Interview with KMOS CEO Garry Hare (25 Mar 04)

[Mikey_C]

Well, I have always maintained that the card was a fake.

Although it actually physically exists, it is still a fake. I have never called Wayne a liar, I just always maintained the card was a fake.

If I gave the impression I did, I apologise.

Having said that, we only have one man to thank for causing so much trouble with the original fake story.

No, I don't mean Garry Hare. I mean the man who called the people who supported Hyperion, Morons.

It's sad that it took so long, for the truth to come out, but as Michael Garibaldi said, the Truth  does always come out, sooner or later.

[Hattig]

Wayne
It's certainly Bill Buck's fault that "the business card incident" was blown to such proportions, and I will openly admit and apologize for the fact that I was played as a pawn in respect to the card fiasco (though I did have the card for a short while).

Not your fault, you were misused by Bill Buck and what he said about the card which he obtained.

Garry's story rings true. He only printed a few - small scale, hence the poor quality, hence the people that said it was a photoshopped card printed out and then scanned in again! (the ones claiming it was a photoshop straight out were nuts, of course).

Shame on Bill Buck though. He knew that Hare wasn't the CEO of Amiga Inc, and that there was only an option of him becoming that. Yet he decided to play Wayne, and then the whole Amiga community, by claiming this. The whole point was to reduce trust in Amiga Inc, to waste their time having to deny it, and to presumably cover up issues that Genesi were having with hardware and money themselves.

[ottomobiehl]

I don't know all of the answers but something doesn't make sense.  I've tried to find out more about KMOS but they seem to be non-existant.  No website, no other references to them on the net other than the Amiga.com press release.  What kind of company doesn't have a web presence?

Taken from the press release at amiga.com they state KMOS is a corporation, which formed in Deleware.

KMOS, Inc. a State of Delaware licensed corporation develops and distributes enabling technology, software applications and specialty content to the wired and wireless communication market.

If you go to the Delaware Secretary of state site here and type KMOS into the search engine.

We find out when the corporation was formed:

Incorporation Date / Formation Date: 10/07/2003

(note/disclaimer: I don't know if this is the same KMOS as in the interview so I may be wrong.  But it is the only KMOS Inc. registered in Delaware according to the Secratery of State Site)

October 7th, 2003?  How can you build up a successful business in just 5 months?

Well, maybe they were a private business until then.  This quote casts some doubts (for me) on that.

Garry: Good question. I asked it myself. Corporate documents needed to be filed while I was in Asia. I returned home to find that the Company, that I had agreed to build, was named KMOS. Like many of you, I asked what's a KMOS, what does it mean? I was told it is sort of like Xerox, it doesn't mean anything but with use will become a positive brand. I pointed out that Edsel (an old auto brand) also didn't mean anything and it went bankrupt. I hated the name. I lost.

I'm sure it was a seperate company that asked him to be CEO when they incorporated.  Still, there are too many wierd things going on to not really trust KMOS.  The interview clears up some stuff and I hope they are legit.  The Amiga brand needs a definate and good shot in the arm to boost it up.  :-?

[Hattig]

if AInc were a bit more open about their dealings [..] the whole business card thing would have been a total non-issue.

To be fair, Fleecy last year did say that they had approached Garry Hare, but nothing happened in the end. That is open, and it appears to collaborate today's interview.

That leaves the population of ANN and Amiga.org who kept on poking around the business card issue itself that actually made the whole thing into an issue. Wayne has said that he was used by a pawn by a certain individual to get this result. I think the person to blame about making the issue what is it is quite clear.

[KennyR]

Hattig wrote:
Shame on Bill Buck though. He knew that Hare wasn't the CEO of Amiga Inc, and that there was only an option of him becoming that.

To jump to that, you only have the word of two men you don't know. One, Buck, who is known to take an unholy delight in tormenting AInc (not that I blame him), and another, Hare, who you do not know and who has remained totally silent since the purchase of the OS rights *last year*.

Not really a situation that reflects well on either man, and may well be a case of the devil and the deep blue sea.

[Hattig]

Hare admits misrepresents himself at a show by handing out business cards proclaiming him to be Chairman and CEO of Amiga Inc when he wasn't even employed by them.

This is quite an ANN spin on events.

He gave a few cards to people. He explained the current situation to them regarding the CEO-ship.

One card gets into bbrv's hands after a lot of wheedling. bbrv is told by Garry Hare the situation. bbrv holds onto the card for a bit, and then generates the whole business card drama knowing completely the entire truth of the matter beforehand!

Yet you don't blame bbrv?! lol

whose fault would the resulting confusion be? Mine, for handing out cards or the person who takes the cards at face value and posts the news?

The person who didn't verify the details on the card, namely the person who takes the cards at face value. Sadly Wayne was misused and hence the card was misrepresented when he posted about it all that time ago.

[bhoggett]

Having said that, we only have one man to thank for causing so much trouble with the original fake story.

