Well, this was rather unexpected. As it turns out, Commodore USA's CEO Barry Altman isn't particularly pleased about the article I wrote earlier today in which I placed a considerable amount of scepticism with regards to Commodore USA and its business (and website). He (not his lawyer) sent us a threatening email demanding we take down the article, post a new correction article, the whole shebang. The entire email - as an image, you'll want the original formatting - after the break. Our reply? We refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram.
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Member since:2010-03-02
Welcome to the Internet, threating litigation against random websites only makes a company look petty.
The author of the story only shared his opinion, and because of the legal threats more people will as well.
If Commodore is going to make a come back in the 21st century, they might want to respect the 21st century freedoms many people expect online.
Edited 2010-09-01 21:06 UTC
Member since:2006-07-23
Member since:2005-11-14
Member since:2005-11-12
Member since:2005-06-29
I am well within my right to call things as I see them. Dubious website, long list of product announcements that never ship, one product that's merely a Cybernet machine, unilateral press releases, images taken from others without permission, and now an announcement that has attracted the attention of Hyperion's - a legitimate business - lawyers. I'd say me being careful and thinking this is a hoax or a con until proven otherwise is perfectly validated.
I seem to recall boatloads of people saying the same - and worse - about Psystar, and nobody here gave a crap about that either.
Prove us wrong, Commodore USA. I'll be the first to apologise.
Member since:2010-03-15
Haa haa! I'd never heard of Commodore USA until you guys reported on them. I gave the website a quick glance, looked a bit ropey, but you know, could be small business, can't spend much on the site but on making the all-in-one keyboard-PC's, fair do's. Except it doesn't really look like they're making them either as Thom pointed out:
http://www.cybernetman.com/en/products/zerofootprintpc/
Haa haa! Photos look like complete rips. Brilliant. I'm just confused as to why they are pushing so hard?? I think Thom's well with his right to say they look a bit dodge... I think Thom shouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Might get myself a Cybernet all-in-one, look quite nice 
Member since:2006-04-10
Thom, maybe you could go one step further:
Prove you wrong, and you will put a nice article detailing the reality of their cool new machines here. That is how it finally went down with Pystar. Once they were shipping real products, you told everyone.
I am a big CBM fan (I have a working PET 2001 8N, a 2020 upgraded to 4040 a 128, a 1541, and a 1571 all hooked up in my basement. The 8032 is broken.) and was seriously considering purchasing from these people. I was a bit wary of their website as well, but was still willing to take a chance. Their legal notice to you took that all off the table. They are really going to have to prove themselves now if they want my money.
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The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
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Member since:
2005-10-02
Thom did ask for it, clearly stating that an apparently legitimate business was shady. It is useful to employ vague terms when publicly expressing what amounts to reasonable doubts about the legality of a company with an obviously amateur-looking website. Particularly when you do not have any solid evidence to support such doubts. It is safe to say that the website doesn't inspire confidence in the company, but going from that to claiming it reeks from being a hoax is not only very unwise; it is also unfounded, whatever lack of confidence we may have in this what-ever-it-is.