So, since I'm hoping beyond hope to win the 640 Million Mega Million Jackpot tonight, does anyone out there have a good idea of what it would cost to port/recode AmigaOS 4.x to run on x64 processors? I'd really love to see my beloved AmigaOS running on completely modern hardware.
On top of that how much would it take to fund a driver initiative to keep support for modern video cards, sound chipset, network chipsets, printers, scanners, etc.
Off the cuff, I'd say you would have to set a time frame (say, 1-2 years for the finished product to come out) and fund at least ten seasoned engineers to rebuild the whole operating system from the ground up, plus additional personnel for management, documentation, developer support and QA, and of course a project lead. I'm thinking that will take another 5-6 positions to fill.
Next thing, you have to figure out how much to pay everybody involved. I don't know about you, but my personal minimum hourly wage starts at 50€ (below that line I'll not be particularly happy working on whatever that pays for). If you're going to pay everybody at least that much, and that's not counting in taxes, insurance, etc. you'll have to fork out some 100,000€ per person employed per year. Note that this would be full-time employment, with 5 working days per week, at 8 hours per day.
That would make two years of work, and let's say 20 employees who all receive the same pay, which would account for 8,000,000€. This doesn't include costs for hardware, office rent, taxes, etc.
This figure is probably not too outlandish, but it's still high.
Note, too, that without nailing down the exact project requirements, which also will take its time, it's probably unwise to jot down cost limits and hire engineers.
Should you win that jackpot, give me a call. I might have one or two ideas how to relieve you of the burden of having too much money on your hands. Here's one for starters: talk to Oxfam.
