Opinions on AmigaOS4 from OSNews

[InTheSand]

@Doobrey: very apt!

 - Ali

[redfox]

Yeah they're having quite a time on AW.net and OSNews.
:violin:

---
redfox

''Yet, only three men and a cow are able to actually run the damn thing.'' ...;-)

[nadoom]

why does politics come and ruin everything, its all business mans bollocks this..

if it werent for managers trying some scheme or shell company crap, we would have an amiga on every desk and probably the moon as well!

the article is written by a non amigan, his views are totally valid.

as it stands the amiga OS market is shrinking, there is no way im going to by a different platform eg ppc i just dont have the space or money, amiga could really have gone some where without people trying to extract as much capital out of it as they can, e.g. custom motherboards.

THE DECISION TO PORT TO PEGASOS OR NOT IS NOT HYPERION'S.

theyre probably just as annoyed as me and not being able do the OS for X86.

Gahh! %*&#$#!!!

[uncharted]

Doobrey wrote:

I think Macbeth is more fitting than Romeo and Juliet..

Didn't you know Shattered Dreams by 80's popsters Johnny Hates Jazz is the official theme song? I can imagine it being sung by tearful geeks while hugging their computers. (But Fleecy, you said I was "special", that this MEANT something! Where's your orthogonal persistance when I need it?)

So much for your promises
They died the day you let me go
Caught up in a web of lies
But it was just too late to know

I thought it was you
Who would stand by my side

And now you’ve given me, given me
Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams
Feel like I could run away, run away
From this empty heart

You said you’d die for me

Woke up to reality
And found the future not so bright
I dreamt the impossible
That maybe things could work out right...

[Waccoon]

nadoom:  as it stands the amiga OS market is shrinking, there is no way im going to by a different platform eg ppc i just dont have the space or money, amiga could really have gone some where without people trying to extract as much capital out of it as they can, e.g. custom motherboards.

Custom and low-volume hardware is usually expensive and prone to design flaws.  People don't notice the flaws as much just because there's fewer people looking for problems.  Trying to extract as much cash from this kind of hardware is a popular idea (like, Kodak charging $5,000 for a "workstation" with dual 800Mhz CPUS, while single-CPU 2Ghz machines sell for $1,000), but it rarely works well.

uncharted:  Where's your orthogonal persistance when I need it?

The current buzzphrase is "transparrent persistence."  Funny how the software that does its job properly is always supposed to be invisible.  Doesn't make it easy to market, does it?  Well, unless you hype something that doesn't really do anything.  :-)

I can't imagine anyone getting upset over this review.  It doesn't say that much, even from a newbie's perspective.

From the article:  Another problem is that going the x86 route means you suddenly have a lot more competition: Linux, BSD, Zeta/Haiku, and maybe even SkyOS and Syllable. And last but not least, it would introduce the concept of piracy to Amiga OS4, depriving Hyperion of possible sales.

I find both points rediculous.  First, OS4 is going to compete against these OSes no matter what.  It's about the features of the OS, not the hardware on which it runs.  Apple is x86, now.  Oh noes!  Teh Mac is squashed by eevil M$?!

As for piracy, I think people should try using some of the software I used to use at work.  Most of the software required some low-level drivers that would only work with one specific kind of machine.  Getting that software to run on generic hardware was a real challenge.  Besides, there are plenty of Macs out there.  Why isn't a bootleg copy of OS4 already available for Macintosh?  Piracy isn't just an x86 problem, and EFI has all sorts of new DRM options.  Hell, how many generic PC motherboards out there use EFI?  That alone would be an effective lockout mechanism, at least for the time being.

[bloodline]

Waccoon wrote:

From the article:  Another problem is that going the x86 route means you suddenly have a lot more competition: Linux, BSD, Zeta/Haiku, and maybe even SkyOS and Syllable. And last but not least, it would introduce the concept of piracy to Amiga OS4, depriving Hyperion of possible sales.

I find both points rediculous.  First, OS4 is going to compete against these OSes no matter what.  It's about the features of the OS, not the hardware on which it runs.  Apple is x86, now.  Oh noes!  Teh Mac is squashed by eevil M$?!

