B00tDisk wrote:
My thoughts: Client/server based OS. Nothing's on your device (whether it be a cell phone, desktop "computer" (which at that point will in reality be a dumb terminal), MP3 player, set top box, toaster oven, etc.) except rudimentary connectivity capability as well as a display driver. Everything will be done by a centralized server.
Yuck.
I'll pass.
My thoughts: A little of both; you saw that "... of DRM" post I made a while back? What I expect (and fear) is a personal network where the user does get to own 'content' -- those corporate masters are so merficul, aren't they?* -- but where all executables incoming have to be commercialized to enough extent to collect the royalty tax.
That's not as bad as renting software, but it still sucks, because let's face it, nobody but Bill Gates and Mac users can afford to shell out for every little perl script or Flash plugin.
Of course, I
could be wrong, and it could be that Garry doesn't think of AA as an OS (and still thinks of OSes as 'open platforms,' despite Microsoft and others' attempts to redefine the term). The royalty model sounds great for games, but for the entire "personal computer problem space," there's no one-size-fits-all trick, and the best you can hope for is something flexible (like the original Amiga, say)...
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I'll be really sad (though not surprised) if this 'filter' idea stays in place... I worry that someone's missing something here, if that seems acceptable for the long term (they do have to re-re-regrow the business and define the brand for now). Even the best
services are the flexible ones -- the telephone company doesn't put a filter on who you can or can't call, "the internet" itself doesn't either, our dear and loved Amigas don't try to restrict what you can run or who can potentially be the next big insanely killer thing... and everything wrong with this scene (and the world, true) seems to revolve around control.
Do I want to 'control' AInc. by blathering about this crap? Not really, but I could use a product that meets my needs, and I (like everyone else) have a prerogative to be chagrined if those of the "partners" have to be met first or instead. Garry's got a prerogative to make some cash by fulfilling their desires, so just wake me up if or when I'm ever a target market again. (And try not to waste the name and goodwill of one of the 'openest' PC brands on
too much of a DRM/micropayment fantasy, because that'd be rather a waste.)
*This is supposed to be humor. Dry humor. :-)
**No, I don't actually think OS4 is dead, or suddenly going away, but c'mon, have some balls about it if you want me to buy it!
