As most people here will realise we have always declared that we want to use the official Amiga OS and for Hyperion and Amiga to have their just rewards for licencing the AmigaOne and OS4 products. We are not the only possible licencees, but I guess that we committed to these conditions before anyone else. As a result we have worked in very close cooperation with both Amiga Inc and Hyperion throughout the A1 development program to ensure that piracy of OS4 is kept to a minimum. Jointly we have worked out that the best way to do this is :..."

- To put ROM extensions (ie dongle code) in the boot ROM, in addition to the regular boot code.

- To put this in hard-coded, socketed ROM at a specific address in the PPC memory map, rather than in Flash ROM, which could easily be pirated/updated

- To ensure that OS4 calls this code from multiple points to make workround patches difficult to implement

- To ensure that a copy of OS4 is sold with all hardware capable of running it (ie with the dongle code in ROM)

- To use similar routines that already exist in the 3.1 Kickstart ROM as an alternative for the PPC accelerator implementations.

Although a dedicated pirate could no doubt copy the boot code and dupe the ROM's, unless this was to be done in bulk - which would be easy to spot and close down - the overheads involved versus buying the ROM would mean few people would be likely to do it. The situation is analagous to OS3.1/3.5/3.9 in that you had to have/buy 3.1 ROMs to run the OS, unless you go to extraordinary work-around lengths.

We are producing all the developer/dealer boards and at least the first run of user boards with this dongle code in place in the ROM - and therefore the obligation to purchase OS4 with them. (They can of course be used to run Linux, but you will still need to buy OS4 with these boards). If there is sufficient demand from the Linux comunity we will probably then produce some boards without the AmigaOne name (and without the dongle code needed for booting OS4). In this case we will also make available an OS4 + ROM upgrade pack (similar to the OS3.5/3.9 +3.1ROMs upgrade packs sold by most Amiga Dealers) to purchasers of the Linux-only boards wishing to upgrade to OS4.

As far as other licenced stand-alone ppc hardware is concerned, it would, in my view, need to support a similar protection format (ie socketed hard coded ROM, not Flash ROM) to embody the same level of anti-piracy protection as The A1G3-SE. Whether, in the specific cases of other hardware manufacturers, this socketed ROM has already been implemented, or remains an option, or requires a partial redesign of the hardware is not something that I have any knowledge of. It is between Amiga Inc and the potential licencees concerned.

This tight anti-piracy regime has obviously upset some individuals on the mailing lists who clearly did not expect to have to pay for OS4, or hoped to buy unapproved/unlicenced PPC Linux boards to save a few bucks. Well tough, we dont want your business under those circumstances and will do all in our power to make sure that if you buy one of our boards for Linux-only use you will not be able to use it for running OS4+ unless you are prepared to pay Hyperion and Amiga Inc their proper licence fees.

And I'm sure that all other potential serious licencees of endorsed Amiga hardware will see it this way too."

Desweiteren finden Sie noch folgenden Link auf der Hauptseite: Commercial airline video security solution.

Für die Amiga-Gemeinde ist natürlich der Teil zum Pegasos-Board von besonderem Interesse. Aus dem Statement geht hervor, dass Thendic-France mit bPlan zusammenarbeitet, und den Vertrieb des Pegasos-Boards übernimmt. Das Pegasos-Board wird ab 01. Juni verfügbar sein. Es wird bereits an Software und einer neuen Version gearbeitet (miniaturized version, the eclipsis version).

Im weiteren Verlauf des Statements wird erklärt, warum Thendic-France die derzeitige Handlungsweise von Amiga Inc. frustriert, und warum Thendic-France dazu öffentlich Stellung nimmt.

Hier ein Ausschnitt:
»What Amiga Inc. does not apparently understand and in our frustration we have decided to make public, is that when we sell a Pegasos there is absolutely nothing that prevents a buyer for loading anything they want on to the machine. This is our last attempt to communicate our frustration. We have decided to do this publicly, as Bill McEwen has done by excluding us from his 12 April letter. MorphOS will still be free for the Pegasos. When everything is finished and MorphOS can stand on its own completely and distinctly we will have the eclipsis ready for our first round of promotion.

We stopped bplan from releasing the Pegasos sooner. We encouraged them to fine tune the board before and not after release. They could have shipped samples sooner. We have had ours for months. By 1 June this board will be rock-steady.

The Pegasos is a great product. We have already developed some incredible software for it. But, the future as we see it is the miniaturized version, the eclipsis. This will be something very special. The Pegasos will serve as our development machine and we will be offering special packages to developers that sign on and get to work helping us create a market leading solution for the future of mobile entertainment and communications.

-----

Bill McEwen was able to do something very noteworthy when he bought Amiga from Gateway. We admire him very much for this accomplishment. We have been in discussions with Bill over the years on many occasions since the demise of VisCorp. We offered a license to Gateway and specifically to Bill when he was there for the VisCorp patents. You will find that these patents/abandoned are dormant now, but you will find that Raquel Velasco is the owner of record of all seven. In September of 2000, King Lee, a former VisCorp board member and the Chairman of Amiga Inc. at the time, ask us to talk to Bill and try to assist him. We did. We told him to go after the "classic" OS. We told him to finish the upgrade to the PPC. In the meanwhile, we licensed AmigaDE and we made the "SmartBoy." When the prototype was built, AmigaDE was not ready. Finally, we abandoned the effort because in a world with the likes of Compaq, etc., a Windows CE device running AmigaDE is a bit like pouring alot of water in a good glass of wine. It just did not make good business sense and we could not achieve competitive pricing (even for the embedded market).

So here we are today with a working machine, but we want something that works with our hardware in a way that is necessary for our purposes. We still remain open to other possibilities. Software is made for hardware, not vis-a-versa.

We cannot overlook the fact that hardware nearly seven years old and developed by the same engineers as the Pegasos is being used today to complete other developments. We cannot wait for these efforts. We are in business and when the hardware is ready it will go on sale. The Pegasos and the eclipsis are the biggest chance for this market and will provide plenty of opportunity to grow into new markets..

We will sell the Pegasos. It is a cannon! Buyers will buy and load the ammunition...

We will still be here in business.

We would like very much to cooperate with Amiga Inc.«

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