As I'm sure most of you are aware of, I've heard that the next version of MorphOS will support Powerbooks in same way or form. This would be really beneficial for me as I wouldn't be confined to my study. :)

So my question is, if this added feature is implemented in v3.0 (I read somewhere that the next version will be 3.0 - I could be incorrect) will my v2.4 license be valid for the new version, and any further version changes for that matter?

Thanks.

Your license will be locked to the hardware you register it to, I believe the next version will be 2.5. My licenses bought for 2.0 still work with MorphOS 2.4.

AFAIK 3.0 is the current developer version, whereas 2.x is the stable version, and with every version it's decided which features will migrate to the stable version.

Quote:

Good point! I assume it is possible to relocate your license to a new machine like in the case of moving to a laptop?

Perhaps if you can provide solid proof that the machine the license is tied to is broken beyond repair.

The license cannot be moved to a new machine, because there's no online verification of a key once it's been generated. Therefore you either have to sell the old hardware with your keyfile, or prove us that the old hardware died, in which case a new keyfile can be provided for free.

I am a single user (actualy married with kids :))...I get a mac laptop, I get a power mac..Have any considered a "family pack" where an existing key liscence can be used on the new added hardware for an added fee. I thiink it might generate more income than the existing set up. The original liscence stays with my mini and a upgrade licence with add ons? This was discussed before but my memory is a bit foggy.

> I've heard that the next version of MorphOS will support Powerbooks in same way or form.

Where did you hear that? I doubt there was said anything that definitive about PowerBook support, at least by any MorphOS Team member.

Quote:

I can confirm that this has never been confirmed actually .... :)
No doubt that there are working prototype versions which run on Powerbook as some sort of case study, an actual release is nowhere around though and it has not been decided yet .....
The only thing that has been confirmed by Ralph Schmidt is Power Mac G4 Support and even that is most likely not ready for the forthcoming 2.5 release ....

Back to topic, though. A license is tied to the specific hardware and can not be moved.

Quote:

To bad but its ready when its ready.
I hoped sooner then later would mean that, so i just bought a powermac.

what about the eMac version demoed on some events?

Quote:

OK! I must have got my wires crossed... :P - Although judging by a few videos I've seen with MorphOS running on a G4 laptop I thought G4 laptop support would be included.

Quote:

Currently I'm using a Mac Mini G4 1.42 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 32MB R9200 and 80 GB drive. I've been on the look out for a 1.5Ghz 64MB R9200 and I'm about to buy a license. When I eventually find the beefier model, it's a bummer that I can't migrate the license. I understand that it's tied to the hardware (I assume looking at the MAC address, and other unique data...) but as I own the license I should have the right to relocate it to another machine? My intention here is not to step on anyone's toes btw. ^_^

I guess that I might hold out on the license (that's probably last a few hours as I'm desperate to get going!!!).

To the dev team: are you guys planning for license management later in the future? I know this would involve in changes with the registration tool and some sort of license server (behind a nice REST interface hopefully ^_^). Perhaps I can volunteer my help in the future? ...and just so you know, I think you have done a fantastic job with MorphOS! It's something you should be VERY proud of!

Cheers

Yes, the license is dongled to the HW, that may change later, but for now, it will stand as it has since becoming commercial. I hope that Pega-1 will be wrong and that the PowerMac G4 will be supported next, because it seems only key features in other OSes (Memory protection, multi users, SMP/AMP, etc.) could make it better. I've enjoyed watching this scene grow, but I want to join in ASAP, so IMHO new HW is definitely first priority.

@ scarab

Both laptop and PowerMac support still lack too many crucial features for us to consider a release. We're slowly moving forward though.

As for the registration, I don't really know what's worse: an activation system or the current hardware lock. For now there's no plan to change anything there and I believe an online activation system would only make things more annoying for users.

Quote:

Perhaps, Jacek, but what it a sure annoyment is having to buy MorphOS again just because you've changed your computer for another one. Goods are sold to a person, not to the machine he's incidentally using. Perhaps it's not even legal somewhere...

But I understand that there isn't a technically satisfactory way to track the usage of an operating system.

