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Amiga Sells AmigaOS
rocketjam writes "Amiga, Inc. announced today that it has sold the Amiga Operating System to KMOS, Inc., a corporation which 'develops and distributes enabling technology.' The deal included '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.' A spokesman said the sale would have no adverse affect on the release of a consumer version of AmigaOS 4.0 later this year. Amiga said it made the move in order to focus on the growing mobile market. The long saga of AmigaOS 4.0 continues."
Reader Da writes "there're always other options should the Amiga curse continue. Also mentioned on OSNews."
Yes it does seem to come back to haunt us periodically. I have fond memories of the amiga, but somehow these wild claims of "the next big thing" annoy me. I've done the amiga-zealot thing and I've grown out of it. The platform I mocked ended up stomping my previous platform of choice.
It's like fond childhood memories brought to life, though you know it isnt right: it'll never be the same. Yesterdays Amiga is a thing of the past - a fond memory. Perhaps it's just because I dont believe in the concept. Am I resisting a future platform move? I cant tell
- Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
You really didn't believe there was going to be an Amiga OS `Next Generation`??? I gave up hope when Commodore gave up hope. Sure it was a great machine with a great OS - in its time. Move on.
Every time any news of AmigaOS reaches mainstream news portals, there is at least one person crying "Just let it die". Well, if you don't want to use AmigaOS, then don't, but its my main operating system, and I love it.
I love using it, I love developing for it, and it doesn't bother me that I can't play the latest games. I use it for the internet (web, irc, email, msn, web development, etc. etc.), programming, music composition, graphics, all sorts, and i'm not alone.
If we want to use AmigaOS, how does that hurt you? If companies want to invest in it, its their money not yours. If anything else, it provides an interesting soap opera.
I'm one of the beta testers of the new version, and I for one am happy that my OS of choice is undergoing continued development by a small, but highly skilled team.
I'd have to agree here. I can't see any companies making notable purchases of this OS. Looking at the Amiga site, I don't see anything that tells me why I should run the OS. We currently have three (or four) major desktop OS's. MS Windows, Apple MacOS X, and Linux (and *BSD). Solaris and HP-UX are commencing the slow death. Businesses still prefer MS Windows in the majority with Linux, in all it's flavors, making some major inroads. MacOS X still maintains a solid hold on the graphic industry and probably will never lose it due to very solid hardware, very solid OS, and the stylish nature that Steve Jobs gave it in it's creation. Other than creating another hobby OS that you have to pay for, I don't see where AmigaOS will fit in. I feel it would have been better for the AmigaOS to have opened it's doors and intergrated with the OpenSource world. Enhancing the development of XFree86 and Gnome/KDE would have been a much better choice. They could have their own distribution and style to a *BSD or Linux. And they wouldn't have had to fight a (STILL!) crowded OS market. - Baelbouga
The curse of the Amiga is how it could go for a full 10 years, bouncing from owner to owner, without actually coming back to the market despite the clear demand.
Who was the "clear demand" from? The hardcore fans or the public?
I remember that, by the start of 1993, *before* C= (Commodore.. I'd almost forgotten that pictogram) went bankrupt, the focus had shifted to the PC. People at my school were exchanging PC games, not Amiga ones.
Well, I'm no Amiga expert, but it seems that if C= had come up with something like the A1200 circa mid-1990, they might have stood a better chance. The momentum towards the PC was already significant by the time the A1200 was announced, and good though it was, I don't think it was revolutionary enough to make people change their minds back.
I don't understand what they were playing at with the moronic A600. The A500 Plus had pretty much the same OS, and although the A600 had a better spec in some ways, it was also *worse* than the (essentially) 5-year old A500 in certain respects, so was no better on balance, but couldn't use half the A500 peripherals.
In short, in a Red-Queen world where you have to keep moving forward, the A600 was a step backwards, and a pointless diversion from the A1200 6 months later.
They should also have included the A1200 technology in the CDTV (Amiga-based rival to Philip's CDi)... but would that have justified UKP 500 (US$750 or so at the time)? No.
So, was there really a massive demand for Amigas when C= went bankrupt? I'm not convinced. I saw the light when Escom wanted to charge *more* for the new A1200s (same spec as the year before). *No-one* was going to pay that for an aging machine in 1995 except the core fans.
If whoever owns the Amiga rights comes up with something cool, then good luck to them, but I'll judge it on the basis of something new.
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