Future of the Amiga

[redrumloa]

So, what is the future of the Amiga? What does the crystal ball show? A retro curiosity with a handful of UAE users? AROS building steam and getting a foot hole? Tumbleweeds and cobwebs?

Personally? I'm starting to think AROS is the only chance for a NG platform in the projected timeframe of 5 years. As AROS itself seems to be rounding out fairly well, the obvious shorcoming is lack of a software base. What could be the killer app to unit users to rally around it with passion? Or is that too far fetched? Integrated JIT UAE alone would would be the killer app for me..

[Gav]

Yeah i was thinking of this myself the other day actually,at first i was watching the amiga one and all that stuff like the shark blah blah blah..But right now i use my pc more than my 1200 which id rather not do but lack of a decent browser and what not..So yeah im watching aros more than other things such as AOs4 as this lack of hardware is just a joke and i dont see anything changing..
Things have got very boring around here lately but im still happy with my classic for now i suppose..

[Tigger]

redrumloa wrote:
So, what is the future of the Amiga? What does the crystal ball show? A retro curiosity with a handful of UAE users? AROS building steam and getting a foot hole? Tumbleweeds and cobwebs?

Personally? I'm starting to think AROS is the only chance for a NG platform in the projected timeframe of 5 years. As AROS itself seems to be rounding out fairly well, the obvious shorcoming is lack of a software base. What could be the killer app to unit users to rally around it with passion? Or is that too far fetched? Integrated JIT UAE alone would would be the killer app for me..

ImageFX would be nice, especially if we added DV in and out.   When Amithlon was starting out and there were ports to it to use the x86 natively and run faster Kermit and I had a discussion about moving ImageFX to support it.  All the PPC modules run so much faster on the x86 that it would have been a neat program over there.  
    -Tig

[KThunder]

i think basic apps like internet, office apps, games, and stuff like that are a start. general purpose computing type stuff.

[CLS2086]

ImageFx run faster on Peg2 than on X86, and I wonder to know how it will be if MorphOS will be ported on PEG3/OSW (Quad Core).
I can see of good thing of both A1 and PEG party, but A1 is lacking of new promised hardware (lastest news said a new batch of unfixed mobo would arrive late May or late June)...
For me and lots of friends, AROS is just an Amiga Based Emulator not as good as WinUAE.

[Doppie1200]

I'd say the future lays in hobbyism because there is no gap to fill in the computer industry. It has been gone for too long and the name Amiga is associated by most of the world's population with old computers and the long gone commodore era. If I were to see an oppertunity to use the Amiga technology I would surely not call it Amiga. I don't think it would benefit the cause which would be bluntly; making money.

[Marco]

CLS2086 wrote:
For me and lots of friends, AROS is just an Amiga Based Emulator not as good as WinUAE.

For me the Pegasos and A1 are just an Amiga based emulator not as good as WinUAE. I know why you and your friends don't take it seriously - twenty year old processor architecture grudges that have been completely moribund for longer than most people now can remember.

No one cared when Apple moved to x86, because their fanbase doesn't believe in some bizarre hardware cult that says 68k and PPC are holy and pure and x86 is the work of the devil, it may have been a clunky and outdated architecture in the past, but now it's the best option there is for the desktop market, pretty much because there is no alternative.

Pegasos and AOS4 have a dim future, pretty similar to any dead platform, like classic AOS, the C64, the AtariST, etc. MorphOS will live on longer than OS4 since there is actually hardware available for it but your hardware for that is now stuck forever at the tech level of 2005.

As for a 'market' for an Amiga product, I don't really think there ever was one after C= went bankrupt, outside of devoted fans who will steadily dwindle. A market for the OSs on the other hand is a different matter.

IF Apple hadn't basically decided to terminate the life of the desktop PPC market then MorphOS could have had a pretty bright future as a niche platform like any of the PPC Linux distros, but now I think even they have shadows looming let alone MorphOS. OS4 compounds that problem with the complete bar-stewardse at AInc who seem intent on killing their own platform.

AROS is a nice idea, but until it gets more apps; until it gets useable to the degree that a classic Amiga is, very few of the fanbase will move over to it. Combine this with the 'religion' of PPC that seems to have a very strong hold on some here and I doubt it'll grow a userbase from the few Amiga fans left.

If AROS does become more useable as an everyday OS, which for me means just and office package, a web browser, a paint/art package and a media player, that's what I consider the core apps of any OS that many people use on a constant basis, then I'll definetly have a little harddisk set aside for it. I reckon that's the only way it'll get users.

