An Alternative Proposal to Amiga inc and Hyperion.

Was discussing this on IRC last night, can anyone pick holes in this?

Not saying this would work or anything, just an idea, but wondering if it makes sense.

Whether we like it or not, we need a figure head company for the Amiga platform, whilst so far Amiga inc have failed to be that, their comeback and interest in the platform should not be dismissed as a cynical attempt, but indeed, should be welcome.

The Amiga platform, needs a "face" or parent body, so to speak.

The idea we sort of thrashed out is thus..

Amiga inc, Concentrate on bringing hardware products to market, such as ACK, ACube & Troika, whilst also looking for alternative hardware for AmigaOS4, such as PDA's PS3, Mobile Phones, whatever, if it can run our beloved "Compact OS" then, Amiga inc would investigate the feasibility of granting a license for that device.

Amiga inc would also be responsible for World Wide distribution, Dealers and worldwide Marketing of the Amiga platform.

Hyperion Entertainment.
=================

This is probably the biggest stumbling block, Amiga Inc and Hyperion should form a partnership/Merge and Hyperion Entertainment would become Amiga Software Developments. (a seperate independant subsidiary) Whose sole responsibility would be in updating Amiga OS4.x as well as jointly agreeing/feasibily study in the porting of AmigaOS4.x to which ever hardware device Amiga Inc inc have spotted.

Make no bones about it, Amiga Inc need Hyperion for their skill and expertise in AmigaOS4 just as much as Hyperion need Amiga inc for the overall marketing of AmigaOS and compatible hardware world wide.

Amiga Software Developments would also continue to release software for other platforms (i.e. Mac & linux) as a means to boosting income, but also, with every game sold on another platform, some demonstration files/money off vouchers etc would be included within every software box/disk promoting the Amiga platform

Finance:
Amiga would pay Hyperion/Amiga Software Developments a set fee to port AOS4.x to xx hardware platform, plus a percentage in royalties for every copy of AmigaOS4.x sold.

Hyperion/Amiga Software Developments would also be free to write/port other software (such as Games, Apps, utilities) to run on AmigaOS4.x they would, in turn, give Amiga inc a percentage fee for every copy sold, enabling Amiga inc to aquire better deals or push promotion of the Amiga platform in the hopes of aquiring further sales of hardware, which would feed back to hyperion/amiga developments in royalties for each copy of AmigaOS4 sold. This would ensure a continueous revenue stream/incentives for both companies.


That's as far as we got, i'll add any other ideas as it goes, you got any others?

Hi Mikey_C,


There's ALWAYS someone who disagrees. It's going to be me this time.


Let's see, I would say that, say Hyperion Entertainment stay a separate company, I don't see why if they, say, recompile Starcraft for AOS4.x, that there should be extra tacked on there for Amiga Inc.

Second, as a separate entity, just like microsoft(sic) they should be earning a per unit shipped fee. That was always their desire. A one time porting fee of $20,000 is peanuts. They definitely need the on going income stream of fee per copy sold.

If they get absorbed by Amiga Inc. they would be relegated to mere employees who could be laid off at any time, for any amount of time.... And not even necessarily have timely cheques coming in. The other path (which is the one I think they want to take), they're more like share holders, if the product thrives, so do their earnings.... They'll write even better code than they have thus far (no complaints)!!!


Amiga Inc. should make HW, if they can, and should NOT eclipse and sideline Hyperion as seems to be the route they want to take.

At this time, I'm torn, as ACube went to incredible lengths to get what they have off the ground, to only have something apparently 10x better available simultaneously!


Although, they ARE 3 different products:

1. An A1200 add on
2. A standalone, low power (watts) extremely flexible MB
3. A (very?) high end, power user version (Yeeeehaw!)


They're ALL important variants, even though our market is very, very small.


I'm torn asunder.

Please Amiga Inc. Make the "Fantasy" (my avatar!)

@Mikey_C

It seem to me that there is a lot of concern, fear and nervousness in all this.

Can't we just calm down and not think the worst of everything?

