Amiga Inc, in 25 questions or less

[Floid]

Mine are multipart as well, but can probably be merged with previous concepts:

-Has the NHL deal borne any sort of fruit?  [Is any of same publically available, and if so, where is it present/available for purchase?]

-Is what's left of Amiga Inc. now tightly focused on the publishing role, similar to what became of the Atari brand, or do other business relationships/'technology partnerships' continue?  [Albeit still with the DE/intent connection, sure.]

-Will a shrinkwrapped development environment ever be available again?  ['Shrinkwrapped' used in the sense of 'generally available without requiring contractual obligations above and beyond a conventional software license.'  Or 'without direct negotiation required,' at least.]

[redfox]

Thanks to Wayne and Bill.

Q What has changed?

Q Will OS4 be available for more PPC hardware?

---
redfox

[Nautilus]

Since it's owned by Hyperion, the AmigaOS  has nothing to do with Amiga Inc anymore, so what's the role/relevance of Amiga Inc in the computing/mobile world?

[Tron2k2]

Well they like to think they are, but curiously, when we ask (me or my attorneys) there just isn't any money around but of course they'll settle with us for stock in the (if McE told me right) the company that Hare founded and has since left but whose stock quadrupled in value, I refer to KMOS, or 'the shell game Amiga played to hide its assets from creditors'.

Of course, Bill says it isn't a shell game, yet all the assets of Amiga are now owned by KMOS who can use them, but isn't responsible for Amiga's bills, but Amiga apparently didn't get any money for this stuff..  It's a mess.  

Anyway, I'm not gonna bother asking this question, I am in no mood to hear the hype/PR {bleep}.  The bottom line is I don't have my money.  It's been four years now.  I've no illusions of getting it anytime soon.  I'd be happy to be surprised of course, but not holding my breath..

[fatman2021]

Some years ago, I ordered an AmigaOne XE computer from Software Hut. I got my AmigaOne XE, but never did get my copy of AmigaOS 4.0. Now I no longer have my AmigaOne XE, so AmigaOS 4.0 will not do me any good until I get a new AmigaOne. So anyways, is it posible to trade in my rights to use 1 copy of AmigaOS 4.0 on one AmigaOne Computer for the rights to develop Hardware to emulate clasic amigas?

[JoePillow]

On March 15, 2004, Amiga, Inc.(a state of Washington company) announced that on April 23, 2003 it had transferred its rights over past and future versions of the Amiga OS (but not over other intellectual property) to Itec,LLC, later acquired by KMOS, Inc. (a state of Delaware company).

The statement has since then been removed from amiga.com, but it is archived at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.amiga.com/corporate/150304-amigaos_sale.shtml

The March 15, 2004 statement reads in part:

On April 23, 2003 Amiga entered into an Agreement with Itec LLC, later acquired by KMOS, Inc. for the transfer and sale of all of Amiga's right, title, source code, and all versions, from the "Classic Amiga Operating System" through AmigaOS 4.0 and all subsequent versions to KMOS, Inc. ... "I [Garry Hare] should point out, that except as they relate to the Amiga OS family of products, KMOS did not acquire the Amiga name, intellectual property or its DE line of products. These assets remain the property of Amiga Inc."

On March 16, 2005, KMOS, Inc. announced that it had completed all registrations with the State of Delaware to change its corporate name to Amiga, Inc.

So it would appear that Amiga, Inc. (Delaware, formerly KMOS) owns the Amiga OS, and Amiga, Inc. (Washington) owns the trademarks,etc. Is this correct? If this changed, at what exact date(s) were the remaining assets transferred from Amiga, Inc. (Washington) to Amiga, Inc. (Delaware)? We know that it is claimed that in April 2003 the OS changed hands, but the Amiga community is still missing an announcement about this other important change of ownership of the rest of the Amiga IP.

[Daff]

Some questions :

- A port of the AmigaAnywhere player on MacOS X, AmigaOS, MorphOS or others platforms is it planned ?

- The market of digital music is growing (look at iTunes music store...). Are you intersted in this market ?

- Is it possible to release source code of the classic AmigaOS ?

- Do you own money with licence/IP of the AmigaOS ?


(and if it's possible, I would like to translate the interview in French for French-speaking Amiga people. Wayne, can I ?)

[Cymric]

My first and only question is literally:

WHY BOTHER?

To explain: Amigas are, as far as any market standard is concerned, dead.

The hardware of the old designs is deteriorating; that of the new ones overpriced and outdated. It is difficult to obtain a new Amiga too. I concede that the new design is sufficiently compatible to what is available to warrant some possibilities in upgrading, though.