So, putting technical ways aside, it's back to commercial actions. For me, the only thing that could be done is selling further licenses way cheaper than the customer's first one. Of course, that offer will be abused, but hey, that's better than not selling.

I'm in no way implying that you should do so. And most of all, I'm not implying that you haven't thinked about this way before!

Oh no, I brought up this debate again...

[ Edited by jcmarcos on 2010/3/26 11:17 ]

Quote:

Let's take a good old car comparison (argh!): Parts you buy for your car, (usually) go with the car :) And add value for it.

Quote:

Abusing could be limited, if amount of cheaper further licenses would be be limited too. Maybe even just one cheaper licence per one full price one.

@jPV : let's take a new good comparaison :

my car : 13 years old
price : 10 000 euros (little cheap car!)
accessory (audio, etc) : 500 euros (very expensive)
ratio : 5%

my computer (Peg 2) : 6 years old
price : 600 euros
accessory (MorphOS) : 150 euros
ratio : 25%

I will never add 25% value for my car !

Quote:

Can we just stop this silly arguments now ? This has been discussed over and over again ....

Get 27

Do you forget how much FREE usage you got from Morphos 1.x? You need to look at the bigger picture and now the thread is pissing off the main devs and thats never good. Dont you guys think these guys thought about this price structure and went back and forth about it before the came up with the final number?

AND YOU EUROS SHOULD STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT PRICE OF MORPHOS AS WE IN NORTH AMERICA PAY WAAAAY MORE DUE TO CURRENCY EXCHANGE

In an attempt to get this thread back on a positive note and completely "Off Topic", I couldn't help buy notice that jacadcaps did NOT mention support for the G4 eMac model that has previously been demo'd at one or more events running MorphOS. Perhaps we can postulate that his omission means that support for the G4 PowerBook and PowerMac will come after version 2.5 is released, but that support for the G4 eMac "might" be included in the next release.

@magnetic,

+1

[ Edited by amigadave on 2010/3/26 18:36 ]

If* there is enough bug-fixes and added features to justify a 2.5 release I wouldn't mind having it as soon as possible, rather than waiting for them to fix the suspend on Powerbooks or something.

That can come with 2.6

* If being the important word there

@ Pega-1 & Magnetic

Before blame me, read again what i said !
I have answered to jPV about car and computer comparisons !

Quote:

Free? Oh my God,I paid 700 Euros for my Peg 2 with MOS included, I was not going to buy this computer to place it on my desktop and turn
it on to see a black OF screen. Genesi paid MOS developers some money surely, isn't it? So many 1.x users really paid for their OS.

I'm sure they did not selected the best commercial scheme, because the
are a lot of people not registered yet. But, hey, that's not my problem, MOS team is the only one loosing money ;-DDD

I think that if teh MOS team provided all licenses with a dongle that must be plugged in a USB port to validate the key, then remain in for as long as that HW lasts, then when a new HW is to be registered, the old HW is disabled and the dongle moved to the new machine.

@Get27,

You may not have started the silly comparison between cars and computers, but you continued it in a way that appeared to try to make a point that a license fee which equals 25% of the computer cost is unreasonable, so your response that you should not be blamed for anything is hollow, IMO.

@diezi7,

Do you think what ever payment Genesi made to the MorphOS Developers was sufficient to cover payment to the 2 dozen or so members of the team for 10+ years of part time work before MorphOS became a commercial product? I would say that you certainly received many FREE updates and improvements to MorphOS for a good part of those prior 10 years of work. The money you paid for your Pegasos went to the hardware distributor and manufacturer, not the MorphOS Development Team and these continued arguments are not helping anyone, unless it makes you feel better to do so.

@ Dreamcast,

A hardware dongle that would plug into a USB port and contain the keyfile encrypted inside of it would be a viable alternative, but it would also be costly to implement and too many users are already complaining about the cost of purchasing MorphOS. I am sure that it was already thought about by the team and they chose not to use that kind of license security and distribution through USB dongles. I do like that you are at least trying to think of an alternative instead of just complaining and I have written in the past that if someone could think of a better alternative for licensing MorphOS that would be just as secure and not increase the cost of MorphOS, all they have to do is show it to the team and convince them of it's benefits. I am sure that the team would look at any such alternative, if it were well thought out and presented to them.