Amiga Workbench advantages over other OSes

[mr_a500]

The point of this thread is not to debate which is the best OS or babble mindlessly about an Amiga comeback. I want to hear what you think are great things about the Amiga Workbench that other operating systems still don't have in 2006 and wish they did. (no need to point out things Amiga doesn't have ;-) ) I'm more interested in hearing about specific things from a user perspective rather than "lack of bloat" and "doesn't suck like Windows" type statements.

Here are some things that I love about Workbench and I haven't found elsewhere:

Multiple screens: each application can have its own screen with different resolution/depth and fast flipping/dragging between them

Window depth: windows don't move to the front automatically when you click on them and they have depth gadgets to move to front or back (I LOVE this feature! Automatic click to front on other OSes makes me sick!)

Use or Save: unlike other operating systems, you can use current settings without saving them permanently or save them instantly and permanently - without waiting for "shutdown" for it to actually save (forget the Windows Apply/OK - both buttons do exactly the same thing - save at shutdown!)

Icon/Window Snapshot: unlike other operating systems, you can move icons and change window sizes without the change being permanent unless you specifically want to by snapshotting

Animated Icons: one image for normal, one for selected

All icons can be changed: separate info file for icons meaning every single icon can be changed

Leave out: icons can be left out on desktop without making a "shortcut"

Assigns: assign token to shorten long paths

No virtual memory: turn off computer instead of annoying shutdown (no constant HD swapping)

No keyboard/mouse buffering: actions not stored when system busy - avoids actions happening later when you don't want them (software dependent on Amiga, not OS - of Amiga programs, I think only IBrowse buffers - and I wish it didn't)

Windows not moved off screen: prevents "lost" windows, don't have to carefully move windows to avoid them being half off screen

Almost all characters can be used in filenames: only two characters can't be used - colon and slash (Windows can't even use question mark!!) even multiple "." can be used for elipses (try that on Windows)

Standard installer with readable text:  you can read exactly what the install will do, edit it if you want or install manually (with other OSes, you don't know and have to trust it not to trash your system)

Help key: yes this is hardware, not OS - but still, why does everybody else have F1 for Help? It seems pretty lame to me. (yes I know, for historical compatibility)

[LawlessPPC]

shift delete, shift cursor keys. Really annoys me when I'm not on amiga and I cant shift delete. Quick simple easy and very usefull

[mr_a500]

shift delete, shift cursor keys. Really annoys me when I'm not on amiga and I cant shift delete. Quick simple easy and very usefull

Yeah! I forgot about that one.

And Shift-Up for Pg-Up and Shift-Down for Pg-Dn. It's much better than reaching for the paging keys because you've usually already got your fingers on the arrow keys when reading pages.

[motorollin]

@mr_a500
I agree about screen-dragging. I really miss that in P96  :-( And the window cycle gadget is much more user-friendly than windows automatically coming to the front when you click them.

Actually, I agree with all of your points :-) Workbench for me is the perfect interface. Other desktops, even OSX (which I love) don't come close.

--
moto

[KThunder]

i like the fact that you can use the keyboard to move the mouse curser if you want. if you are working on a document you can keep your hands right on the keyboard.
i agree with most of your points except for virtual memory and disk cache stuff. shutdown isnt really that much of a hastle and the added performance way more than makes up for the few seconds you wait (if you do wait) for the system to shut down

[bloodline]

mr_a500 wrote:

Window depth: windows don't move to the front automatically when you click on them and they have depth gadgets to move to front or back (I LOVE this feature! Automatic click to front on other OSes makes me sick!)

This is the only feaure I miss from modern desktops.

[itix]

Leave out: icons can be left out on desktop without making a "shortcut"

Mmhh.. I dont see difference.

[mr_a500]

i agree with most of your points except for virtual memory and disk cache stuff. shutdown isnt really that much of a hastle and the added performance way more than makes up for the few seconds you wait (if you do wait) for the system to shut down

Hmm, I didn't say anything about disk cache :-).

About the virtual memory - I developed a hatred for that using Windows 95, NT and XP at work over the years. On Win95, I had fun with "out of diskspace never-ending virtual swapping hell" a few times. On NT, shutdown regularly took 2 minutes and occasionally never shutdown and I had to just turn off after waiting a half hour. XP was faster, but still usually took over 1 minute - a major pain in the ass when you're in a hurry. Over the years I think I had around 7 harddrives replaced on my work computers because of corruption caused by failures when writing swap files (2 on XP).

I tried OSX a few times and shutdown was nice and fast. Maybe it's just Windows ;-).

Mmhh.. I dont see difference.

Yeah, that was one of my weaker points. Forget the "leave out" option then. ;-)

[3246251196]

ill have WB 3.0 with my A1200 when it comes.

wonder if i can get AmigaOS3.1 on a 3.0 ROM Chip ??

[KThunder]

i added disk cache because that is one reason you cant just kill modern system not because you mentioned it you notice i put what you said first

[mr_a500]

Ah, got it. :-)

[dovegrace]

Believe it or not, I like the Intuition menus, especially when coupled with a commodity like MagicMenu.

So much more "Intuitive"(sorry!) than the standard Windows "right-click" menus.

[Doppie1200]

It is a matter of what you are used to I guess. I work with WindowsXP so much that I no longer see any drawbacks interface wise. What I like about AmigaOS is that it is lean. Now that is ofcouse also because it hasn't developed for some time. Windows COM components drive me sick. If you install loads of them you are in for some swappin. Thank god .net is making them obsolete. Anyway AmigaOS doen't have something like that. So for me it is pure nostalgia that gives it the edge. It doesn't even use virtual memory (swap file). Then again it leaks memory like crazy (at least my setup does).

[bilko9070]

I love the Amigas Ram disk!..  I wonder if any other os has such a thing..

[whabang]

One small, but very practical feature is, that you can emulate a mouse using the keyboard. I'd love to be able to do that in Windows!

The default workbench/drawer system is very simple. I like having nothing but the drives on the bench.

Autodetection of floppies is pretty, neat, although useless. B-) PC's can also do that, but no OS'es support it.