AmigaOS 4XX - MorphOS etc

[commodorejohn]

Internet Debate Handbook, guideline #7: You are objective and rational. Therefore, anybody who disagrees with you is not.

[commodorejohn]

There is nothing subjective about digits printed in black on white; a 1 is a 1, a 2 is a 2. You don't disagree: "I really think 2 is 7, it's all subjective".

Math is math is math, yes. But it's a general truth that benchmarks are a guideline at best; they depend on a wide variety of factors and thus mean different things to different people with different requirements. Remember what people say Mark Twain said but Twain said Benjamin Disraeli said but Disraeli may not actually have said about "lies, damned lies, and statistics."

None of which has anything to do with my point, which is that using "it's objectively better!" as a go-to argument for OS flamewars is naive. People pick their OSes for many reasons other than strict performance, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[commodorejohn]

Of course, and I am one of them. But that doesn't mean that no objective arguments exists, or that you should discard them. As an example, my own reasons to use MorphOS instead of OS4 is:

1. Because MorphOS *does have* better performance, *it has* a lower price, *it has* a more extensive feature list, *it has* better Amiga compatibility, etc, of the two.
2. AND *my opinion* of the Hyperion crew is that they are a band of bandits, and *I feel* that being "official" is of no importance (and I even don't agree with that)

Of course I don't mean that factual arguments are valueless; they're perfectly relevant and solid arguments, assuming you've done your homework in gathering and analyzing the data. I just mean that they're not the be-all/end-all of OS choice, so acting as if "it performs better, end of story" is a discussion-ender is naive.

(And I'm certainly with you on point #2.)