[*sigh*]

›1m

I regret to announce that
this is the END.
I am going.
I am leaving now.
Good-bye!

›0m

Bilbo Baggins,
announcing his departure from Bag End

 ›1mDecember 1st, 2002:›0m It saddens me  greatly  to  announce  that,
 effective  today,  any  of  my Amiga-related software development has
 been mothballed indefinitely. This means that, pending any unexpected
 developments,  there  won't be any "Amithlon v2" (aka
"Berniethlon"),
 nor any further support or add ons for "Amithlon v1" by me.

 I have almost two years of my time invested in  Amithlon/Berniethlon,
 and  a  lot  of it was fun. However, the last nine months have been a
 complete nightmare. I have been  lied  to,  lied  about,  threatened,
 libelled  and  abused, and have had my IP rights violated. Worse yet,
 the self-styled "Founder and Developer of Amithlon" as  well  as  the
 former  distributor  have apparently also taken it upon themselves to
 threaten and intimidate anyone who so much as  considers  cooperating
 with me --- be that Amiga dealers, the P96 team, Chris Hodges, or the
 provider for http://www.amithlon.net/.

 I am a stubborn old fool, which is the only reason I have put up with
 that  sort  of  harrassment for so long. But no matter how stubborn I
 am, it gets to me. Oh, does it ever get to me! The last few months, I
 have  only  been  able to go to sleep if I was completely and utterly
 exhausted --- and then would wake up too early, and be  fatigued  the
 whole  day.  And most mornings I would wake up wanting to scream, and
 to put my head through the plaster wall, just to  forget  about  this
 whole  crap  for  a few seconds. After a few months of that, I simply
 can't go on.

 It's not just  me  who  suffers,  either  ---  due  to  the  constant
 interference by H&P and HF, I have been unable to earn any money from
 my work on "Berniethlon"... That money was meant to take  me  and  my
 girlfriend  to  Germany for Christmas, so my family could finally get
 to meet the woman in my life. Alas, no  sales,  no  money,  no  trip.
 Disappointment  and  distress  all  round. And, trust me on this one,
 wanting to put your head through the wall is  not  one  of  the  most
 sought-after qualities in a boyfriend, either.

 So, this crap ›1mhas›0m to stop. And as the other parties  have  made
 it absolutely clear that they have no intention of relenting, ›1mI›0m
 have to call it quits. I will make one last set of  off-site  backups
 of all the important code, and then simply remove it from my disks. I
 will take apart and reuse my  test  machine,  and  start  working  on
 something  completely  different.  To  quote  Ludwig  von  Beethoven:
 "Applaud, friends, the comedy is over".

 A few more things --- as far as I am concerned, AmigaOS XL as (still)
 distributed by H&P contains my IP without a license. According to the
 last communication I had from Amiga Inc, it also  contains  their  IP
 without  a  license (please note that I cannot verify the veracity of
 that claim; I am simply passing on what I have  been  told).  Further
 unresolved  IP  issues  exist with regards to the AmigaOS XL package.
 Thus, if you consider respect  for  intellectual  property  important
 (and  let's  face it, a market as small as the Amiga one is certainly
 doomed if you don't),  I  must  strongly  advise  against  purchasing
 AmigaOS  XL.  If  you are looking for a commercial and fully licensed
 package to run Amiga  software  on  the  PC,  I  can  only  recommend
 Cloanto's excellent package Amiga Forever 5.

 Also, have a look here if you are wondering why I  closed  down  this
 site. No, it's not (just) because the bandwidth costs money.

 If you have always wondered who did what for Amithlon, have a look at
 a  breakdown  I  prepared  a few months ago. Please note that ›1mI›0m
 prepared it, and that there is every chance that one prepared by  Mr.
 Frank would look different.

 If you are interested in seeing  my  comments  and  thoughts  on  the
 aftermath  of  this  (and in seeing how things are going in general),
 have an  occasional  look  at  http://www.umilator.net/  (guess  what
 "Berniethlon"  was going to be called :), which I intend to turn into
 a personal weblog site during December.

 This is indeed a very sad day for  me.  I  consider  this  outcome  a
 horrible  waste  that  does not benefit anyone, least of all you, the
 users.  Let  me  close  by  expressing  my  sincerest  gratitude  and
 appreciation  for  each  and  every supportive email I have received,
 each encouraging word that has been sent my way, and most of all, for
 the  joy  you have given me through your appreciation of my work. And
 while at this point, I can't help but mourn for what could have been,
 I hope that some day, I will instead think of Amithlon and rejoice at
 what was....

Bernd Meyer 

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