Hyperion bankrupt?

[cpaek72]

@Kremlar

Before a customer purchases an AmigaONE X1000, in Checkout it states that the build will take up to 10 days, so customers know before they buy it won't be simply pulled off a shelf and packed immediately.  Remember that every X1000 is different, assembled bespoke to the customer's order with care.  This is not a low cost budget PC that is quickly thrown together.

The customer in question here opened a Support Ticket within 1 day asking why we had not shipped the X1000, we responded immediately and explained that it would be a week or so before it would be despatched from us.

Our order history pages also provide customers with updated information on the system build.

Hey Amigakit, that's totally a lie. I asked why the order I place was on pending. I wanted understand your ordering system and was not sure if the order had gone through. When you explained to me how it all worked I was fine with waiting. I did not expect the order to ship through in a single day. Wow, your lack of truth is truly disturbing here. I could post all of our correspondence on this forum for everyone to see, but I would rather not. You should post my address and my credit card info while your at it.

[Lionheart]

@ All,

From AW!

Hyperionmp
   
   Re: Hyperion Entertainment bankrupt?
Posted on 13-Feb-2015 23:42:38       [ #60 ]
Hyperion
Joined: 8-Mar-2003
Posts: 466
From: Unknown
   

@OlafS25

The quote a famous writer: "the news of our demise is greatly exaggerated"

This is the result of an unfortunate administrative mishap by a third party and is in the process of being addressed/cleared up.

This may take a while as everything takes a while in Belgium whilst it comes to administrative and judicial matters.

Those dancing on our grave, sorry guys, no party here

Hyperion Entertainment Directors

Whether or not that is true remains to be seen.  However, it seems a little odd that  someone posted that with Hyperion's account on Amigaworld.net while Hyperion hasn't even made an announcement addressing it on their own forum.

[NorthWay]

who went to court to declare the insolvency and why?

In Norway the IRS equivalent will send you to court if you don't pay your taxes or have otherwise outstanding payments to the government.

[modrobert]

Oh no! Cancel the refund.

Jokes aside, Amiga Operating Systems tend to age really well with or without companies backing the development, perhaps even better without, the community takes care of that.

The X1000 is really an impressive hardware design in my opinion, which actually requires Linux to support both CPU cores and full 4GB RAM configuration. My point is that even if the future of Amiga OS 4.x is uncertain, the hardware still have OS support. The only thing holding me back is the price, but you can't expect PC prices without mass production for a custom design like this.

[Rob]

I have the 500, 1200 and the 2000. I love the Amiga, both original and NG. It's more the community than the hardware. You see a lot of infighting between the two groups, but I'm agnostic to the whole thing and just love what it gave me in the past and I want to give back to it by supporting future hardware as well.

I purchased os4 for classic and will check it out before committing to a full on NG system in the future. Should have listened to the forums earlier when someone actually suggested that.

To be honest I thought that all the infighting might have put off altogether.  Hope you have fun experimenting with the classic version on UAE.

[ChuckT]

Look they gave me my refund and I am not angry. I only want the information to be out there so that no one else makes a purchases without clearly knowing all the facts. They are selling the x1000 system with os4 FE as the main operating system on their website. Let's not be fanboys here and clearly see the situation as it is.
I purchase from Ebay all the time and I know what I'm getting into when I purchase a product with no support, because the seller clearly states that it's been used or is a retro product. But when you purchase a new computer Amiga or not, you expect certain things to be out in the open and Hyperion being bankrupt is a little small detail that just got leaked. Amigakit sounds like they've known for a while from the email they sent me. If it stated on their website that os4 currently has no support from Hyperion then I would have purchased with a sound mind, but no one wants this information to be out there, especially the guys that are creating hardware that rely on os4 to be their main operating system. To say that to buy into Amiga is to let go of all notions of consumer rights is ridiculous. Do you disagree Gizmo?

I see it as a mutual responsibility.  It involves a third party so you should be going after Hyperion for them not announcing their condition but since no money changed hands, do they owe you anything when they aren't dealing directly with you?.
The other issue is that Commodore went bankrupt years ago and there is a big difference between a company like Commodore and Hyperion that has maybe two or more employees.  This is a hard market because anything you buy today is already obsolete from products being in the pipeline and if Commodore went out of business then what makes you think that another provider has a better chance long term?  Just look at the browser wars for IBM; Companies like Sun have to give away their products for free and companies like Google are giving their search engine away for free but they make their money on advertising and search.
You could have asked the company for a financial statement to see their financial viability.

There is a difference between Ebay and another company.  When I buy from Ebay, I know that most of the time I'm getting "used" and when you buy from "Amigakit", you are getting old stock or new stock.  When you buy from the public on Ebay, you are getting the product from a non-professional who may or may not represent the condition of the product.  When you are buying from Amigakit, you are getting what you ordered.

