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Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:29 am
by intric8
News of long-time Amiga hardware manufacturer icomp.de shutting down in the next year due to legal woes from Cloanto are swirling everywhere today.

In a bit of shock and angst I quickly wrote to Jens to offer my support. I also wanted to know if it was true.

He wrote me back quite quickly. I am publishing his comments here, as they seem to be the most concise and detailed.

Jens Schoenfeld:
the Amiga has been an expensive hobby for many years. I thought I do the
right thing by buying P96 and honoring the work of Abt&Kneer with a
high sum.

Now Cloanto comes along and claims to own "practically everything" for
an 18-year-ago payment of just over 1000,- EUR? See my addendum to the
december news about P96, published yesterday.

My inbox is currently exploding. The leaked eMail was not meant for the
public, but only for selected exhibitors of the Amiga34 show.

While I was happy to subsidize the Amiga business these past years with
money earned in the Telco sector, I am fed up with all the fighting.
Yes, the Amiga market has always been toxic, but there's a difference
between a few trolls behaving like idiots in forums and a company just
causing huge expenses for lawyers, just because they can. That's purely
destructive, and I don't want to be part of that.

To clarify my plan:

The leaked eMail is from mid-february. I will watch this until
mid-february 2020. If Cloanto has won any of the lawsuits that are
currently going on, there will be no more Amiga stuff from me. If the
lawsuits are still going on by then, there will be no more Amiga stuff
from me.

Till then, everything will continue as it did; I'll focus on finishing
started designs, such as Indivision AGA MK3 and ACA1240/1260.

ciao,
--
Jens Schönfeld
I for one shall be boycotting Cloanto unless this is resolved in Jens' favor.

UPDATE:
I pretty much will be boycotting Cloanto and Hyperion just because I have no need for their products anymore. I don't want Jens to close his shop, but I also don't know if his legal woes are of his own creation (could be!). I'm done fretting over this.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:47 am
by Overmann
This is one of the most agrivating things that I can remember happening in the Amiga community ever. I was actually quite hopeful when I heard that cloanto had bought the Amiga name and "ip's", but since then all they have done has been mafia like bullying and pantenttroll-like legal dickweaving. Disgusting! I am 100% onboard for boycotting Cloanto. In fact I think more needs to be done, but I haven't quite figured out what yet.

What can WE do? Surely, the users, the costumerbase, has the power to make changes here?

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:52 am
by EzdineG
Damn. I'm going to have to agree with you.

It's very well known that Jens is no pushover, but to see this concession makes it clear Cloanto is doing more harm than good. The war against Hyperion and now Icomp is incredibly unsettling.

I might just have to go show some patronage to the Icomp site right now to show my support.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:00 am
by Overmann
I don't know the details of the case, obviously, but Hyperion and Jens has actually been MAKING new stuff for the Amiga for YEARS. Cloanto has been clutching at kickroms and making expensive frontends for free emulators. Bastards!

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:46 am
by BloodyCactus
It was impetus to buy something I'd been hemming and hawing over for ages incase I cant do so later...... :( sad news indeed if its followed through on.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:48 am
by femuruy
Cloanto will never see any of my $ again.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:22 pm
by oldbull
Where does one obtain legal kickstart/workbench files without going to Cloanto?

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:41 pm
by robdaemon
Cloanto is worthless and gets no more money from me, ever.

I've bought Amiga Forever, and three years of upgrades, to get legitimate licenses to the ROMs and Workbench. In that time, all they've done is add a new version of WinUAE to it.

I bought a physical 3.X ROM from them for my Amiga 2000. I can't use my floppy drive with that ROM installed - every floppy errors out. The same happens in the emulator with the "latest" ROM. They don't fix things. They milk the community dry.

In the last few years, Hyperion has done more with the release of 3.1.4, and Jens has done an immense amount of work for keeping the Amiga alive. I have two Indivision ECS adapters, a ACA500+, ACA1233n, X-Surf 500 on my Amiga 500, and a Buddha IDE, BigRAM 1230N, an X-Surf 100 with a RapidRoad USB adapter in my Amiga 2000, and two licenses to P96 from him. His products have made my Amiga experience better. If he leaves this market, we're all going to lose.

This. Sucks.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:42 pm
by robdaemon
oldbull wrote:Where does one obtain legal kickstart/workbench files without going to Cloanto?
Hyperion.

Re: Jens Schoenfeld May Shut Down Individual Computers

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:47 pm
by Gazzmaniac
The only way to get a legal classic rom without paying Colanto is by copying it from an Amiga.