JoannaK wrote:
What IMHO killed Beos was it's lack of X86 drivers.. too many tried to use it only to realize it does not work on their existing PC.
IMHO what killed BeOS was mostly Be, Inc.'s impatience, or their investors' impatience, rather than any technical problem with the OS. There were pro audio apps in development when Be pulled the plug, for example. BeOS could have specified a subset of PC hardware that was supported and gone with that, for a vertical market niche that would have given them a big enough user base to survive. Then they could've expanded from there. They didn't need to support a wide range of equipment, necessarily. If people tried to use it without checking the supported hardware list first, then they shouldn't be too surprised when things didn't work right. Any alt OS is going to have hardware support problems, due to MS's domination. The best way to work around that, I think, is just indicate upfront what hardware will be supported (hopefully it's at the top of the range), and hope potential users will educate themselves about what works and what doesn't. This is the same situation for the AmigaOne, Pegasos, etc. regarding components, in spades, since the hardware requirements for these include even the new motherboard. Really, if limited hardware support is in fact what killed BeOS (which runs on standard x86 motherboards), then AOS and MOS don't stand a chance, do they?
Linux is surviving because there is no one company that owns it and has to make ends meet somehow, and because the mere fact that it's not Microsoft motivates a lot of users and developers. The fact that it's free and open is more important than the actual technology level, it seems, which isn't necessarily all that great compared to some of the alternatives (now or earlier). But that's still significant, especially when you read about things like the Linux-Windows struggle at NASA. Anyway, that's my opinion.
I think an alternative OS could make it today with a narrow range of hardware support, if it's got the right stuff. BeOS (or OpenBeOS), updated, could have that. I don't think AmigaOS4 does, by all indications. And MorphOS at this point is mostly speculation (regarding the Q Box). So time will tell.
-- gary_c