Lets see some benchmarks of Amiga computers today against the PCs of today.  You are going up against the most powerful software and hardware in the world.  It is your mutual responsibility to understand that there are other options.

[ChuckT]

The PowerPC was a trap since the beginning by Bill Gates & Steve Jobs for killing the 68k evolution, killing Commodore & Atari, and for losing our time & energy on a dead-end...

Business is war... Be lucid, please...

I don't think the owners of Commodore went to bed broke and penniless.  I think they got to a certain point where they didn't invest any more money into the business while they were taking home big money.

Ask yourself why there wasn't a Vic III chip?  Ask yourself why there wasn't an 80 column Commodore 64.  Ask yourself why there wasn't a 6502 computer with LCD screen.  Ask yourself why Commodore had the money to make a SID chip but never go any further developing a more advanced sound chip.

Ask yourself why Apple could survive at charging three times as much as Commodore and survive and why Commodore just didn't raise prices to survive?

Why did Amiga have to have all of those advanced things to survive instead of being more Commodore 64ish?  Having three coprocessors to design for takes longer than program and design for one.

I think if Commodore came out with a SID 2 chip, a Vic 3 chip, a basic Amiga without all of those co-processors, an LCD 6502 computer then there would have been a future but you have to re-invest in your company and not run it into the ground.

They were basically gouging their Amiga customers.  They upgraded the computers from an Agnus chip to Fat Agnes, updated the operating system and charged more for all those updates and it alienated customers because it put customers on a faster pace to buy.  Back then I bought an Amiga 500 and people told me it was a lot of money and I couldn't convince them to buy because of that.  The upgrading and fast pace made people's computers incompatible with running the latest software.  People bought an Amiga without a hard drive and couldn't do things without a hard drive.  And upgrading the Amiga 500 to the capabilities of an Amiga 200 just cost more and it would have better if they just kept the Amiga 1000 case and keyboard.  The rat race for more more more became too expensive for people and alienated their audience because then you have a smaller user base.  Peripherals were cheaper for the IBM and Amiga users were being gouged so when there is a demand for high priced components, you are actually running a boat like Commodore and the USS Commodore became a cruise ship charging cruise ship prices instead of being a ferry.  Lower prices = more customers which could equal more profits.  When you raise prices, the supply and demand is affected and you sell less computers for less profits.

Think about this: You just bought an Amiga, it was an expense and six months later, Commodore upgrades it.  You're catering to a select few and alienating everyone else.

So ask yourself: Did the owners take too much money out of the company?

[Lionheart]

The X1000 is really an impressive hardware design in my opinion, which actually requires Linux to support both CPU cores and full 4GB RAM configuration. My point is that even if the future of Amiga OS 4.x is uncertain, the hardware still have OS support. The only thing holding me back is the price, but you can't expect PC prices without mass production for a custom design like this.

It was an impressive hardware design more than 10 years ago, but certainly not today and especially not with a $3,000 price tag.  Unlike the original Amiga, the X1000 has neither a hardware or price advantage.   Its only real selling point is that it is able to run Amiga OS4, which is only an advantage when selling to die-hard Amiga fans as even Linux can do more than it.  And why buy an X1000 to use Linux when you can by a more powerful PC for less than 1/3 the price of an X1000?

[Darrin]

It was an impressive hardware design more than 10 years ago, but certainly not today and especially not with a $3,000 price tag.  Unlike the original Amiga, the X1000 has neither a hardware or price advantage.   Its only real selling point is that it is able to run Amiga OS4, which is only an advantage when selling to die-hard Amiga fans as even Linux can do more than it.  And why buy an X1000 to use Linux when you can by a more powerful PC for less than 1/3 the price of an X1000?

That's your opinion.  Many would disagree.  

I think it is worth the price tag and so I bought one.

The reason I didn't buy a cheap PC to run Linux is because I don't want to run Linux, I want to run OS4 so that is the selling point that counts.

Your argument is like telling someone who paid $30,000 for a Harley Davidson that he should have bout at $15,000 Kia because the Car has 4 wheels and airbags.  You're missing the point that the guy wanted a motorbike.  

[ferrellsl]

That's your opinion.  Many would disagree.  

I think it is worth the price tag and so I bought one.

The reason I didn't buy a cheap PC to run Linux is because I don't want to run Linux, I want to run OS4 so that is the selling point that counts.

Your argument is like telling someone who paid $30,000 for a Harley Davidson that he should have bout at $15,000 Kia because the Car has 4 wheels and airbags.  You're missing the point that the guy wanted a motorbike.  

