Ben Hermans still staunchly against x86

[runequester]

I am really doubting that their primary revenue stream is the X1000.

To be honest though, are there any actual interest in amiga OS4 for x86 ?
What is to be gained from competing in a tiny tiny tiny market that AROS has a massive headstart on ?

[runequester]

By the same token, why compete against them and have to develop hardware as well?

So far, Acube has developed the hardware and they've just supplied the OS, so no loss there. OS development is not an easy job, but it doesn't require a factory anywhere.

From the interviews with the guy in charge of Hyperion, it seems that the X1000 is very much a vanity project, that he is hoping to break even on.

[runequester]

That would be Trevor Dickinson, one of the A-eon partners, not Hyperion.

Well, their(Hyperion, Hermans) stand against x86 is well known for years. I guess admitting defeat may be too much for some egos. Maybe ARM, but that is still a distant future (possibility?) for high-performance desktops.

ah, I got the people confused.Thank you for the correction

[runequester]

I thought that Sam was an off the shelf board for the embedded sector that just happened to be available? Or am I thinking of something else here?

yeah, I didn't mean to imply they had developed it specifically FOR amiga OS. It just happened to work out well for everybody.

[runequester]

Why would someone running a business just hope to break even on a new project ?
With a profit they could go for a new Amiga using x86 and new hardware like USB 3.0, SATA600 and HDMI 1.4 and whatever you can think of.
If you have OS4 going x86, then your done.
But the main problem I think is licenses, patents and all other things.

Now, as someone kindly corrected, I was referring to Trevor Dickinson, who seems from interviews to mostly just want this computer to exist. He seems to have other business ventures of some sort to make some income so this is just a vanity project for him.

People can do whatever they want with their money. Even if the X1000 turns out to tank, it'll still be more than "amiga.inc" has produced in what ? 5 years ?



As far as x86, again.. meh. The only audience that exists for this are us here. What would a port of OS4 do that AROS does not ?

[runequester]

I can understand the vanity aspect.  I stuck with a V6 in my Fiero for years squeezing the most power out of it despite readily available and cheap V8 swaps.

Any of the folks here with Blizzard PPC cards in their amiga's should understand that part

[runequester]

Trouble is AROS is FREE and OS4 for x86 would cost money. How many units would Hyperion need to ship @ 75 bucks per licence to cover the development costs of going from PPC to x86 native code?

I think that's where the sums fall down, AROS is a labour of love not a business and that is probably why it has survived and got so far to date.

"no schedule and rocking" I believe is how the kids are saying it today

[runequester]

The day they go x86 i'll probably run OS4. I don't get why people wants to buy overpriced "dongles" to run it.

Have you tried AROS ?

[runequester]

I did and it's starting to become usable... But MOS and OS4 feels more complete.

I think the problem is that after spending who knows how long porting it to x86, and then trying to get applications to run or new ones written... OS4 or MOS might not really be all that much more usable.

[runequester]

from my experiences with windows 3.1 and 95 back in the day, the difference between workbench and those is that workbench generally doesn't crash when you have the misfortune of wanting to launch an application :madashell:

[runequester]

Gosh, if the 25:5:1 market theory I've read about longa ago (*) is somehow good and applicable, it would mean that 130 sales would be optimistic.

(*) Many years ago I read a book about product marketing (sorry, forgot title and author), and the 25:5:1 theory states that on 25 people you'll contact, 5 will show interest in your product and 1 will actually buy it. This basically means that on 275 people "willing" to buy a X1000, well... just 55 actually will.

I sincerely hope for A-Eon they will be more, many more...

I've gotten 9 people to promise to vote for me for president, based on my pro-duelling policy. I guess I'll need to round up a hell of a lot more people then

[runequester]

Meanwhile, in the real world, the idea that actually anyone else outside the very small and tight amigaworld.net/amigans.net circle *would even consider* chipping up a staggering UKP 1,500++/USD 2,400++/EUR 1,700++ (ANYONE AT ALL!!) for this kind of unproven, 2007 level performance HW, that has no other benefit than being able to run a "gimmick" (to anyone else but the above mentioned tight circle) OS4, is nothing short of ridiculous. "Hmm, what to do, take my entire family on a nice vacation next summer, or buy this 2007 level computing technology so I can see what this gimmick thing called 'OS4' is about, at the same cost? Hmm, difficult choice..."

I'd say that a poll or an offer for a betatest program on those two sites alone *more* than covers the whole potential user customer base, since this is where the people are that will pay *any amount* of money for *anything at all* with the right trade mark slapped on it!

Ive seen blizzard PPC cards and A4000Ts go for 600 dollars on multiple occasions.

[runequester]

How many times have you heard an Apple customer tout something he thinks is superior (that Apple constricts in features or how its used) and defends paying more than he would for it in a more open market (maybe because he likes Steve mining his pockets while telling him what he can do with his purchase).

Just as often as I hear windows users tout the same

[runequester]

Insane, I agree.

But those things are at least collectibles. Personally, I see a lot more value in an A4000T than an "Teron/AmigaOne" for instance. Don't you?

The route Hyperion is on is very difficult to understand. They deliberately opt out safe, easily obtainable HW that everyone can find and afford, in favor of something "new" (albeit not performance wise) hence unproven, at a price that most people consider being science fiction, and totally out of reach.

I am still puzzled why?

But reconnecting to the topic of this thread - When Hyperion isn't even considering the *PPC* mainstream HW options, what are the chances that they will ever consider the x86?

well, they still sell OS4 for the SAM boards so they have that as income as well. The X1000 won't be the primary or presumably even main machine for OS4

As for why they aren't to X86, I am guessing the same reasons I suspect Morph OS isn't moving to x86. A ton of work, with uncertain return on investment, competition with AROS, a much bigger pond to swim in etc.

Who knows?

[runequester]

?? Pentium IV's ALU runs twice the marketed clock speed btw.

My point, the RISC adventure was a waste of time.

these things weren't as clear as they are in hindsight.

And well, there's a crapton of power PC processors being sold for the gaming consoles. I'd imagine more than enough to keep someone employed.

The desktop computer market isn't everything.