"A couple of clarifications" from Bill McEwen

[mr_a500]

Lets ignore the fact that Mac, Linux and Windows were developed over many years with hundreds or even thousands of developers working full time while Amiga Inc. have had a couple developers (full time? part time?) working for the past two years. Forget about that. Imagine (if you can) that OS 5.0 is coming out today - right this second, completely finished, totally awesome looking and running flawlessly.

What software does it run? Does it run existing Linux, Mac or Windows software? (I assume not) Does it run existing classic Amiga software? (probably not) Does it even run existing AmigaOS 4.0 software?

Lets (generously) imagine it runs existing OS 4.0 software perfectly with no conflicts or crashes. So what does it run - a few freeware games, a text editor, a few miscellaneous home-coded utilities. Is there any "professional software"? (or even anything as good as the out of date software on classic Amiga?) Is there any good software company planning on writing software for OS 5.0? If so, and considering how long it takes to write "professional software" hadn't they better start now? Are there APIs and tools for these software companies to actually develop software for it?

So consider:

Even IF OS 5.0 was out TODAY and ran flawlessly on modern hardware with modern graphics cards and modern CPUs, and even IF Bill McEwen had somehow convinced major software companies (tempted with "huge" potential Amiga market;-)) to sign up and develop for OS 5.0 and there are existing tools RIGHT NOW for these major software companies to start developing real and useful software - how long would it take? 2 or 3 years? So lets say that for 2 years, you have an operating system with only small utilities and freeware games. Who in the hell would be interested in buying this thing? How would a market be built up? What major software companies would be stupid enough to spend years of development time on an unproven operating system with no market?

"Oh, I'm sooo excited about OS 5.0."

[mr_a500]

ALL operating systems started somewhere. Even Windows started as nothing but a task switcher. It's not "thousands of programmers" that got them there, it was a few men making great decisions and making great deals that got their foot in the door.

Yes, but now they have a 20 year head start. In other areas of technology you can jump in with innovations and compete, but not with operating systems because of the thousands of dependent pieces of software. OSX was something new but even that was built on existing software - a UNIX kernel and NeXT. And OSX would have failed miserably if not for the emulation layer allowing the thousands of professional OS9 and earlier programs to run (their $billions in assets helped too;-)).

Think about the operating systems that failed: NeXT, BeOS and OS2 - and consider how much money was behind them. Then think about Amiga Inc. and it becomes a bit of a joke. I've worked for a big software company that went bankrupt and even when it was totally falling apart, it was still more impressive than Amiga Inc. (and I learned to spot the "pre-death unrealistic BS")

I would LOVE to be proved wrong, but I'm not foolish enough to believe in unrealistic tripe.

[mr_a500]

When I say "I'm not foolish enough to believe in unrealistic tripe", I am referring to Bill McEwen's answers. Maybe "unrealistic tripe" is a bit harsh. I probably should have chosen some other term for it, but I can't think of one right now. What is the term for someone deliberately making extremely unrealistic promises?

Why am I here? Do you mean this thread? I am giving an opinion that hasn't been given yet. Isn't that the point of a discussion? Should I not be here?

If you mean why am I on Amiga.org, then that should be obvious. I am an Amiga user.

[mr_a500]

Ah, yes. Thank you. I think on this particular occasion, I will chose "jive turkey".

"I am not foolish enough to believe in jive turkeys." :-D


Edit: Hey, you changed the definition on me. I'll have to change to "bunco flimflammers".