Yes, yes, and yes...
1) Design license-free
2) HAL/OF optional.
Part of our decision revolves around the lack of interest from the bigger CPU manufacturers in a general purpose processor for the compute market. Look at where Freescale and IBM are headed...
Freescale is moving toward the stronger embedded markets (network and wireless support in NCSG) after the Apple decision. Think about it...
1. Transistor scaling and leakage in the process technology arena is an inescapable fact as frequencies increase.
2. Supporting a desktop and portable market requires development from both the process technology node and design node. Supporting both markets is expensive. Freescale gave up on the desktop some time ago and without Apple they are moving out of the portable space too - at least in the general purpose processor category at the higher frequencies.
What is a smaller company to do?
Looking at IBM, they have two interests,
1. They are the largest server vendor in the world.
2. They want to commoditize the client side of the equation as much as possible, because they want zillions of client devices with the same ISA to be talking to their servers.
This is why the EFIKA makes absolutely perfect sense. The EFIKA uses the MPC5200 which is an SoC. The COG on the EFIKA is less than $100 and absolutely a wonderful platform for MorphOS.
It took some time, but we are getting there.
The server developments we have for Freescale and IBM fit into that whole strategy.
They strategy with the ODW is to extend the potential of the desktop/portable general processor based platform for as long as we can, so making the barrier to entry non-existent makes good sense. And, we promote the HAL/OF at the same time.
Hope that explains it...
R&B