No, I don't mean Garry Hare. I mean the man who called the people who supported Hyperion, Morons.

Interesting. You appear to condone the attempted deception involved in creating a fake card, but condemn those who draw conclusions from the existence of said card?

The reality is that those who were adamant the card was a fake - and even Amiga Inc employees were coy about making such a definitive statement at the time - made no bones about who they thought faked the card: Genesi employees or their supporters.

No explanation was given as to why - if the card was fake - did Amiga Inc not publicly criticise Mr Hare for issuing it? Why did they not confirm that the card was issued by Mr Hare, that it was invalid, and that they addressed the matter with Mr Hare and made sure it would not be repeated?  No such statement was made despite Amiga Inc being given the express invitation to place the blame squarely where it belonged and condemn the issuer of the 'fake' card. Instead we had only suggestions and innuendo designed to put the blame for the incident on the Blue side, who admittedly made the most of the opportunity, but did not cause it.

As far as I'm concerned, I still regard KMOS with extreme suspicion despite this interview. Let's face it, when Amiga Inc bought the rights from Gateway, not that many people felt negative about that transaction, but look where is got us, so we all know the limited value of positive early interviews.

[bhoggett]

@KennyR

Not really a situation that reflects well on either man, and may well be a case of the devil and the deep blue sea.

Absolutely agreed. There is little doubt Buck made the most of the situation - and yes, he used Wayne for best effect - but equally there is little doubt that there is absolutely no excuse for handing out business cards with fraudulent information or making court declarations in anticipation of events that never happen. Garry Hare handed out cards that we are now told were essentially fakes. This is VERY unprofessional. Bill McEwen declared in court that he was NOT CEO of Amiga Inc. That was a lie. Neither can be explained away by saying that some form of deal was in the offing, but then fell through.

It's quite typical to see certain individuals being totally blinkered when it comes to criticising those they regard as "on their side", even in the face of freely admitted wrongdoings.

[Hattig]

I don't think that there was any deception regarding the business card. The intent at the time was for Garry Hare to become CEO. The few people that got business cards directly were told that this was pending, not finalised. For whatever reason, it didn't actually happen.

Amiga Inc made it quite clear many times last year that Bill McEwan was CEO. That is all they had to say! It shows that the information on the cards is incorrect.

Put the blame on the person who misrepresented the business card to the community. Who claimed that it was the real state of play. Who abused everyone on ANN and here in the end.

The 'faking' of the card in my opinion is how it was represented by Bill Buck. The card captures a moment in time where the information on it was about to become true, pending anything that came up. Something came up, Hare didn't use any more of those cards. He didn't bet on a card getting to Bill Buck's hands, and even then and telling Bill Buck that the information was incorrect that Bill Buck would then claim on ANN and Amiga.org that the information on it was true, and then the resultant loss of trust against Amiga Inc, and the people that gave up on Amiga Inc because of that, etc.

Anyway, lets talk about other things in the interview. All those people that claimed that Amiga Inc, Bill McEwen, Fleecy were shareholders in KMOS - even stating it as fact, and that KMOS was an IP offloading company. Not a peep about the fact that isn't the case eh? Silence! It's deafening.

[mepmepmep]

@all
Hmm, suddenly the winds have changed?? It seems to me like it's not a very stable community at all, the Amiga one, but everyone is on their toes, ready to shift side, at any time?
This is not an accusation, just an observation. I too found Gary to be a pretty decent and nice guy, from the interview. But it's pretty surprising to see that just a few comments can make a whole community shift?? Unstable, to say the least.

[Colin_Camper]

So the card WAS a fake and the strong possibility is that either Garry himself or the person producing the short run of cards used a layered tool like Photoshop to run them off.

I did accuse Wayne and A.org of conspiring in this affair - and for that I apologise unreservedly.

It was great fun while it lasted though - eh?  :lol:

[Hattig]

Incorrect information on a Business Card is not Fraudulent! The intent was not to defraud anyone. Hence it isn't a fraud.

Still waiting for someone to give me a link to the court document where Bill McEwan says he isn't CEO though. People are all too willing to make these claims, but very reluctant to prove them.

[Argo]

Wayne,
  Just get some aluminum foil and make a hat. Once you put it on it will keep out all the mind control waves and psychic energies form the community.

[Argo]

@KennyR
   "Trust NoOne!"

[howie]

Well, finally someone who might actually be able to do something with Amiga OS. I just hope it's the RIGHT THING, whatever that is.

I just might take him up on the fake business card for t-shirt deal! :-D

[Magic-Merl]

Very interesting, I thought.

Wasn't there a posting about The Chinese government effectively banning the monolpoly of certain OS's.  As a certain company (Micro$oft) seems to have a stanglehold on most countries.  Is it posible that Garry may have found a market for Amiga.
The other thing that he continued to mention was the development of the Asian markets.  Asia is so far behind, technologically speaking, that Amiga would be the perfect brand to push forward, especially following it's success in the west.