From: "Steve Crietzman" president@amigakernel.org

PRESS RELEASE
16 FEBRUARY 2000

Media Contact: Steve Crietzman
          President and CEO
          Open Amiga Foundation
          Tel: +44 (0)1778 393323

OPEN AMIGA FOUNDATION AND AROS ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP

16 February 2000 -- The Open Amiga Foundation and AROS are to
enter into a strategic relationship which they believe will be
of great benefit to their organisations, their members and the
wider Amiga community.  In the words of Open Amiga president
Steve Crietzman, "our objectives are compatible, it makes sense
for us to work together."

Under the terms of the deal, the Open Amiga Foundation (formerly
known as Open Amiga/COSA), will become the organisation
responsible for public relations, marketing, business and
legal affairs of the open-source AmigaOS project.

The Open Amiga Foundation, led by Steve Crietzman, will also
oversee the creation and development of Standards Bodies, Working
Groups and Development Teams to focus on the development of modern
standards, and the production of high-quality Amiga software and
applications for an open-source Amiga OS.

The Open Amiga Foundation will also handle general promotion of
open standards, open platforms and open-source software within the
Amiga world.

It is our intention to fill the vacuum left by the disappearance
of Commodore's CATS and Developer Support programme, and the lack
of decent high-quality application software.

The Amiga Research OS project, led by Aaron Digulla, will handle
the actual development of the Amiga Operating System core.  As
part of this, OAF have agreed to encourage all our developers
to register with the AROS project, and to delegate Amiga OS core
development to AROS.  AROS will continue to operate independently
from Open Amiga, but our relationship nonetheless acts, as Aaron
Digulla put it, "like a symbiosis."

The Amiga Research OS (AKA "AROS") project will, in a sense, become
the Amiga Operating System development wing of the Open Amiga
Foundation, and will focus it's efforts on development of AmigaOS/
AROS, should the Amiga operating system be released as open source,
as we hope it will be (and are working extremely hard to achieve).

Open Amiga will complement this by handling the legal and business
affairs of the project, which Aaron Digulla said was "a big relief
for us here at AROS."

We believe an alliance between the leading open-source OS development
team on the Amiga platform (AROS), and the far-reaching resources of
the Open Amiga Foundation are a match made in heaven, and with our
combined resources, we have the resources and the skills to achieve
great things together.

It is our mutual goal to chart a future for the Amiga operating
system that is ambitious, radical and far-reaching, and gives the
AmigaOS a chance of real survival and growth, as an independent
OS preserving its own unique identity.

And by listening to the Amiga community on the Internet and at
trade shows, we have seen that this what many in the community
WANT.  They WANT AmigaOS, not some hybrid, alternative or
"inspired by the Amiga concept" OS.  They want AmigaOS, and
they want it to survive, and perhaps more importantly, to grow.
Pure and simple.

Our strategy is to give the community what they want, to address
all of these concerns, and deliver improved, portable and free
versions of the AmigaOS for a variety of next-generation CPUs
and platforms.

People will be able to choose to run AmigaOS on top of another
kernel if that is their wish (in order to benefit from Linux
driver support and such like), but they will not be forced to
do so.  AmigaOS will be able to function independently.  We
believe this is what a great many people in the community
wants.

Questions and queries regarding the future of AmigaOS as "open
source software" should be directed to Open Amiga, which is
acting in the capacity of an overall parent/public relations
organisation.

Developers wishing to participate, either in the development
of the OS core itself, or in working as part of a development team
to create software or applications for the Amiga, should apply
through Open Amiga Foundation, and you will be put in touch with
the appropriate people managing the projects you are interested in.

Current Working Groups include AROS, led by Aaron Digulla, and
our Streaming Media Working Group, led by Ian Parker.  Other
Working Groups, Standards Bodies and Development Teams will be
created in due course.

###

Questions and Answers

QUESTION: Is this a merger between AROS and Open Amiga?

ANSWER: No.  Both groups will continue to operate
independently, neither will have operational control
over the other.  We are merely pooling our resources,
and dividing up roles between us.

QUESTION: How will this co-operation function in practice?

ANSWER: Both groups will work very closely together, and we
will have very clearly defined roles.  We are working on the
same strategy, but we share the various roles, and we are
better at different things.  (With regards to AmigaOS:
AROS is the development project, OAF is the business/
organisation.)

QUESTION: What is the likelihood that the AmigaOS will be
released as open source?

ANSWER: At this time, it is not possible to give a straight
answer to this question.  We are pursueing all avenues open
to us to make it happen.

QUESTION: I thought Gateway still owned the Amiga patents?

ANSWER: They do, and we are in negotiation with Gateway
already on this matter.  We are hopeful that a positive
arrangement can be reached within the next few weeks.

QUESTION: Does Amiga Corporation support what you are doing?

ANSWER: We have their unofficial backing.  It is not possible
for legal reasons for them to commit to open-source, since
many legal hurdles prevent them from doing this, most notably
the issue of Gateway's patents.

However, Fleecy Moss and Petro Tyschtschenko of Amiga have
both publicly stated their support for an open-source AmigaOS
in public interviews and forums.

QUESTION: If the AmigaOS is not released as open source,
what happens to AROS and Open Amiga?

ANSWER: We will continue.  The source code is not a
necessity for us, but it would be a help.

The main issue for us is access to software patents and
various Amiga trademarks.  Providing an adequate deal is
reached with Gateway for access to patents, and a deal
reached with Amiga for access to Amiga trademarks, we can
safely and legally develop a portable clone of Amiga OS.

The source code is unnecessary, but will help us develop
a portable clone of AmigaOS for other CPUs and platforms
in a shorter space of time.

QUESTION: Are you for or against what Amiga are doing re: Tao?

ANSWER: OAF/AROS does not take a position on other Amiga-related
projects including Amiga/Tao or Phoenix/QNX.  We support the
right of Amiga users to make their own reasoned judgements
and to choose the solution that is bested suited for them.

We believe it is in the interests of the Amiga community
to be given maximum choice on the path they take, and in that
sense, we support Amiga's creation of a new alternative
option.

QUESTION: I am a developer.  I would like to help.  What
can I do?

ANSWER: Write to president@amigakernel.org and we will let you
know what groups are looking for more developers, and you will
be invited to join one of our active development teams.

Also bookmark http://www.openamiga.org.  Our new, improved
website will be going online within the next few weeks. 

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