Something I rather like is that Piracy is cited as a method that will "kill" AOS4... I really fail to understand how people using an OS kills it... since the sucess of an OS is defined by the number of users!!!!

Doobrey wrote:
@md..er Nicholas

I think Macbeth is more fitting than Romeo and Juliet..

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing
 :cry:

You have a point there! :lol:

[itix]

    From the article: Another problem is that going the x86 route
means you suddenly have a lot more competition: Linux, BSD,
Zeta/Haiku, and maybe even SkyOS and Syllable. And last but not least,
it would introduce the concept of piracy to Amiga OS4, depriving
Hyperion of possible sales.

I find both points rediculous. First, OS4 is going to compete against these OSes no matter what.

True and false. Selling an OS product in x86 world is extremely difficult when it is saturated by good, efficient and free OS choices. You get compared to OS'es with better driver and hardware support.

But on the other side if this was the case OS4 (and MOS) should shine on PPC now when the main competitor, Apple, is leaving. And there are people who rather run Linux on their A1/Peg because it has got better applications. And there are users who rather use Windows than OS4/MOS because it has got better applications. So competition is there no matter what.

There is also another problem: we are competing in hardware too. When users are buying new hardware they wish to upgrade, not downgrade.

It's about the features of the OS, not the hardware on which it runs. Apple is x86, now. Oh noes! Teh Mac is squashed by eevil M$?!

It is starting to look like Genesi is the 2nd largest PPC desktop company and when Apple is gone Genesi is maybe the largest. We are winners ;-) ;-) ;-)

[redrumloa]

The opinion piece is pretty much dead on. This is probably what the Amiga market looks like from a casual viewer. The only difference is, to the casual viewer there are a lot of nuts among the users. :lol:

[Oliver]

itix wrote:

It is starting to look like Genesi is the 2nd largest PPC desktop company and when Apple is gone Genesi is maybe the largest. We are winners ;-) ;-) ;-)

Hahaha. :lol:  King of the PPC desktop hill.  Let's celebrate. :pint:

[Fats]

redrumloa wrote:
The only difference is, to the casual viewer there are a lot of nuts among the users. :lol:

I'm happy being nuts doesn't hurt  :crazy:
Staf.
 

[wonea]

Options

1. Port AOS4 to pegasos

2. Slowly disappear

3. Open source the whole lot, and set up some kind of service related business.  Possibly making even more money, than licences.  Imagine if the AOS4 ran on the pc.  Selling 25,000 books would be no problem.

4. Port to a pc architecture, support ONLY mainstream quality components say Intel boards only, Radeon graphic cards,  soundblaster, etc.  I'd be very very happy with this.

[InTheSand]

wonea wrote:
4. Port to a pc architecture, support ONLY mainstream quality components say Intel boards only, Radeon graphic cards,  soundblaster, etc.  I'd be very very happy with this.

I'd be happy too! They could lessen the support / hardware issues even further by picking a platform where all the key bits are already included, such as a VIA EPIA mini-ITX motherboard that already contains the CPU, graphics, network, etc. And it'd be a nice small size, allowing for some very neat cases...

But I feel this is never going to happen...

 - Ali

[Floid]

As much as x86 makes all sorts of sense financially (and perhaps even thermally, these days), I don't see it making a lot of sense technically, especially after the horrendous investment made to actually Do Neat Things on PowerPC.

If anything's going to save the ship other than some secret project none of us know about, it'll be one of:

-A third party setting up a 'buffer' company between 'blue' hardware and 'red' software -- Who wants to play Dell for our little scene?

-Any unknown and unrelated manufacturer considering an EFIKA or Vixxen-esque system; after all, these are essentially reference designs, not to denigrate the work that goes into producing working ones.

-Or, my personal favorite if I haven't forgotten major details, someone finding a use for Cell.  This *would* require some further software effort, but given the supposedly lackluster performance of the PPC core, something as light as AmigaOS might be a boon to throughput through the streaming units.  Hard to say, though, as I haven't paid attention to that ecology in a while.

[Ferry]

@BobW

Ditto. I dont write much in none of them, but I read both a lot (my three first links in IBrowse are ANN, AW and AOrg), and I find this rather sad... :-(

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

[JoannaK]