Problem for even open source is that it has to be a modern open source to survive. ... That means the old has to be torn down for the new.
I don't think you can honestly say your new Amiga-like OS product is better than the old unless you can duplicate all the intrinsic look and feel functionality the users of the old product experienced and were familiar with, while adding new features and enhancements while finding minimal incompatibilities with their past experience. There have been multiple alternative OSes that have claimed to be "a better Amiga" by their devotees, but since they couldn't duplicate the same user experience we're here at Amiga.org talking about classics, emulations, AROS, MorphOS, and OS4.
There were lots of little nooks and crannies in the AmigaDOS 3.1 system software and user experience which were sorely lacking in AROS until recently, and a few that still need to be addressed. I don't think there is any intention to freeze things in AROS at the old API, its just a minimum standard by which to judge "improvements" by -- since there's so little chance that the original Amiga OS, MorphOS or OS4 codes would be open sourced for a reference point and compatibility layer in an open source Amiga-like OS.
I agree that "defining community standards" isn't going to really help anyone at this time. OS4 and MorphOS have already chosen their paths, and AROS has its own directions to go in.