I can't see how "we" - the community - can resolve this for the companies involved. "We" don't have nearly all the pieces needed for doing a justified settlement for them. "We" always think "we" have all the pieces, though - and that's the big problem. "We" overreact to everything and think that it will kill the last pieces of the Amiga. The most dangerous part in all this is actually "we".

Please spend some time in the beautiful sunshine, have some beers, and most importantly - have some faith.

@Mikey_C

I am not so much in disagreement, but there is Amiga Inc, Hyperion, the third party contractors and the development team who have made efforts for free (as I understand things). There is Acube/SAM and ACK, Amiga India to consider.

Of all these the most important are the contractors and the development team, their expertise is essential and a bed rock for future development.

My view is that the developers themselves are the neglected element in this.

Secure the developers, underwrite a company for them, consolidate this by the code in its entirety. If they would come across deposit the IP with Amiga on a secure royalty basis that would cut across the issues.

Going to court, may mean concessions by Amiga Inc, but as I understand IP law internationally the code would be surrendered to it in the end, including that of the actual coders. The coders would be the losers in this, and they neither deserve that, nor can their expertise be wasted (bad feeling afterwards could monumental).

With VISTA falling apart and everything else, AmigaOS has a window of opportunity to establish itself again in the wider market. My worry is this will slip by.

Create a company tied into a conglomerate, that is an OS specialist group centered on OS4 in initially, complements Amiga India whose expertise seems to be porting.

As for the rest, they could be fitted in. But the expertise of the coder base, the consolidation of the code IP is not something that can or should be damaged. In a sense, they are the chestnuts that need to be taken out of the fire.

@Atheist and Mikey_C

Wow, I thought Amiga Inc always said it was not into HW anymore! The whole situation is just plain sad. Amiga and Hyperion have botched this badly, I am not taking sides but clearly the chances of AOS4 becoming the foundation of anything more meaningful are reducing by the minute.

Core Amiga users and developers are getting completely discouraged. If 2 previously friendly parties are at loggerheads then I think there is little room for hope.

If they have botched the original agreement so badly between them how do you expect them to agree on a far more complex arrangement. Sorry Mikey_C. My personal view is that Amiga Inc should sell the brand on because there is nothing left for them now that they have NO real products, sure they have AmigaNowhere but that is just about as useful or obtainable as Amiga OS4.

ace

@Mikey_C

It is a good idea to have an integrated hardware and software department under one roof.
That's why I think it makes a lot of sense when Hyperion becomes a subsidiary of Amiga Inc.

Another thought: Think of the money that Amiga Inc and Hyperion spend on the lawsuit. Think of what could be done with this money instead: employing hardware developers, paying OS-developers, software developers, etc
It's a pitty!

Also think of this: How much money does Amiga Inc spend on the lawsuit and how much would they have to pay to buy out Hyperion VOF?
Hyperion can't be worth much, they are a one or two peoples company with not much assets. The thing what is probably worth the most are their software licenses and the contacts to the external developers.
Wouldn't it be much better for Amiga Inc to spend the money to buy out Hyperion?
Everything under one roof? Without Hyperion, there won't be much progress in OS4 anymore.

Note that all of this requires that Amiga Inc investors have interest in OS4. If they don't, it's all pointless...

Quote:

Hi GregS,

Yes. On a "common sense" scale of 1 to 100 (100 being highest), the person at Amiga Inc. who came up with this grand scheme just scored a ZERO, especially when taken into hand-in-hand consideration with what you wrote in the paragraph quoted below.

Quote:

It is hyper-critical that Amiga Inc. NOT take the route they're on.

This is the biggest mistake they'll EVER have made..... Especially when ms is vulnerable (okay, okay, I can hear the laughter from halfway around the world to here (can one get further than halfway around the world?))

Quote:

Hi acefnq,

I know what HW stands for, but I'm inclined to redefine it to "HotWater", in this instance.

@Mikey_C

Emmm.. Hyperion make a partnership with acube and acube has the rights to distribuite worldwide amiga os 4.0...

Quote:
Hi Helge and Mikey_C,

Actually, without realizing it, THAT was what was bugging me about why this should not be the path taken.

What do Amiga Inc. know about which way to steer AOS4.x development? As far as I'm concerned, I feel that Hyperion Entertainment actually LISTEN to what us users have to say about AOS4.x. No, really!


