Why no Amiga equiv to Firebee?

[HenryCase]

AROS is still decades behind them on usability.

If that's the case, what are you going to do about it? You can choose to improve the situation if you wish, it's up to you.

[HenryCase]

Code, money, and hardware development.  Since you asked, how about you?

How about me? Money, advice for new starters, and advocacy. What hardware development did you do?

My point was a simple fact. They had a viable OS replacement under their control back in the 90's and we're still trying to get there.

Perhaps it's because they could actually get along.

AROS was started in 1995. Had support been strong back then, there would have been no need for OS4 or MorphOS, the competition between which caused the most fallout in the Amiga community.

What was lacking back then was an understanding of how important the open-source movement was to become. If Amiga developers back then knew how things would pan out, I've no doubt in my mind that AROS would have been the strongest (possibly only) Amiga system by now. Either that, or OS3.x would have been open-sourced.

[HenryCase]

I think the biggest problem with AROS has always been that they were trying to build AmigaOS for x86 platforms, when everyone was already building upon the PPC.

The move to PowerPC was announced in 1995, the same year as AROS started, and the Amiga PPC hardware wasn't launched until 1997 (IIRC), so the momentum for the PowerPC wasn't there yet.

Besides this, it's a common misconception that AROS = x86 Amiga. This is not the case. AROS was designed from the very outset to be platform agnostic, the x86 port just developed quicker than the others (for various reasons). For example, before Jason and Toni started working on AROS 68k there was work done to port AROS to 68k Amigas, though the port wasn't maintained for a number of years (apart from AfAOS). If potential AROS developers were interested in using PowerPC, they would have been free to do so, so this PowerPC argument doesn't really hold up, sorry!

I had waited many years for something like the Firebee to be released, but really, there are just better applications / games for the Amiga.  There just needs to be new hardware.  I'm definitely going to be getting a Natami when it's released.  Especially since AROS 68k is looking mighty fine.  It will be awesome to actually have an Open Source AmigaOS that works just as well as the original, and is far easier to set up than the plethora of patches one needs today to get some 'modern' functionality.

I think the Natami is going to be a fantastic system for Amiga fans, and AROS + Natami should prove to be a great combination.  

I just hope someone gets a supported browser for it.  Open Source doesn't always help though, look at the mess that is AWeb, it's open source, but people who have looked at the code ran away.

An open-source licence doesn't guarantee someone will work on the software, but a closed-source licence doesn't guarantee that either. However, the advantage of open-source in this regard is that at least there's a chance of new developers improving the software if the earlier developer(s) are no longer interested in doing so. With closed source software, that chance is lost.

With regards to a web browser, there have been a few attempts to port AROS OWB to AROS 68k. This post links to the most recent attempt I know about:
http://aros-exec.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=61875#forumpost61875

[HenryCase]

I really wasn't trying to put down AROS or derail this thread.  The Atari guys just got control of their platform earlier.

I know, and I agree, the Atari guys did get control of their platform earlier. However, I think you're missing my point; the reason the Atari guys got hold of their platform earlier is because they saw the benefits of open-source earlier. Amiga fans had this chance around the same time too, when AROS was announced, but largely chose to ignore the opportunity instead. That's the point I'm making.

Anyway, I'm interested in learning more about your hardware project, any chance of some info? What kind of hardware are you trying to build?

[HenryCase]

MOS was started in 1999,  four years after AROS.
Amiga  Os 4  was started in 2001,  six years after AROS.
AROS devs had enough time to make a really good and compatible system.

No. Again, what was lacking was the support. Support in the sense of more devs, more users showing an interest, more funding up front (through bounties). All three of which would have made sure AROS progressed faster in the early years. Instead what happened was many people looked at it, said 'it's not useful for me right now', and ignored it (from what I can see). Had the Amiga community at large had better foresight, they would've seen they were missing out on a great opportunity for securing their future.