[Tigger]

CLS2086 wrote:
ImageFx run faster on Peg2 than on X86

No it doesnt, please fact check before you post, and really I'm the wrong guy to argue about this with.
      -Tig

[Jose]

There is no future, the Amiga is dead, DEAD!!  :lol: Just kidding :-)

I think even if the OS doesn't make it in the desktop there are tons of special applications where an OS like AmigaOS can make a stand. Stuff like presentations in panels or even industrial stuff. And here PPC has the advantage, not all markets are covered by X86, that's why the PlayStation3, the new XBox (whatever it's called) and Nintendo's Revolutions all use PPC. Pure conincidence ? I think not. I also think people are getting more open to open source software and other platforms. And people are also finally realising that you don't need the ultimate processor (with helicopter fans, or a regrigerator in the back to cool it BTW), with the ultimate gfx and sound to do most things they need on a PC.


@Tigger
ImageFx with DV support would rule completely!!!. EVERY user would upgrade, me included (Version 4.5 studio here) 8-)

[kedawa]

AROS is the only part of the Amiga scene that has much hope for forward development.
It's the only option that doesn't require overpriced, undersupplied, and/or obsolete hardware, and it has the openness and transparency that a niche OS needs in order to maintain it's fan/user base.

And there is a niche to fill.  Every major modern OS is bloated and bogged down with features and code that most users will never even need,
There's a place for a lean, simple, easy to use OS that takes advantage of the power offered by modern hardware.  AROS certainly isn't the only candidate to fill this role, but it's the only one I can think of that has a significant pre-existing fan base, i.e.. Amiga enthusiasts.

It also helps that it's free and can be sampled from a live cd, and without any investment in hardware.

[dammy]

by Tigger on 2006/5/2 17:40:40

No it doesnt, please fact check before you post, and really I'm the wrong guy to argue about this with.

I wonder how much you'll continue to hear that after the K10 core is released.  With AROS going 64bit by the end of this summer, I'd say ImageFX being ported to AROS-64, a cheap Opteron system should be pretty smoking till the K10 is released (or AROS SMP is released).

AROS-64

Dammy

[Piru]

Sadly AROS suffers from the decision of not maintaining binary compatibility, nor having a m68k emulation integrated from the start. This means that no existing amiga software can run, except under UAE (and no, it is not trivial to integrate UAE to AROS).

Even though amiga software is really old and mostly outdated, it still beats having no software at all (or having even more crippled replacement).

IMO any attempt to obtain full binary compatibility after the fact are pretty much doomed, or at least it amounts to such a huge workload and rewrites that it can be expected to take 5++ years easily.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what AROS guys are doing, and indeed I also appreciate anyone writing native AROS software. I just feel that it's pretty much reinventing the wheel. Instead of focusing in providing the simplest tools the development could focus on more intersting areas.

So I can't see AROS as "future Amiga", at least not in the current state. In fact I would go even as far as declaring that WinUAE has more potential for that.

[dammy]

There are indeed some who want integration of EUAE with AROS, and they setup a bounty for it.  It's getting there, $440 USD.  Myself, I find EUAE more then enough, I don't need the vast majority of old Amiga 68K apps, therefore it's of little interest to me.  I much rather see apps being ported to run natively, or fresh code being written.

Dammy

[coldfish]

I think the days of a proprietary/semi-proprietary hardware platform are long gone.  There's certainly no room for CPU evangelism in todays market, people just want it to work fast and affordably.  

If the AROS team can integrate classic hardware emulation, combined with a modern web suite, then AROS will always have a place on my HD.  

Commercially, it'd be nice to see an A500 in a joystick at some point, and if Hyperion can get it together to port OS4 to cheap hardware, then I'd probably be up for converting an old PC to an OS4 box, though I wonder if OS4 is still relevant with AROS and UAE both open and freely available?

[Lando]

Aros does seem to be getting stronger all the time.  It certainly has a much stronger following now than it did a year ago.  I have downloaded the Aros Max LiveCD and played with it a few times on my laptop, but since Amiga software won't run on it, that massively limits it's usefulness.  It is a new platform in itself as opposed to MorphOS or AmigaOS4 which both have varying degrees of built-in 68k and PPC binary compatibility.

Personally I'm still hoping MorphOS gets the success it deserves.  Technologically, it is still the most advanced of any of the other alternatives.  It is an incredible piece of work from some of the most talented and knowledgable people in the Amiga's recent history.

Realistically, though, I think the future of the Amiga is in a brand for selling PDA games and 30-somethings playing SWOS and Lemmings in UAE for nostalgia. :-)