Want to see a HUGE userbase for amiga os again?
X86 it. Limit the supported hardware to a few specific network/video and sound cards. Do that yesterday, make it dual boot with windows, and sell thousands of copies for 50$ each. Watch your userbase skyrocket while
your making money. Make your innovative software BE the new custom chips you crave so much, and stop worrying about hardware.
Who would buy these hypothetical thousands of copies? AmigaOS does not have enough compelling features to make up for its many shortcomings for people who are used to mainstream OS's.
Returning ex-Amiga users like me come back *despite* major problems such as lack of SMP or memory protection or the dire lack of applications.
I think AROS already takes most of the *small* market segment that is willing to put up with these kind of shortcomings just to use an AmigaOS like OS on generic x86 hardware. That's not to say than an x86 version can't work.
Amiga needs more than just the OS - it needs to come as a "package". Take a leaf from Apple, effectively, since Apple today embody a lot of what worked for the Amiga too originally: Sell a *platform* that as a whole is desirable to a user segment, to the point that raw performance numbers or cost becomes less important.
Most users don't "get" what an OS is all about. They buy a package. They want their computer to just work.
