All I'm going to say on the matter is this:
1) C=USA have no technical staff, otherwise C=OS would have been more than just a reskin. Also they would be being used to provide support.
2) C=USA have asked for us to provide ideas, for them to implement in 6 months. That's about 24 weeks. There is no way anything close to what the Amiga commmunity will ask for will be done in this time. They would need this time just for testing alone - ask Trevor. He hired a professional team of experienced designers for the X1000 and it still took nearly two years. How can a company with no technical know-how do it in 6 months?
3) C=USA know full well that the chances of 500 Amiga people agreeing on what they want to the extent of plonking down the cash is close to zero.
4) It is not good business practice to promise something you may not be able to provide. Say 500 people agree to an AOS 4.x x86 port. C=USA take the money, and then Hyperion tell them to take a hike. What then? Do we have to keep going through polls until we find a solution that they can legally do?
I can't quite work out whether they're being very naive (and being serious), genuinely trying to repair relations with the community they themselves went out of their way to alienate, or just having a laugh.
My gut feeling is that Leo (who I do think is genuine) really does want to repair relations with Amiga users, and that Barry (who has specifically told us where we can go) just doesn't care but is happy to let Leo do what he wants.... but it just comes across as desperation and a lack of a clear focus. This isn't the way to mend relations, this sounds like someone who wants to but doesn't know how to. C=USA need to do their own market research, and then work out if it's possible and how long it will take. They then should speak to the relevant companies (this can take months alone), and work out a licensing deal. After that they need to double the time it'll take, because these things always take longer than expected.
Once they've got:
A popular design of their choosing.
An accurate timescale including time to spare for unforseen hold-ups.
A pessimistic valuation of money required to cope with unforseen costs.
Agreed licensing deals with all parties concerned.
Green light from all lawyers and rights holders.
... THEN they can start taking pre-orders into an escrow service, with a clearly written legal document checked with professional lawyers, ensuring compliance with all regional variations in laws. Remember we're talking about a LOT of money here, maybe up to a million dollars.
Once all that is in place, maybe I'll be interested, but at the moment it's all upside-down, back-to-front and topsy-turvy.