Sorry, but I have to agree with LionHeart.  There's nothing compelling enough about an outdated operating system such as OS4 that would make me pay $3K USD for hardware to run it on.  A few years back (2008) I was able to purchase one of the last PegII systems produced and I bought a copy of OS4 and MorphOS to go with it.  My total investment was less than $850 USD but even then all I had was a moderately expensive paperweight. The X1000 hardware performs on the level of PC system from 10 years ago, there's barely any 3D GPU support and no OS4 productivity software. Sad that nothing has really changed in the 7+ years that I made my PegII/OS4 purchase except for the price of the hardware and its availability.  I realize that Amigas are your hobby but you'll have a hard time convincing anyone of the merits of OS4 and the X1000, especially if they don't have as much disposable income as you.

[Darrin]

Sorry, but I have to agree with LionHeart.  There's nothing compelling enough about an outdated operating system such as OS4 that would make me pay $3K USD for hardware to run it on.  A few years back (2008) I was able to purchase one of the last PegII systems produced and I bought a copy of OS4 and MorphOS to go with it.  My total investment was less than $850 USD but even then all I had was a moderately expensive paperweight. The X1000 hardware performs on the level of PC system from 10 years ago, there's barely any 3D GPU support and no OS4 productivity software. Sad that nothing has really changed in the 7+ years that I made my PegII/OS4 purchase except for the price of the hardware and its availability.  I realize that Amigas are your hobby but you'll have a hard time convincing anyone of the merits of OS4 and the X1000, especially if they don't have as much disposable income as you.

You might argue that there's nothing YOU would pay for.  However I disagree because there is something I would pay for.  However, it is a purely personal thing.  You'll never convince me to buy an iPhone at any price as I have no interest in one.

This isn't about cost or we would all be driving Kia cars.  Meanwhile, there are options for everybody's price range, starting at UAE+OS4 and going up to X1000+OS4.

The X1000 (taking inflation into consideration) is still less than I paid in the 80s for my original A2000 setup.

On the plus side, things do seem to be moving along.  Open Office is a desperately needed piece of software that will make a huge difference to the platform.

[Lionheart]

That's your opinion.  Many would disagree.  

I think it is worth the price tag and so I bought one.

The reason I didn't buy a cheap PC to run Linux is because I don't want to run Linux, I want to run OS4 so that is the selling point that counts.

Your argument is like telling someone who paid $30,000 for a Harley Davidson that he should have bout at $15,000 Kia because the Car has 4 wheels and airbags.  You're missing the point that the guy wanted a motorbike.  

No, my argument is more like telling someone who bought a 10 year old Harley Davidson for $30,000 that they could get a brand new one for around $8,399.    

Take out the Amiga name from the system entirely and I doubt you would have spent $3000 on a system that is more than 3 times the cost of a new PC and that is running on 10 year old hardware.  That kind of business model gives die-hards fans something to drool on but doesn't increase your user base.  The name only works as long as there are people around who still remember it.

[QuikSanz]

@Darrin,

Right on the money! I drove a rental KIA, I prefer my Subaru WRX 1000 times better.

Iv'e driven a windows machine, so what. I prefer Amiga!

Chris

[Darrin]

No, my argument is more like telling someone who bought a 10 year old Harley Davidson for $30,000 that they could get a brand new one for around $8,399.    

Take out the Amiga name from the system entirely and I doubt you would have spent $3000 on a system that is more than 3 times the cost of a new PC and that is running on 10 year old hardware.  That kind of business model gives die-hards fans something to drool on but doesn't increase your user base.  The name only works as long as there are people around who still remember it.

I agree that cheaper options would be nice.  I wouldn't have minded paying half of what I did.  However, it isn't my business model and I don't make the product.  So for now I pay what I have to in order to get the product I want and hope that by keeping it ticking over now it will live to become cheaper down the road.

I bought a C-One motherboard which was an expensive choice at the time, but I did it to keep development of FPGA projects going.  While the C-One now gathers dust, it did evolve into the Chameleon64 which was a cheaper and more powerful option.  So to that extent I view my investment in the C-One as worthwhile.  I hope the X1000 proves to be a similar case.

[Darrin]

@Darrin,

Right on the money! I drove a rental KIA, I prefer my Subaru WRX 1000 times better.

Iv'e driven a windows machine, so what. I prefer Amiga!

Chris

I'm driving around West Texas in a rental Hyundai right now.  On the 18th my new 2015 Mustang gets delivered from the Ford factory.  I know which one I'm going to enjoy more (not that this Hyundai SUV isn't bad for a work vehicle).  

[QuikSanz]

@Darrin,

Nice pick! Would give me a run for the money, unless the roads are wet.

Chris