The thing that annoys me about AROS users:
1) Whenever you say "AmigaOS should go x86" they say "AmigaOS has gone x86 and it's called AROS"
2) Then you say "Can I run OctaMED SoundStudio on it then?" and they say "Yes but you need to run UAE"
That just does not compute for me.
An Amiga has to be able to run Amiga software or else it is not an Amiga.
Am I missing something here??
Yes, you're missing the point that the benchmark you've set (for being considered an Amiga) is impossible on anything other than an original Amiga.
Without a 68k processor and compatibility with the original chipsets, every otherOS relies on emulation of some kind.
That's one of the reasons I don't worry about MorphOS not being considered a true Amiga system. It isn't and it wasn't meant to be. It was designed to work with newer hardware and improve on AOS. That couldn't be done w/o sacrificing register level compatibility.
AROS actually may (in the long run) prove to be more compatible with AOS3.x than AOS4.x or MOS (due to its better integration of UAE).
However, with OS compatibility with 3.1, MorphOS and AROS share a common positive you're not considering. Porting software from AOS to these NG systems is relatively easy because the OS' supports the same functions (in fact in the case of MOS even 68K code will work as long as it isn't hardware dependant).
So while many (like you) point to the fact that an NG OS will not run a specific app you're using (w/o emulation) you're overlooking that these software packages (if they were still being developed and supported ) could be easily moved to an NG OS.
I'm not familar with Octamed, but I have seen Audio Evolution (another Amiga music program). Currently, AE is available on AOS, MOS, AROS, Windows and OSX and the non-Amiga versions are more advanced and continue to be developed.
I can't think of too many old software packages (that are no longer supported or continue to be developed) that I have to rely on. So, I'm satisfied with my OS choice (as, I'm sure, are many AROS users).
The only new hardware that would meet your requirements is something like the Natami. That system sounds interesting, but I can't see using one as my primary computer (any more than I could imagine using an original Amiga as my sole computer).