December 1st, 2002: 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 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 has to stop. And as the other parties have made it absolutely clear that they have no intention of relenting, I 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 I 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....