Which OS Would Be The Best Amiga Way Forward...

[runequester]

Im not seeing much benefit in running the "next gen" stuff, but of the options, AROS is the only way.

Its open source, so it can't be taken away, and there's very little cost of investment.

It may be behind Morph or OS4 in some respects but it has room to grow. Morph seems cool but it has no place to go. (they could port it, but given how long and still no laptop support or even basic stuff like wireless, I kind of doubt they can pull that off)

[runequester]

As someone who voted AROS: It doesn't matter how polished MOS is. My reason for voting AROS is that it's open source.

that which belongs to everyone can't be taken away.

[runequester]

I like AROS, I like the idea of an Open Source semi-Amiga compatible X86 based OS, but my experience with it over the past few years has not been without MUCH frustration. There is a very limited chip set combination which AROS works with. Sure you can get it to boot on plenty of machines out there, but you can't get it to run smoothly without frequent lock ups, slow down, and crashes. I even have a machine that seems to check out on AROS's compatibility list, and it does... until you throw a game like Quake at it and try to run it in full screen. And God forbid you attempt to launch a classic Amiga game in ADF format, or to try to get Workbench to co-exist with AROS without a system lock up within 5 minutes or less.

So no, the "any old PC" pitch doesn't fly here like it did with BeOS back in the day. And "Convienance?" Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! NO! At least not yet.

 Though...

...from what I can tell from the Youtube videos, AROS works well on the Imica PC's that are being sold. In fact I'm highly considering buying one so I can actually enjoy AROS in the ways AROS users state they are enjoying it. I mean if I could get it to run as well as it does on those Youtube videos, I'd be elated! I'd be even more elated if AROS or MorphOS could provide support for a laptop and wireless to boot, but that's another story...


Anyhow, ya, there's my AROS experience. She arouses my hopes, then leaves me broken hearted and alone.

There's also the aresone to look into, if thats still around. Im not sure where and how that and the imica compares but I do know both projects donate back into aros.

[runequester]

Isn't it odd that these polling results show AROS in the lead, but when you ask people what they're currently using AROS usually places last?
Does this reflect a general faith in what AROS could become?

Given the wording of the poll, I imagine so. AROS has a clearer path forward than the alternatives, hence I can see people (myself included) feeling it is going to be the way to go.

[runequester]

That's a great picture.
Thanks everybody for confirming my suspicions about the reason everyone was voting for AROS.
You know, I'm amazed and a little baffled by how optimistic Amiga users are.
But then, we're still here and we've got multiple derivatives (of AOS) to choose from.
Pretty remarkable for such a small community.

If we weren't optimistic, we wouldn't still be around

[runequester]

But, if and this is a mighty big if, you contribute anything to Linux won't you have to share it with the public?

As mentioned: If you use code from a GPL project, then your resultant software must also be GPL.
However, open source and closed source can co-exist in a system. F.X. My linux system has closed source video card drivers, and games like Quakewars