Honestly? I think Amiga Inc. are CLUELESS with what should be implemented next, and what should be incorporated in the future. If they DON'T remain independent, Amiga Inc. will devise/define a timeline AND some fool featuresets that are stupid, or impossible even.

ONLY Hyperion know where to take AOS4.x next (I strongly believe this!!!)

Quote:

Please bear with me while I expand on this a bit.

The ace coders of AOS have dealt with building it from the HW level and know how and what is possible, and it should be left in their hands rather than the fiscal shirts to decide the projects that need doing.


Having Hyperion independent leaves the people that build/create to their own destiny, and I'm sure that their desire is not to crash and burn...

@Mikey_C

I like your idea Mikey but can't see hyperion agreeing to a merger nor Amiga Inc wanting one. My personal idea would be to set up an overseeing committee that would include all interested parties including community representatives, the head of this committee would be the public figure head. We might possibly be able to talk one of the Friedens into becoming the head as they are both well respected by the community.

@Mikey_C

I need to think we start living in the real world.
Ideas like this and petitions are just not going to work.
Sorry,

Rude!

@Rudei

Yes Rudei, but we can always dream!

What else has kept the dwindling Amiga community loyal 13 years after the demise of Commodore?

@Rudei

Better to do something than nothing.

Hello,

I have also some ideas of what Amiga Inc should in order to make our platform more attractive.

1)They should settle up things with Hyperion and Hyperion should settle up things with them. No more lawsuits from both sides! That's ridiculous!

2)They must assemble a team of programmers which constant job will be to port usefull free apps into our platform e.g Firefox, OpenOffice and some games if you like. That's critical!

3)They must market their products! It's almost pointless to launch anything new on the current amiga market (financialy speaking)! Even if they have the best intensions, any new system produced won't sale more than 5.000 units. We must expand. That's also critical!

4)They must figure a way out in order to have software compatibilty with previous versions of amiga software straight from the new hardware. Minimig or anything similar is the first and the biggest step.

5)They must launch more than one system. Having a low end board and a high end is a good policy. Raising the specs gives you a better image on the industry. Also having a low end will provide you a stable and basic user base.

6)Give your product a unique identity, like the old amigas had or apple did with Macs. New stylish cases is a first step.

6)And for God's shake they must stop producing those idiotic pda, cellphone games. No one can take you seriously after that!

What do you think?

@Cool_amigaN

Point 1, agreed.

Point 2, agreed.

Point 3, agreed. One method I like would be if they would do something similar to Amazon.

Point 4. agreed but only to a point as backward compatability can only realistically go so far.

Point 5, Ack has said there will be high end and low end models, I think an extra model in the middle would be nice as well.

Point 6, the Amiga brand is already unique.

Point 7, there is nothing wrong with the games Amiga Inc do for cell phones etc as they are a useful stream of revenue and therefore makes good business sense.

@Cool_amigaN

Quote:

Never gonna happen. The only OS-makers that port open-source stuff are IBM, SGI(afaik). And they do it with small projects (not Mozilla-likes/OO), usually libs and small essential stuff that make porting easier. And they do it because it's relatively easy. I don't see Amiga.Inc putting a dime into anything AOS related unless there's a immediate income as a result. They don't have enough spare money for adventures like this one. (All this is IMHO).

Jack

@Cool_amigaN

Agree with all those points.

@thread

I'm not trying to be negative, maybe I under estimate the power and sway of the community but I just cannot see commercial business entities listening to us on these issues.

I agree businesses need to listen to their (potential) customer bases, its the fundamental principle of good marketing and customer service, but in such legal and litigation matters I think we are clutching at straws a little.

Like I said, maybe I have understimated the power that the community has (I'd love to be wrong) and I agree, sitting around doing nothing is not productive and will lead to us all asking "could we have done more?"

Carry on you crazy people, you have my support as always

Rude!

@Mikey_C

Mikey_C, there are plenty of alternative to resolve this situation. The real problem is: Amiga inc really care to resolve? There's a little possibility that this suggested alternative can reach Amiga Inc.?

i hope so.

AB