@number6

Here's another one that i just found.

Gateway stops selling PCs direct

Sorry if you already knew about this one.

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@Fransexy

Oh no. I have an Acer half a meter from my AmigaOne. I think that Amiga had such an impact to Amiga that Gateway still suffers from that;) Sad but true, I'm lucky not to get a job from Amiga as I had a stupid e-mail address but they replied back then!

@all

Should have updated this long ago, but we had our own legal shenanigans to keep track of.

Gateway ditches direct sales model, goes purely indirect

So obviously, they could still have possession of the patents, no?

#6

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@all

Multiple lawsuits have now been filed by Gateway shareholders over this "deal".
Sound familiar?

Just go to google "news" and enter "acer". That should get you more links on the lawsuits than you ever want to read.

#6

Last edited by number6 on 14-Sep-2007 at 07:35 PM.

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@olegil

Quote:

Whenever someone with a PPC core puts it in an AMD-style chip, with the same peripheral controllers as AMD use on their chips.

Now that could be a useful replacement for the AmigaOne. Being that the A1 has a x86/PPC switch, these effectively could be the same. All we need is a good modern AMD motherboard with a socket-compatible fast PPC CPU on board to match and a UBoot BIOS. Done!

I'd buy one.

Last edited by Hypex on 09-Sep-2007 at 05:20 PM.

@all

Apparently Acer is buying the majority, but not all of Gateway.
Details announced in the last 24 hours:

Quote:

Gateway's board accepted takeover offer, Acer says

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2007/09/06/2003377499

Quote:

Gateway Sells Pro Unit To System Builder MPC

http://www.crn.com/it-channel/201804110

#6

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@Turrican3

Quote:

About that Fleecy statement... my opinion is that he wasn't implying anything special about Cloanto's status, except that since they produce the one and only officially licensed Amiga emulation product on the market and also have a great experience on this matter, they might have helped AInc. in compiling some kind of "cheap" UAE package for the OS4 cd.

Again..very possible.
I just discussed this with others who know the dates better than I.
This package (UAE/OS4/hardfile) is also from the middle 1990s.

#6

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@number6

Quote:

But I'm still trying to ascertain for fact that currently anything OS3x related goes -through- Cloanto, as opposed to being handled directly by AI. It's not just Jens, you know. Adam and others contacted them on OS3x and got similar "agreement", and then nothing when it came time to license. Fleecy is pointing at Cloanto rather strongly in that old q/a.

(first of all, please consider I'm not a native English speaker, so there is always a big chance I will misunderstand almost... well, everything other people write/say )

Having said that, I have (yet) another rough guess which does not necessarily translate into a fact.

I simply think that whatever license Cloanto holds, it is only valid for themselves and it is non-transferable. So I believe that AInc, and AInc only has (or, well, should have) the rights to grant any additional license to other companies.

About that Fleecy statement... my opinion is that he wasn't implying anything special about Cloanto's status, except that since they produce the one and only officially licensed Amiga emulation product on the market and also have a great experience on this matter, they might have helped AInc. in compiling some kind of "cheap" UAE package for the OS4 cd.

Nothing more than that, IMHO.

@Turrican3

Quote:

from the context I guess they mean that someday emulation won't be necessary anymore: for example, with copyright expiration everybody could legally build and sell a Minimig-like including Kickstart... but with no license required.

Reasonable conclusion.

But I'm still trying to ascertain for fact that currently anything OS3x related goes -through- Cloanto, as opposed to being handled directly by AI.
It's not just Jens, you know.
Adam and others contacted them on OS3x and got similar "agreement", and then nothing when it came time to license.
Fleecy is pointing at Cloanto rather strongly in that old q/a.

My problem here is that AI said over and over and over to contact -them- about licensing. So...does that mean AI, in turn makes arrangements with Cloanto FOR the potential developer to get a Cloanto license?

#6

Last edited by number6 on 04-Sep-2007 at 09:01 PM.

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@number6

I read the phrase this way (requoting in full for clarity, because I think the last part is quite important)

Quote:

Sooner or later the situation will inevitably change (due to the expiration of copyrights, or because of the quality and diffusion of AROS, or for other factors), but until then we need your help to preserve the integrity of Amiga emulation

from the context I guess they mean that someday emulation won't be necessary anymore: for example, with copyright expiration everybody could legally build and sell a Minimig-like including Kickstart... but with no license required.

Or, regarding AROS, they might want to say that, should AROS become a better and more popular/compatible product, it could be useless to improve an emulation software like UAE.

