Amiga vs PC

[warpdesign]

I am not against drivers but it's better to have both options-- being able to go direct to hardware as well as driver or API interface. I would think you already know some of the great stuff written using direct to hardware method on old PCs and Amiga. And it's a superior interface to have the standardized hardware.

Superior ? Is it superior that any change in the hardware (evolution means change usually) will break pretty much every application coded using direct access ?
And I think you underestimate the complexity of hardware today: it's not just 3 registers you play with. It's far too complex to be accessed directly.
Last but not least, software was bypassed for a reason at that time: software wasn't complete and/or slowed everything down. As big as the OS are now (and yes, every OS, including OS4/MorphOS even though they are both less heavier than modern OS) the resources needed are negligeable compared to what's available, so it isn't a problem anymore.
Accessing hardware directly only would introduce problems today.
Again: welcome to 2010.

[warpdesign]

Now I see the same counterarguments being offered by the remaining Amiga users. "You don't need this, that or the other". Sheesh. Sad, really.

This is so true.

I guess it's easier to say "we don't need it" than "you're right, it would be great, but we don't have it now, that's too bad". Seems like some people still live in 1989, thinking the Amiga is still cutting edge in a lot of areas... Problem is it's 2010, and it's lagging in pretty much every areas instead.