Hyperion WIN - Control rights to AmigaOS

[DDNI]

This has gotta be good news... Anyone but Bill!

http://www.hyperion-entertainment.biz/

Brussels, Belgium – October 17, 2009
Hyperion Entertainment CVBA is pleased to announce that on September 30, 2009, it has reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with Amiga, Inc., Itec LLC and Amino Development Corporation, Inc., to bring all ongoing litigation and worldwide pending procedures between the parties to an end.
As part of the settlement agreement, the Amiga Parties acknowledge that Hyperion is the sole owner of AmigaOS 4 without prejudice to any third party rights.
Within the framework of the settlement agreement Hyperion is granted an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to AmigaOS 3.1 in order to use, develop, modify, commercialize, distribute and market AmigaOS 4.x (and subsequent versions of AmigaOS including without limitation AmigaOS 5) in any form, on any medium and for any current or future hardware platform under the exclusive trademark “AmigaOS” (Amiga operating system) and using other associated trademarks (such as the “BoingBall” logo).
Hyperion will continue development and distribution of AmigaOS 4.x (and beyond) as it has done since November of 2001.
We wish to thank our loyal customers who have supported us throughout the judicial procedures and especially the AmigaOS 4.x development team for their continued efforts and at the request of whom this official announcement was made.
As Hyperion Entertainment’s most ambitious project to date is drawing to a close in collaboration with our partners, we invite our current and prospective customers to watch this space for further updates on Hyperion’s continued efforts to revive the Amiga platform.

[Retro-Nerd]

To revive what? The Amiga platform? Sounds good...or maybe not. Who cares?

[TCD]

Anyway, better than let Amiga Inc have it

[DDNI]

Bring back Petro!

[Zetr0]

I wonder if this clears any legalites of Amithalon now?

[Retro1234]

Great Fucking! News -

[Zetr0]

well now its thier *boing* ball, I wonder what they are going to do with it...

[NovaCoder]

That's amazing news, never thought it would happen in my life-time.

First IndivisionAGA, then SAM440, Morph on Mac's and now this...are we sure this is Amiga we're talking about?



Wonder what this will actually mean. Will the platform get more support, what does it mean for MorphOS and AROS...will it go x86? All these questions and more will be answered on a computer screen near you soon.

[turrican3]

really good news !!!!

[amiga]

Originally Posted by DDNI

... Hyperion is granted an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to AmigaOS 3.1 in order to use, develop, modify, commercialize, distribute and market AmigaOS 4.x ...

Let me understand: it means Hyperion needs Amiga OS 3.1 in order to develop its own clone ?? Maybe os4 contains parts of Workbench 3.1 ?

Anyway, have they also the rights to the old amiga kickstart roms ??
If so, they should release 'em for free, along with Workbench 3.1 (and 1.3). The Commodore Amiga enthusiasts (like us on EAB), would be happy.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by DDNI

Within the framework of the settlement agreement

Doesn't sound like a complete out & out win.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

I wonder if this clears any legalites of Amithalon now?

I'd love to think so...

This does indeed look like good news - now lets see what Hyperion (are) actually (able to) do with it.

Um, any details about the ROMs..?

[Merlin]

The ROMs are an intrinsic part of the OS as I understand it, so ownership of the ROM contents should be with Hyperion. I guess we'll find out in time... maybe 2 more weeks?

[Predabot]

So one single company now own ALL of Amiga?? That IS excellent news!!

No more of this fractured crap, one single united brand. I certainly hope they have some kind of plans and ideas for what to do with the brand.

[DDNI]

Hmmm not sure about one company... Seems there was a deal struck between A.Inc and Hyperion. I think they are now partners of some sort...

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DDNI

I think they are now partners of some sort...

Guess it went like that :

H: "You still owe us money..."
A: "Take it and shut up!"
H: "Okay"

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Predabot

So one single company now own ALL of Amiga?? That IS excellent news!!

They don't own it. Amiga Inc. still own it. But they have agreed a framework in which Hyperion can use it.

[illy5603]

Originally Posted by amiga

Let me understand: it means Hyperion needs Amiga OS 3.1 in order to develop its own clone ?? Maybe os4 contains parts of Workbench 3.1 ?

Anyway, have they also the rights to the old amiga kickstart roms ??
If so, they should release 'em for free, along with Workbench 3.1 (and 1.3). The Commodore Amiga enthusiasts (like us on EAB), would be happy.

I was in attendance when this was announced at Ami West yesterday by Steve Solie of Hyperion.

The first thing to note is that Amiga OS 4.X ***IS*** the Amiga OS, not a clone. MorphOS, Aros etc. are clones. Amiga OS 4.X is based on the original Amiga OS kernel.

When Steve mentioned that we should expect a big announcement by the end of the year, many started to ask if this was possibly eluding to X86 (intel) development which was answered with "We will have an exciting announcement by the end of the year." Take from that what you will, but like many of you, I know I am not buying an expensive PowerPC system to put the latest Amiga OS on it. If I could put it on a spare intel machine, I might consider it. I think the math is there, and hopefully the next true Amiga OS will not be legacy / specialty hardware dependent.

So, why would a for profit business give away their stuff for free? I wouldn't, and I don't think you are going to see classic operating systems and ROMs being given away. Also, don't expect any sort of open source initiative with the Amiga OS.

It was also surprising to hear how many question, directed at a Hyperion rep, were actually about Morphos, or Amiga Inc. Clearly the Amiga community is still confused as to who owns what, what operating system is what, who works where, etc.

[illy5603]

Originally Posted by alexh

They don't own it. Amiga Inc. still own it. But they have agreed a framework in which Hyperion can use it.

Hyperion own outright the Amiga OS. They are not leasing it, not allowed to use it, they own it. Yes there are still several other things tangled up in the who owns what web, but the OS itself is not one of them anymore.

[amiga]

Originally Posted by illy5603

...
So, why would a for profit business give away their stuff for free?
...

Those people at hyperion did NOT write workbench 3.1; so its NOT their stuff.
Of course, they won't give it for free, as they try to suck money in all possible manners from a bunch of Commodore Amiga enthusiasts, but thats what speculators do.