Last edited by Turrican3 on 04-Sep-2007 at 08:45 PM.

@number6

I have an AmigaOne boot install CD which includes 3.1 rom and Amiga hardfile in the UAE archive, if that's what you're asking.

@Rob

Quote:

agreement with Amiga Inc(W)

Is there a relationship between an "agreement" and reality when it comes to licensing?

#6

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@number6

Not mentioned on the Amiga Forever site is that Eyetech had an agreement with Amiga Inc(W) to distribute AmigaOS 3.1 with AmigaOne hardware.

@Turrican3

Quote:

So true... Cloanto is really in a messy situation, but luckily it seems they were able to sort things right, somehow.

Dunno.
This line grabbed me:
Quote:

Sooner or later the situation will inevitably change (due to the expiration of copyrights, or because of the quality and diffusion of AROS, or for other factors)

(other factors)
Considering recent events, I would enjoy hearing from them what they might consider "other factors".

This thread from March mentioning Acer acquiring Gateway (yes, March), is also interesting:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=28455

#6

Last edited by number6 on 04-Sep-2007 at 06:52 PM.

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@Pleng

Quote:

I did find it interesting that the details of the acquasition of Amiga assets from Gateway did not appear to include the Amiga name itself. Unless this appears under another section?

I assume it is included in "trademarks, logo's, etc."

@number6

Quote:

With the info from Jens and Fleecy and then following this to the Cloanto info, it became clear that Jens had to deal with the situation of an existing license, as opposed to getting a "new" one.

I'm not sure about this: I mean, this seems to me a perfect example of a new license. Unless of course Cloanto has an exclusive, worldwide license for the various Amiga Kickstarts, but I've never heard about this.

Quote:

Frankly, the OS4 license situation is easy to understand, compared to the muck of a history shown on the Cloanto site concerning "classic" rights.

So true... Cloanto is really in a messy situation, but luckily it seems they were able to sort things right, somehow.

Last edited by Turrican3 on 04-Sep-2007 at 06:46 PM.

@Pleng

This is the part I was dwelling on:
Quote:

3. All existing licenses.

Nothing about "new" licenses, just existing ones.

With the info from Jens and Fleecy and then following this to the Cloanto info,
it became clear that Jens had to deal with the situation of an existing license, as opposed to getting a "new" one.

Frankly, the OS4 license situation is easy to understand, compared to the muck of a history shown on the Cloanto site concerning "classic" rights.

#6

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@Turrican3

Quote:

1. All trademarks logo's etc. 2. All existing inventory of Amiga International 3. All existing licenses. 5. All web sites, and registered domain names. 6. The Amiga OS and all that is associated with the OS. 7. The Amiga operation as it exists today.

All of the above seem pretty conclusive

Quote:

4. License to All Amiga patents (Gateway still owns the patents, but we are able to use them).

This is about the only thing Acer could (and I am NOT saying that they WOULD) claim back. If the other items have already been sold to Amiga Inc then nothing can be done about that however if ACER would end up OWNING the trademarks and can provide substantial evidence that Amiga Inc are devaluing the said patents, and therefore pedudicing the stock in their company (shouldn't be too hard...) then I believe they could get an court injunction to prevent Amiga Inc using them any further.

This will not happen though. I believe that Acer will have a certain interest when they finally find out they own the Amiga patents, as I believe all Acer machines come preinstalled with Acer-Arcade (not too sue what this is, some online service I think) and they might think 'hmm... Amiga... maybe we could add to our collection'. They will then see what the hell is going on and, quite resonably, think 'not worth the hassle'

This is all, of course, imho.

I did find it interesting that the details of the acquasition of Amiga assets from Gateway did not appear to include the Amiga name itself. Unless this appears under another section?

@Turrican3

Quote:

I apologize number6, actually I didn't want to reply directly to you, that post was meant to be a confirmation of my previous one since I hadn't (yet) have a look at amigahistory then.

no problem.
btw-I think I answered my own question.
This is not written by a lawyer (thank god!), but a nice place to start to understand who DOES have the right to license. Nice history here back to the Cloanto Commodore license and including tasty bits like Macrosystems having a "complete systems with OS" license.

http://www.amigaforever.com/kb/3-122.html

#6

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@number6

I apologize number6, actually I didn't want to reply directly to you, that post was meant to be a confirmation of my previous one since I hadn't (yet) have a look at amigahistory then.

Greetings