The user base is very small, and will never reach the size the Amiga had at the end of the 1980's anymore. You will never make much money out of this group.

AOS4 seems to be locked in permanent beta and will, when going gold, never become more than a toy OS for nostalgic purposes. ('s Cool though, people like toys.)

The porting of any big program on the Amiga is a lottery these days. Progress is, despite brave efforts from individuals with bigger courage than myself, depressingly haphazard and slow. The Amiga will therefore have to make do with its own native software.

Any development tying in the OS or hardware to any other form of content (mobile, TV, audio, ...) faces competition so stern that the initiative is dead in the water before it begins.

Licensing the IP is also dead in the water as all of the IP has been surpassed by different and more powerful technology. (Can anyone show me an application where having a Copper is absolutely necessary?)

To put it in a single word: dead. So WHY BOTHER? That extends to this questionaire: WHY BOTHER?

[JurassicCamper]

With regards to "OS5" and the plan to take OS4 back in house.

Will we see AmigaDE (AA) ported to OS4 to become OS5 and remain tied to PPC architechture of the current crop of licencees.

or

Will we see OS4 ported to VP to sit ontop of AmigaDE (AA) to become OS5 and become hardware independent ?
If this is the case are Amiga willing to support the current motherboards from it board licencees or will customers have to change there hardware to what Amiga specify for OS5 ?

It was recently reported that Amiga Inc have been in talks with the new Commodore brand owners. Can you discuss any of these plans ? It would be good to see a reunion of the 2 brands.
How commercially viable does Amiga think a new Low cost PPC based Commodore Amiga running OS4 is ?

[Boot_WB]

What does the next two years hold for Amiga.Inc as a business?

How has the KMOS/A.inc changeover affected your ability to attract outside investment into the Amiga platform?

Are there any plans within the next two years to support/release/develop any desktop environment?

[benJamin]

The Amiga brand is mentioned in major (Australian) newspapers about once every month or two, usually in reference to game ports to new portable media. Does Amiga Inc. intend to use such continued mention to push their image in the near future for the mobile telecommunications market?

The speculation of Amiga Inc.'s legal entanglements/dramas is not short of epic in proportion. Is Amiga Inc., in its current form, being held up by these same functions of business, or has unentangling the mess become the focus of spending for any (all?) incoming revenue?

Is Amiga.inc in anyway restricted by the actions of investors, current and past, or their benefactors and how has this affected the morale of the team?

Do you have any new office furniture, yet?   :-P


Well, maybe not the last one, eh?

@Wayne:
Love your work!


benJamin
"Bad news, nobody!" - Professor Farnsworth

[cecilia]

why should I care about "amiga inc" how does this "company" affect my life? are "you" actually making anything I should care about or can use?

[billt]

Now I no longer have my AmigaOne XE, so AmigaOS 4.0 will not do me any good until I get a new AmigaOne. So anyways, is it posible to trade in my rights to use 1 copy of AmigaOS 4.0

What happened to the AmigaOne you once had? Did the right to one copy of OS4 not follow the hardware to whatever fate it had?

[billt]

why should I care about "amiga inc" how does this "company" affect my life? are "you" actually making anything I should care about or can use?

I care about them not becasue of what they make, but because of their role in enabling or preventing others from making certain things which I do care about.

[samo79]

My question is simple :-)

Why don't you (Amiga Inc.) develop an AmigaOS4 version of AmigaDE/Amiga Anyware ?

Thanks

[pierre]

It's great that Bill is willing to take questions, however at this point I feel more like TELLING Bill a few things.  These are not meant as insults but I am frustrated with amiga Inc, let there be no doubt!

-very few people (or businesses) care about amigaDE or amiga anywhere, the amiga name has no place on this "product".  What on earth casued you to put amiga in it's name?

-amiga inc has missed every oppertunity to help the amiga survive, infact it would appear the opposit happend.  Is there an agenda to keep the amiga out of the mainstream market?  (don't wan't to sound paranoid, but I know how business/microsoft works)

-amiga inc is in the way of progress, if amiga inc is not interested in the classic amiga, why mess it up for those that are interested.... Would you consider giveing the amiga to the open source community, given you apperent lack of interest?

-amiga inc has NOTHING to do with actual Amigas, please change your name!

-PPC and propriatry hardware are a very bad idea in the current world (for PC's), IF you are going to do some new amiga harware have the common sense to use standard hardware

-amiga inc has brought much shame to the amiga community, negative press, law suits and failure, how do you feel about this.  How do you get up every day on continue with this fiasco? (please leave god out of the answer)


--mods feel free to adjust this or delete it... I just feel like it's important to call it as it is, why beat around the bush?