Hyperion OS4 BPPC Survey.

[MarkTime]

ok all...I've calmed down and decided to take the intellectual approach after all.  Many of you legitimately do not remember any promises from Hyperion, and think some of us are crazy.

Here is how I remember things:

What they said:

1/26/2002, Interview with Ben Hermans
http://glames.online.fr/infos/itw_hermans.html
---------------------------------------

We will support AmigaOne, Cyberstorm PPC, Blizzard PPC (99% sure).

5/14/2002, Interview with Han-Joerg Frieden of Hyperion Entertainment:
--------------------------------------
9. Is the situation with BlizzardPPC hopeless?

No, quite the contrary. We're quite positive that OS 4 will run on the BlizzardPPC.


How it was used by retailers to sell products:
Amiga.org, software hut update July 4th, 2002:
--------------------------------
OS 4 UPDATE

...we will begin taking orders on the Mediator, Amiga One and OS 4 for existing owners of the Cyberstorm and Blizzard PPC boards

-----------------------------
People bought Blizzards and Mediators
believing they had an OS 4 platform.  It was a good
excuse to keep investing in classic hardware.

I thought Hyperion was a cut above Amiga, Inc. in terms
of being trustworthy/open/ and  honest.  I hope
they still are, but somehow they've gotten the idea
its survey time, instead of deliver on promise time
and that makes me quite worried.

EDIT

by the way, I can't find the sources for all the things
I remember being said, like 'of course we will
support Blizzard PPC, that's been the Amiga market
for the last two years'

ETC.....I'll stick with what can be verified, sigh.
but I'm not crazy!  and yes, at times they showed
some doubt, but they kept back tracking on the doubt......and reassuring people...WHY....

[ikir]

I want OS4 on SharkPPC!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MarkTime]

by the way folks, I'm not just defending
people who can't defend themselves, like
Slovenians without internet connections...
but also I took a hit this time myself...
these posts made just hours! before this survey
announcement:

OK, I'm so serious about my porting work on the Mozilla project, I actually bought a real amiga

Towerized A1200, Mediator*, Ethernet...

and in a second post:

But then again, they already promised a Blizzard version so this is definately OS 4 upgradable in theory

obviously, if anyone reads the whole posts I made, I was entirely full of doubts that anything would be real, and I speculated I would have to turn around and sell the amiga a few days after buying it.

That's why I don't feel too sorry for myself, after all I warned myself, and I didn't listen to myself, so I have only myself to blame...pthfthtllthht :-o  :-o

[amigamad]

I would buy it but i think the a1 version is more important the amount of blizzards available would not make it worthwile :-?  :-?  :-?


SHark ppc version is more important blizzards are onlly 233mhz maximum .

[bloodline]

SHark ppc version is more important blizzards are onlly 233mhz maximum .

Except mine, that runs at 240MHz...

-EDIT- Back on Topic: Why is is so hard for them to support AOS4 on the BlizzPPC?!?!
I suspect there are thing we are not being told... I really don't like that!!!!

[SlimJim]

@MarkTime
 
But on the other hand, how come you are now so sure
there will NOT be AOS4 for the Blizzard? I understand you
thought it to be more "certain" than it is,  but how come this
polling thing now makes you feel it's completely out of the
question?
 
Everyone says there are so many BPPC:s running out there
and that Hyperion would be stupid to miss out on selling to
the many people interested. Well, then this poll is a
non-issue, isn't it? Hyperion should get plenty of responses
in no time, easily assuring them people are really interested
in a version for that ancient piece of hardware.
 
I guess Hyperion looked over the work thay had to do - now
that they could actually do it, I suppose - calculated the
time, cost and support needed and got cold feet - "better
make sure people are really interested in this before we
start putting effort and resources into it", they thought. Fair
enough I say. Let's just hope a BPPC version does not
detract from the A1 version in any way. That's the only real
future for the OS, after all.
 
As for me, I was never interested in running AOS4 on my
old computers anyway, so I never read the status on them
all that profoundly. But for the last six months or so, I'm
pretty sure I have read "We will make a CPPC and A1
version, and *eventually* BPPC" in various postings. But I
could be dreaming. I know though that I've always
considered the BPPC version to be a lot less certain than
the other two.
.
SlimJim

[MarkTime]

@SlimJim,

How about, they said quite clearly, that the order of ports was Cyberstorm, AmigaONE, and then Blizzard PPC.

The fact that AmigaONE comes after Cyberstorm makes it less certain??? Is that what you are saying?

Why do you even begin to defend this absurdity.
That type of reasoning is wrong.  The poll, for one,
just is nonsensical.   The constantly changing directions of Amiga, Inc. caused lots of developers
to abandon interest in Amiga, Inc., as Bill P. can tell
you....

