(And suddenly I feel like Frodo inside Mordor) :-D
Before I write some more, If I click 'post new thread', will a new msg come under 'Amiga Platforms'? Or do I have to click 'Reply' for that to happend?
Katchung! I'm away for an hour and I can spend an hour reading replys when I get back! I like it - it's healthy!
Alright..... where to start (in no particular order) ;-)
: : mikeymike : :
In the end; no one wants to use a system that cannot be used with other systems.
* That's a very broad term. Care to elaborate? *
I'll try. I guess a lot of what I am thinking of is done on the application side. A word processor can read documents from Mac, MS Office, Lotus etc. When AOL develops their messenger, it can be implemented on a Amiga OS. When applications are developed, they should not have to redesign the whole program to make it wotk on Amiga OS. Amiga OS must be open (enough) to allow other organization develop applications that can be run on different platforms with minor modifications.
I don't think users should have to learn everything there is to learn about a platform (...) It really gets my back up when I've told the same person for the fiftieth time how to find the Control Panel on Win9x and they still have to ask.
Ah - but why do you think the user had to be told 15 times? Besides that it might be u explaining badly... nah just kidding :-D but seriously, why couldn't the user learn it the second or the third time? Some people are less computer litterate than others. But could it have been the design of the system? Could Microsoft have designed it in a way that would make it easier to find the control panel?
We have to remember that what is so obvious for us, might not be obvious at all for someone else. Even if they are used to computers.
When I was mentioning the learning curve - I agree. Users are not to become gurus in the OS. But the time it takes them to approach the system for the very first time and perform a given task, should be drastically reduced after two or three tries.
Now that most users are used to windows based OS's, they should quite quickly get used to the GUI. When microsoft went from Win 3.11 to Win 95, they conducted a pretty big usability test to come up with the Win 95 design. An interesting article about the test, can be found
HERE and it's worth while reading if you are planning to develop a new OS / GUI for Amiga.
Right, who was next? Ah, yeah - entering the dragons cave! :-D
Does anybody remember the 80s and two companies called IBM and Microsoft? For a very loooong time, they absolutely REFUSED to work "together". As the history goes, we the user population, started demanding. In the 70s and partly the 80s, the programmers told the customers how the applications should be designed. Today, WE tell the designers and programmers how we want it to work.
I cannot remember who, but there has been (and probably still is) feuds between graphic card producers.
What I'm getting at, is that if Mr. Bill Buck and Mr. Bill McEwen (hey - at least the got ONE thing in common) are going to follow the road they are heading, they will run Amiga down the gutter... again. I guess Amiga Inc. sits with the ace by having some of the intellectual property rights. MorphOS should make their system compatible with AmigaOne. It will only strengthen their market share and support - but Amiga Inc. must not charge redicules royalties from MorphOS (I think that is how it works?)
Personaly I hope they can join forces. Bring the best from MorphOS and AmigaOne (OS4) together and build something that will blow standard PC's away!
If they keep the battle up, I think AROS might walk away as a winner!
My personal opinion is that there are no WORKAROUNDs. If a chip has a bug or a "minor defect" FIX IT. Don't build a system on something that might crash. There are plenty of developers that want to create SW for OS4 - but if a faulty chip makes creates more work.........
Thanks guys for all the imput. Guess I better start some research.
Hmm.. how many here is actually from Down Under? I keep seeing signs of it all the time 8-)
