Except it *does* to quite a few Amiga users. Even the PPC is controversial still to some Amiga users.
I use, and have contributed code to, AROS, but I also detest the x86 architecture. I'm pragmatic and x86 hardware because I need a main machine that is fast, and x86_64 is far cleaner, but for hack value the PPC is far more appealing and the M68k even more.
The thing is, AmigaOS4 (or 5 or whatever) on x86 wouldn't interest me much. I have AROS for that need. On PPC it's a different deal, beause of the hack value. I'll pay a premium for that. A big one. From the looks of it, I'm not the only one.
Now, I'm sure there are people who'd buy AmigaOS4 for x86 in a heatbeat, but who can't justify a SAM or X1000, but likewise there will be people for whom AmigaOS4 on x86 would be completely uninteresting, but who'll happily pay for the PPC version even if it is more expensive
Hyperion has to weight the odds of the former group being larger than the second group by a sufficient factor to offset the porting cost, and there really is no good basis for making a judgement about that.
It is naive at best to assume that non-Amiga users would flock to AmigaOS if it was available at current price for x86, for example - it'd be compared to Linux, Windows and OS X, and for users without a strong sentimental bond to the Amiga, it's still lacking too many things to be a serious contender. So the queston is how many Amiga fans are out there without PPC or classic hardware that'd buy OS4 for x86 instead of just using UAE or AROS if they decide to go x86?
They'd make a big investment in porting (new drivers, endianness issues - and in my experience porting Amiga code to AROS, there are likely to be many) while splitting the software market for OS4 in two and risk alienating many of their customers, with little hope of any big payoff from new users.
They're far better off improving their current product for now, and quietly making it more solid and more portable and more up to scratch compared to other OS's, and build up a better set of OS4 software that is more easily ported (discourage ASM), and then *if* they decide to do a switch, do it down the line if they have something that might actually compete with other x86 OS's for non-Amiga users.
I totally agree with this post
And I also think the guys who are making the PPc stuff are not over pricing it. It boils down to economies of scale - small production runs = high end cost and large production runs = low end cost. I had the same in my model car hobby where a bag of seemingly innocuous screws would cost £8?!?!
You are paying a lot for PPc, but if it is your interest i.e. modern Amiga, then surely it is worth the additional cost to keep something original and unique alive? I would hate Amiga running on X86, it would just be another X86 OS.. Does everyone else not love the originality and uniqueness of the hardware? It always was expensive anyway back in the day, but with a really long life span
I am into the classics and will likely buy a A630 board from Individual Computers when it comes out - I bet it will be retailed around £170 - which for a 25mhz board with 32meg of ram in the year 2010, when for £170 I could buy a Netbook probably seems like madness. But to me I would be buying something very special, very unique and would also be ensuring people like Individual Computers would be brave enough to keep producing interesting pieces of hardware for my Amiga classic.
I think for the long term guys who have been buying Amiga throughout and have been into it from the year dot - if this platform is really your bag, which I am sure it is, I would try and support the guys producing modern Amiga stuff before they shut up shop for good. I wouldn't worry about trying to take on Microsoft or Apple - Amiga as a modern commercial brand is all about survival at the moment I believe.. Time to get behind the people who have licenced the Amiga brand, or let it die.... Would I? I am very new back to Amiga as a hobbiest, and for me it is hobby computing - I would seriously consider it if they produced a new PPc trapdoor card
Just for the shear hell of it!
Hope this doesn't offend anyone, only a personal opinion
