...

[Hammer]

Using a mainstream board manufacturer as an example, refer to http://www.msi.com.tw/certificate/main.htm.

As one can see MSI has the following certification
1. “Designed for Window” certification logo.
2. .“Designed for Window XP” certification logo.
3. “nVidia Certified” logo.
4. ISO-9001 logo
5. “Linux Tested” logo.
6. ISO-14001 logo.

I don’t see Amiga Inc straying from this standard practice.

It would be good IF Amiga Inc can attract some mainstream Mobo manufactures....