Amiga

Dear Amigans,

After months of research and in-depth discussions with all of our technology partners we have decided to use Linux as the primary OS kernel for the new Amiga Operating Environment (OE). I know this decision is a shock to many of you given the previous announcements and activities relative to QNX. This was a very complicated and difficult decision to make and I assure you that I didn't make this decision without a significant amount of research and deliberation. We have been researching Linux since February but didn't finalized our decision until several weeks ago. We were planning to communicate it to the Amiga community in the technology brief that will be released in the next few days.

I am pressed to communicate the Linux decision before the technology brief because of information released by QNX in the last few days. This information had not been reviewed or approved for release by Amiga. In light of our Linux decision, this information is confusing and misleading so I would like to take the time to clarify the situation. I can't disclose any details of the Amiga/QNX discussions because of legally binding confidentiality agreements but I can talk to you about our decision to use the Linux kernel. I think that you will agree that this is the right decision once you understand the reasons for this decision.

Before I continue, I should mention that our technology decision does not reflect negatively on QNX. I believe that QNX is a good company with great technology. I just believe that Linux gives us a better chance of executing our plans successfully.

The decision to use QNX as our OS partner on our next generation multimedia convergence computer (MCC) was made late last year. When I took over as president of Amiga in February of this year, I initiated an in-depth review of existing Amiga plans and decisions. As president of Amiga I had to make sure that we were defining a strategy and an execution plan that would allow Amiga and the Amiga community to be successful. We reviewed our strategy, architecture decisions, technology partners, and execution plans. During this review period we also added a number of very talented and experienced people to help us finalize our technology and product decisions. I am confident that we now have a solid and exciting plan that people can have confidence in.

Linux has been picking up substantial momentum over the past year as a viable, open OS alternative in the marketplace. This momentum, the growing commitment to Linux applications from a wide variety of software vendors, and the growing availability of Linux device drivers from hardware vendors, makes it a compelling candidate. Additionally, with all of the significant component suppliers putting resources on writing drivers for Linux it was difficult to get them to port to yet another operating system. Using the Linux OS as a foundation for our Amiga OE allows us to leverage a significant amount of available software drivers and utilities. This allows us to quickly support multiple graphics cards and other peripherals.

Given the above-mentioned advantages, we decided to do an in-depth technical analysis of Linux to determine if it was a suitable OS kernel for our new Amiga operating environment (OE). As we ported parts of our higher level operating environment and AmigaObjectTM architecture to Linux, we discovered some significant performance advantages in the Linux kernel in areas such as distributed object messaging across a network (up to 10X the performance of Windows NT). Although Linux configurations can be very large in size, the core pieces of the Linux kernel are actually very small and efficient. In considering hardware requirements we also found companies working on hardware components that were optimized for the Linux kernel. Additionally, Linux is probably the most stable operating system available in the market. After months of in-depth research we were confident that we could build an extremely exciting next generation Amiga based on the Linux OS kernel.

Does this mean that the next generation Amiga will not be unique? Absolutely not! Remember that the OS kernel is only one component of the new Amiga OE and the hardware is unique. The revolutionary nature of the Amiga OE is in the way it extends the traditional operating system to provide a host environment for a new class of portable applications – applications that exist in a pervasive networked computing environment. We will be integrating multiple technologies including an efficient windowing environment and a unique user interface.

In summary, we decided to use Linux because of the incredible momentum and the fact that it is solid technology and a good foundation for our new Amiga OE. Additionally, the Linux community is an impressive force that we should be aligned with. We share many common values and objectives with the Linux community. Using Linux as our OS kernel allows us to build a unique and revolutionary operating environment while leveraging the enormous momentum of Linux.

The soon to be released technology brief will further explain our architecture and plans for integrating all of the selected technology. Once you read it, I am confident that you will understand the revolutionary nature of the next generation Amiga. I assure you that Amiga and the Amiga community will be a driving force behind the next computer revolution.

Sincerely,
Jim Collas
President, Amiga