Why AmigaOS 4.0 is going to be successful…

[darksun9210]

I think we are waaaaay overcomplicating the issue here.

Q1, why are we on amiga.org?

A1, cos we know more than the average guy in the street about computers nomatter wat our OS preference.

Q2, who buys the majority of computers?

A2, businesses putting PC's on USERS desktops

Q3, what do users want?

A3, point and click ease of use.

Q4, why to the general public buy PC's?

A4a, cos its what they have at work.
A4b, cos there is a shed load of software for them.

i mean, for example. look at WinXP. everything has been tailored so that the user doesn't have to think for themselves, just point and click, burn a CD, point and click, download some music, point and click... etc. etc.

thats why win(whatever) is so big. so it can provide all the services to a user no matter what they want to do, or what hardware is installed.

if OS4 can do that, integrated office tools (with microshaft compatability - Sun Star office anyone?), internet browser, e-mail, networking facilities, media player/encoder, cd burning software all tied INTO the OS. then it might start to get beyond the 10Mb or so here or there that we are used to.

i'm not sticking up for windows. but the win2k/xp platform has to be one of the most stable and robust desktop OS's out there.
sure sure Linux this and MacOS that. but you are relying on people actually being interested in the computers more than what they can do with them as they currently stand.

that and microsoft's licensing saying that every new PC must be supplied with a copy (installed?) of their operating system. kinda has the vendors in a strangle hold unless they are big enuff to write in their own bit of the contract.

the only way to breaking into the mainstream is either big budget advertising with machines on display in places like PCworld or Circuit City, and shop staff that are actually enthusiastic and trained on what these machines are. instead of "yeah the amiga's great for this and that, but you really want a PC"
or
finding a niche market like the Mac

just my 2pence/cents

[darksun9210]

grumble grumble yeah yeah open source is great... for the more geeky among us.

I'm not knocking it, its home coders that have supported the miggy through thick and thin for the last 10 years near enuff.
But! Joe public just wants it to swtich on and work and do what they want it to do. no compiling, no scripting, no fuss, no messing, just does the job simply and easily. the kinda of computer use that would frustrate about 95% of the people on this forum. as they arn't really getting deep into the system and figuring out why it does what it does.

these are the kind of people that plugging in a CDrom drive and it working is "magic". unfortunatly, that "magic" is wearing off, and in some places, IT staff are considered about the same level as stationary supplies. vital and needed, but like "janitors / housekeepers" for computers.

anyway. OS4 is definatly for the geeky element, and i'll be buying my copy or two. and i seem to recall OS5 sitting on top of a Hardware abstraction layer making it multiplatform (x86 anyone?). just like NT was supposed to be, (MIPS, PPC, etc etc.) but oh look, the dominant platform is x86 so microsoft dropped support for everything else like an unwanted toy.

i think IF OS4 gets off the ground and makes it a viable business propersition, and IF OS5 is then developed, the marketplace will be slightly more varied with regard to devices, handhelds, mobile phones, set-top boxes, blah blah blah, and it is true cross platform to the dominant system, then it might start to have some sway. but it'll be a long, hard and expensive road....

all the peg/morph/OS4 infighting is taking support away from the companies and people that are running on a shoe string budget and trying to keep it together.

i'm just amazed that everything has held together as well as it has this far....

anyway. everyone is different. at least there are alternative OS's for people to play with if they are so inclined.