Hyperion should not mimic the behaviour of classic  amiga companies with their ridiculous amateur 'polls', and 'guaging interest', and 'prepayments' and all that jazz....

And suddenly stopping to decide on a 'poll' cause
the Blizzard version will be' hard', strikes a blow
to their credibility.  They promised it, they better deliver it.

They aren't drumming up support.  They are doing the opposite.  I will NOT BUY a BLIZZARD PPC or
OS 4, as a result of their waffling.  One sale lost.

I bought the dang hardware just two days ago, LMAO....with the exception of the blizz card.

Well, lucky for me, I won't lose money on trusting
Hyperion, but its only because I'm not going to trust
them again.

From the OS 4 feature list:
Support for the onboard SCSI controllers of the Cyberstorm PPC and BlizzardPPC

GEE MA, I wonder how they were going to support the BlizzardPPC without an OS4 release for BlizzardPPC.

Another reason this poll is ridiculous, besides shooting their own sales in the foot before they get started, is many Amigan's don't participate in these polls or amiga online forums.

If they did, all those Slovenian's would have been chastising me for my remarks yesterday..but since there are none of them here, you had to do it for them.

(good point on the Slovenia thing..btw).

mark

[Fats]

Or maybe it is just because exec now runs on PPC and not on m68k this can gives problems for hardware drivers. Writing a user program emulator for running emulated exec is much easier then writing a m68k emulation that allows to run hardware drivers written to run on an m68k machine taking into account interrupts, MMUs and things like that. I think it is not difficult to understand that this is much harder.

[Hardboy]

@Marktime:
I´m normally not the type of person with an "amiga" memory as you call it, but as far as I remember, hyperion stated from the very beginning, that a version of OS4.0 for BPPC wasn´t 100% sure, as they couldn´t get the needed hardware-specific information from DCE/Phase 5.

Personally, I feel like, I have waited so long, that I wouldn´t mind buying a version for my BPPC, and then when I buy an A1, also be paying a version for that one too.

Many of you states that it´s a question about supporting the new hardware. If you ask me, then it´s a matter of selling so many copies, that they can work full-time on supplying us more, and more. A version for BPPC wouldn´t be a bad idea.

One email goes from me to hyperion..

[MarkTime]

@Hardboy,

You need to understand I've been trying to deal with these folks for sometime now.  Yes!!!!

Yes, you are right, they occasionally casted doubt on the Blizzard PPC project.  99% certain is not 100% certain.  But anytime you tried to suggest BlizzPPC is not going to happen, they fired right back, but IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

HOW CAN YOU SAY OTHERWISE,  WE ARE 99% SURE.  We have no reason not to do it.  BlizzPPC *IS* the Amiga market.  THIS WILL TAKE TWO WEEKS.

You understand....do you?

Everyone, please keep buying Amiga hardware, spend your hard earned cash, we need you to keep all Amiga dealers afloat, but then if we turn tail and supply you with NOTHING that is OK too.

It up to you, the Amigan, to keep spending money...we, as a highly respected company, are obligated to do nothing.

The most frustrating thing about all this, is the
constant defense of these companies...
but I do respect Wayne, for taking a stand against
Amiga, Inc....who was, after all the main offender,
hyperion is heaven sent by comparison...

but its still not a good way to do business, and until
a developer knows what to expect, well...its very
hard to bother.

[Ponos2D]

Mine BPPC runs on 300MHz with 66MHz BUS.

Lots of people still use their 200MMX or
Celeron 300MHz.

BTW stop makeing unpleasent jokes on small countries! I'm online for 7 years, and I live
in Croatia(4 million people live there)

[SlimJim]

@MarkTime
 
I'm sorry that you obviously feel so agast by this poll thing
and that you feel your newly bought Blizzard no longer
holds any value to you. Since I have/had no absolute
interest in AOS4 for the Blizzard, I always considered it
something they would do last  - after A1 release even. It
seems I was mistaken in that regard,  it does appear
Blizzzard development would start right away if this poll
has a good turnout.
 
I fail to see why this woulf influence your desicion so. The
Slovenians are a more forgiving bunch than the
Blizzard-owners you know ;-) - if there is interest, the poll
will show it, and you'll get your AOS4 for Blizzard. If not,
well - apparently the interest for a Blizzard was bigger
when Hyperion last decided on it - more than a year ago
and today it would be a loss for them. What do I know?
Only speculating here.
 
Similar to your loud outrage over the "prepaying" of
AmigaONE:s, I feel you are being overly melodramatic over
this. At any rate,  if you were serious enough to buy a
Blizzard, at least wait to see if the version comes before
selling it. You are not dealing with a day-to-day stock option
here. The prize will not drop if you don't sell it right away.
.
SlimJim