And another thing is of course the fact that Hyperion has been declared bankrupt. So while Amigans today de-facto have four OS’s to choose from (depending on purpose, platform and preference), a close future can very well look like this:


(Click on image for bigger picture)

Workbench, MorphOS, AROS.

No OS4.

Hyperion has a license from Amiga Inc to *use* some of the Amiga IP; they can modify OS 3.1 (i.e. develop OS4 based on it) and distribute it, and for its marketing they can use the trade marks “AmigaOS” and “AmigaOne”, as well as a non-exclusive right to use the Boing Ball. They can not transfer these rights to anyone else without Amiga Inc’s consent (which they will not have). Without Hyperion, the OS4 is dead.

Hyperion don’t really own anything themselves. Especially they don’t own OS 3.1. And it’s important to understand that the OS3.1 IP (or perhaps rather “Workbench 3.1” ) is woven tightly in the OS4 cloth and legally it can never ever be separated from it. OS4 can not be without OS3.1, and OS 3.1 isn’t Hyperion’s property. Allegedly (according to Gutjahr), Hyperion doesn’t even own “the modifications” to OS 3.1 (meaning: the things that makes it OS4 instead of OS3.1), but the individual developers do. At least the important parts.

So there is nothing they (the lawyers handling the liquidation if it comes to that) can sell, because there are no solid assets, at least not when it comes to Amiga OS and other other Amiga IP. I actually believe Gutjahr over Hermans any day about this; Hermans has proven over the last 1.5 decade to be a pathological liar, while Gutjahr is well connected, probably has good sources for his information, and is known to be rather fair and balanced. But even if Hyperion would have owned the “OS4” additions, they couldn’t sell them anyway, because they are contaminated by the OS 3.1 IP which they don’t own and has no right to sell.

And the OS4 developers can’t release their OS4 code on their own for the same reason (like perhaps trying to put together their own “OS4” for themselves, or for a new employer, or whatever), the code is legally contaminated! In fact, also the developers are contaminated by OS 3.1! Everyone who has ever worked on OS4 and seen OS4’s sources has also seen the OS3.1 sources, which forever disqualify them from working even on anything related, like AROS or MorphOS, since this would contaminate these projects as well!

The key here is Cloanto, the owner of the OS!

Cloanto has obviously had an ambition to compile every important aspect of Amiga history in their Amiga Forever package. All Workbench versions, all Amiga versions, some games, some apps, videos and other historical information. Even AmigaSYS, AmiKit and AROS is available from the Amiga Forever launch application. PowerPC is a dead platform for Desktop, OS4 is a PowerPC only OS and as such it’s a dead-end, and soon it may be dead in the true meaning of the word if Hyperion doesn’t manage to survive.

But who knows, maybe Cloanto would be interested in collecting OS4 into its Amiga Forever package? It’s undeniably a part of the post-“Real Amiga” history after all, right? And now I have heard that UAE with PPC emulation is becoming decent and I think I have seen reports from people running OS4 on a “PowerUP” enabled emulated Amiga. So for the matter of “completeness”, maybe a *Version 7* of Amiga Forever will contain this? Emulated “PowerUP Amiga” HW together with OS4 (or most of it at least)? “Contaminated 3.1 IP” is not an issue for Cloanto, since they are the owners! They “only” need a license from the respective developers. Remember that they did something similar like this when including the 3.5/3.9 files into Amiga Forever; there were legal disputes to the left and right, and AFAIK the 3.9 had even been officially revoked. But Cloanto managed to map the Copyright/Ownership down to a file-by-file basis, and managed to secure a license for them all, sometimes even double licenses from two separate parties for the same files, just to be 100% safe (link).

Amiga Forever 7 with “Workbench 4” on emulated PPC Amigas in the future?

And perhaps if the OS4 devs assume an attitude similar to the MorphOS devs (“we look at this as a hobby project now, we don’t work for a salary but have our day-time jobs elsewhere, we are not really doing this for the money at all but for fun and perhaps some merits in our CV”), then maybe some updates for existing OS4 PowerPC machines will see the day of light? Like we just saw with the new Workbench 3.1 (and 3.X) on Amigas? Because IMHO it’s not actually possible to properly fund (as in paying out full time salaries to developers) for something like OS4; an obscure, feature crippled, PPC only OS that has no real apps and no real-world use or purpose whatsoever in 2015. It’s a hobby. And as it turned out, it’s even a *retro* hobby. And as such, it could perhaps continue, with the mercy of Cloanto and a changed attitude among enough (at least the important) OS4 developers?

Stand-alone “Workbench 4” release for PPC machines in the future?

Perhaps not very likely, but who knows...?