What if.........

[uncharted]

Hello everyone.

I was reading an article in a computer magazine the other day and it got me thinking about the Amiga community.

OK take this totally hypothetical situation:-

Your preferred Amiga compatible solution (I'm trying to be careful with the wording here) has died off due to whatever reason and development has ceased. This could be A1/AmigaOS or Pegasos/MOS, it doesn't matter (AROS wouldn't be affected because it's a form of GPL).  What would you do?

Switch over to the competition?

Stay with what you have got?

Abandon altogether for Windows*?

Head over to the Mac*?

Perhaps Linux* would be more your thing?

Maybe AROS would grab your attention?

*Yes most people have another box already, but I'm talking about replacing your Amiga pastime for something else here.

Please no smart-arse trying to get around the conditions that the platform has no chance of continuing development, no buy-outs, no making stuff GPL etc. etc. The platform has as much chance of resuming development as Southend United have of being Division 3 Champions this season.

For the purposes of this assume that the situation as it stands today, so if you currently own a Pegasos with MOS beta or an A1 that is what you have, if you don't currently own one (as in it is in your possession right now) then you don't have one in this hypothetical situation. MOS is frozen at beta 1.whatever and AOS4 is not released.

It'll be interesting to see would do in such a situation (As unlikely as it is to occur in this way)

[LP]

I would -Stay with what I've got!-

If my miggy died later on I would consider either switching to a toastmachine or nothing :-)
(properbly nothing)
I would miss the damn thing :boohoo:

[filson]

I think it is important not to live in the old amiga past, 'cos its never comming back. AOS 3.1/1.3 is not going to take over the world. but that doesn't mean that we have a right to fun computing. I use my expirience with the miggy for what "specs" i don't want to see in a computer. e.g the lousy usb handeling in windoz/pc. so if morphos is good, then thats where my money is. but i still keep the pc for the games.

[Sloxa]

i propably
 by a mac....
i cant even think, a buy pc...
theres  so many harware cliks!!  whole irq system and
many many other little thing what make pc harware
, not so good...
 :-)

[jd997uk]

IF there was a meteor strike and the OS4 project was stopped (this is what H-JF said it would take), I'd carry on as I do now:
AthlonXP box with Win2k and UAE w/OS3.9
A1200T w/Mediator/Blizzard1260/Voodoo etc.

The issue for me is really one of speed. Running the UAE on the Athlon1700 is superb. Imagine renders and IFX batch runs are so fast. Doing the same on the '060 shows the gulf of difference.

I'm confident that OS4 will be with us very soon (if I had a farm, I'd bet it on there being an OS4 demo at minimum at the Amiwest show).

Formula for the release of OS4:

When It's Ready - When = ?

Answers on a postcard to.......................................

 :-D

-john

[meerschaum]

 I'd move to Linux/AmiWM and a PC

[Vincent]

I'd still use my A1200T, but if the scene was dead I'd get a Mac.

We've got a PC with Win2Krap but it's not the same.  Okay, a Mac isn't the same either but IMHO it's a hell of a lot better than a PC.  The only draw-back is the cost. :-(



Uncharted: that's a very depressing question! ;-)

[sTix]

AROS for fun and *nix for work.

 

[downix]

@Andy

I'd continue working with AROS and on my own design.

[Hooligan_DCS]

... I'd take my own life.

[TheMagicM]

You mean, completely get rid of the Amiga regardless of if its a A500 or something?

I have a A500, but only use UAE under Win2k, works great and I have quite a bit of software for it.  Its not going to happen to where people do not use their Amiga anymore.  The Amiga was and still is the most fun computing platform out there.  You can mold it into who you are, and how you like..its a artists computer.  You cant do that with a PC or a Mac, it just doesnt feel the same.

I myself run a old 8500 Powermac w/8.6..all it does is host my website.. then a 1ghz PC running Win2k, and then a Linux box.  None of these replace the fun I had and still continue having with the Amiga.

Just to add to that... can you remember the first game you bought with your Amiga, or why you bought it? I bought mine because I played a game (forgot the name) that you were a bunch of SWAT team members , you had to climb a building, break the window and kill the bad guys.  I worked my butt off during the summer to save $524 to buy a Amiga 500...aaah those were the days.

[LaBodilsen]

you were a bunch of SWAT team members , you had to climb a building, break the window and kill the bad guys.

Sounds like "hostage".  that was one of the first games that really got my adrenelin pumping.  

As for the Topic:  I'll properly keep using Linux/WinXP,  and keep an eye out for the competition (be it Aros/Mos/OS4).   to see if it makes it anywhere.  

Buy a Mac?,  hell i'm even thinking of that right now,  i simply just love Computers in general  :-)

[sdesros]

Well... I've got an Amiga4000 that's rather unstable.  Next to it in an old SparcStation 10 (dual 66mhz CPUs oooo).   I have 3 pcs (one P133 that i use to burn cd's, scan and print server, one K7-700 that I use as a general PC and do a bit of video capturing on, one linux laptop.)  I've got an old PowerMac 8500 that's running OSX (yeah, a 604e at 180mHz, now *that*s power. )  There's a few C=64's and Vic-20's in my closet.

And well, I already have a Pegasos so I'd keep using it.  I've essentially have a bunch of software that'll run on it that I don't really need to bother too much if developement ceased.  I am quite happy with it and once I've got everything setup just right, I might move both the aging and unstable A4000 and the rather slow PM8500 to the closet.

If I didn't have the Pegasos already, then I would look at the AOne.  Mind you, I'm still keeping my eye on it, but it'll only get my attention once OS4 is out.

[AndrewKorn]

The way I see it there are NO computer systems that are "good enough".  That includes the Amiga, in its various shapes and incarnations, to a large degree because of the limited application support. The Amiga manages to be closer than the opposition in many respects, which is why I've always hoped that it would rebuild enough market share to overcome the application problem. Without the possibility of an Amiga I'd just hope that one of the other platforms that don't have such a lack of applications could catch up in all the areas they currently lag. Until then, as now, I'd pick whatever tool I find least painful for the task in hand.

However I'd definitely prefer a "smart-arse trying to get around the conditions" solution. Are we allowed DIY buy-outs?   ;-)

[alx]

Think about how long the older generation of Amigas have managed to last - as long as the new  systems are complete, they could still be used for many years.

But if somehow the meteor did hit Hyperion, then I'd probably like to use a Mac as my main computer.