PPC is bad bad bad

[Madgun68]

I personally think attention to a port of Amiga OS to x86(+64-bit) architecture is one of the wisest decisions ever made by any Amiga company.

Why? It certainly won't help AmigaOS be successful. The only thing it will really help are the people who don't want to invest any decent amount of money or commitment in to the community.

I think people are just scared of Amiga being on x86, myself. I think it makes them want to wet their pants or something, because they know that's where the fun begins.

Scared? Please. I think you've forgotten exactly what Amiga users are capable of. We believe in pushing hardware to its limits BEFORE having people play the upgrade game.

Oh yeah, I've almost forgotten how fun the x86 can be when the solution to bloated, unoptimised code is to throw more hardware at it.

MG

[Madgun68]

Yes it will. The parts for x86 are cheaper, and it's easier to market/sell than PPC.

The parts for x86 are cheaper, yes.. But when you get right down to it, what REALLY is going to sell AmigaOS to Joe Average Consumer. Hardware or software? Software. You put AmigaOS on the x86 and you're competing with Windows for the desktop. Which operating system has more software that people are going to want? Windows. Same thing is happening with Linux. People are willing to put up with Windows simply because they have access to the software they want.

Will porting AmigaOS to x86 mean increased sales? Of course. Will it makes AmigaOS a success? No way.

Then, fine, do it on x86. Push it to the limits there; the CPUs and motherboards are inexpensive, plentiful, etc.. I caution you, though, not to think of x86 architecture as being related to Microsoft; and to further enhance what you said about what Amigans are capable of (though you said users, not developers there), I'm convinced they could take x86 parts and make it their own. We are, after all, talking of Amiga OS controlling that hardware; not some other OS.

Why shouldn't I think of Microsoft when I think of x86. Here's a blurb taken from the box of my Athlon XP 1600: "When you want extreme performance for WINDOWS XP, the AMD Athlon XP processor delivers." Hardware developers that work with the x86 arch. WANT you to think of Windows when you think of their products.

When you get down to it though, the real problem is drivers. Someone has to write them, and Hyperion sure aren't going to waste their time trying to support all the myriads of hardware out there the x86 world has. Whoever does 5.0 probably won't want to either. Who's going to do it?

By the time 5.0 comes out, it'll be on both (and possibly much more).

Unless AmigaOS gains a significant marketshare before 5.0's release, it won't make any difference how many platforms it'll be on. It won't be popular enough for software companies to give it a second glance.

MG

[Madgun68]

I simply don't understand why so many on this forum seem to think that by using a PPC they magicaly no longer compete with M$, but if they use an x86 Amiga, evil Micros0ft would come along and automatically install windoze on it!!!!

Why would Microsoft need to install Windows on it? Most store bought PCs still come with it preinstalled.

Truthfully, a personal operating system like AmigaOS isn't going to bother Microsoft one bit. That isn't where the big money comes from. They get more off site licenses and other products.

Heck, they wouldn't have bothered to respond to Linux at all if it weren't for all the issues being raised about the security flaws in their products.

MG