Dominant future AmigaOS? MOS vs OS4 vs AROS

[wonea]

Been thinking it through what will win?  To become the true successor of OS3.1.

AmigaOS4 has the name, development team, original core, and committed followers.

MorphOS popular through actually producing the goods, excellent community work, and marketing.

AROS the outsider, slowly mulling along till recently.  Now with only a few features missing to bring it mainstream (development tools, 68k emulation, & internet enability).  Plus being open source, and hardware availability/pricing are major bonuses as well.

Please share your views.

[dammy]

by wonea on 2003/5/31 15:07:47

Been thinking it through what will win? To become the true successor of OS3.1.

AmigaOS4 has the name, development team, original core, and committed followers.

OS4 is not out yet and it's chained to A1.  A1 is pricey an may or may not have significant bugs still left in it.  A1 now runs Linux, which is a good thing.

MorphOS popular through actually producing the goods, excellent community work, and marketing.

MOS is chained (atleast for now, dunno if/when CS version will be released, or if it already has) to Peg1.  Peg1 is no longer in production but a upgraded Peg2 is due out in three months.  Pegs also have the ability to run Linux, and shortly AROS.  Hopefully OpenBEOS (or whichever Open Source Be clone is called) and bsd flavors won't be too far behind.

AROS the outsider, slowly mulling along till recently. Now with only a few features missing to bring it mainstream (development tools, 68k emulation, & internet enability). Plus being open source, and hardware availability/pricing are major bonuses as well.

AROS works on mulitple platforms, from x86 to ARM and hopefully PPC shortly.  UAE has been ported.  There is a far amount of hope that network capability will be added by the end of this summer.

All in all, I would say MOS and AROS are most likely to survive.  OS4's release will be the life or death of it.  That is if Amiga Inc does not fall into hands that are not friendly to OS4, else all bets are off as it's sure to die.

Dammy

[Argo]

What? Didn't you hear Bill Buck, in another thread,?  He's planning on buying up the OS in, an assumed, Amiga, Inc. bankruptcy sale. Genesi will then, shortly, go bankrupt ala the Amiga curse. Therefore, AROS is the winner.    :-D



What will really happen? Don't know.  I think we'll have a better idea at the end of Summer (mid September) . As by then we'll have seen the fruits of the OS4 tour, AmiWest, AROS summer development, and probably more on the Pegasos II.  
So, our little soap opera goes on....

[DonnyEMU]

I think the Amiga community is the real winner.. Let's face it Intel type cpu's dominate the home and business computer market and that doesn't look like it's changing.

However, software wise people are looking for alternatives that's why I am betting AROS has a good chance. The latest version is very stable and has great base level graphics drivers, and runs on a lot of intel boxes.  People don't have to change their hardware investment that they are spending a lot of money on. Apple moved from 68k processors to power pc processors, what's wrong with having an Amiga interface on whatever CPU you want to. It has more of a chance of breaking thru if it does.

[wonea]

Does seem like AROS is the case of nearly there!  If Aros was as complete as MorphOS what would happen?

[KennyR]

I can see a flame war developing... Hell, I'll just be brave and say what I think.

Software will win the contest between the three. This is a definite. IMHO, AROS is so behind it can't realistically compete in these stakes. It's an interesting project but will stay just a project for a long while to come. Its advantage is obvious - cheap, common, convenient and very fast hardware (in theory, as it may only work on certain PCs...).

MorphOS has a 4 year head start on OS4 from a coding point of view, 2 year from a usage point of view. It has many ports already and a relatively large sofware base. Say what you like, but IMO it also has superior hardware to the A1.

Note also that OS4 does not have any special development team that AROS and MOS do not. All three OS's are developed by a small group in part time. OS4 has committed followers, yes, but also a huge number of fanatics and trolls who have no real idea about anything. Don't get me wrong, all sides have 'em but the OS4 ones are more conspicuous. The only substantial thing OS4 has to its advantage is the name. This is an importantant advantage but by no means a saving grace.

From where I'm sitting, MorphOS looks like it's the winning option. It has no real competitor until OS4 is ready, fully stable, and has a software base - which may be years away. There may only be a handful of Pegasos users but the high price of the A1 will ensure that there aren't many OS4 users either.

It will be interesting to see how things go, but an objective analysis is impossible until OS4 is ready to be compared and AROS is running Amiga software.

[wonea]

Well said.  

[ruben]

Personally, I don't see much of a future in MOS: from a technical point view it targets the same restricted hardware as OS4, and feature wise, there's not much difference between the two.
On the marketing side, it lacks the Amiga name and that makes a big difference. As it is, it's just another OS that runs on the Pegasos platform.

OS4 is the new AmigaOS, and that fact alone is enough to raise a few eye browses.  If Amiga and partners remain commited to it, deliver the promised regular updates and follow the path to OS5 as they scheduled some time ago, it's probably the most likely to suceed.

AROS is developing very well and at this pace, it seems likely that soon enough it will be in a usable state. The fact that it's free and runs on x86 can attract a lot of curious/nostalgic ex-Amigans to it. On the other hand it lacks the backing of a company to market it.


So, IMHO and if I have to predict the future:

Today - OS4 is the one to place your bets on
In 2-3 years - Both AROS and OS4 will be kicking ass



 

[mahen]

Ruben : oh BTW Ruben, are you still working on a Protracker clone ? Thanks for bringing immortal too


As for the subject, well, I think we should compare OS4 and MOS when both are available to find out which one is the way to go. The only amiga name is not particularly an advantage in 2003 I think ? And MOS is the only usable one ATM. Anyway, ppl who don't have a pegasos have to wait and ppl who have an A1 have to wait

[KennyR]

In 2-3 years - Both AROS and OS4 will be kicking ass

Well I hope so, but keep in mind that they said the same 2-3 years ago.

[Lando]

If Amiga OS4 was released today, it will be dominant.  It has the Amiga name, that's all there is to it.  And given Hyperion's track record, it will no doubt be a very polished product when it finally is released.  

But every week its delayed more people drift off to MacOS or windows or MorphOS and its chances of success dwindle!

[MarkTime]

The successor to OS 3.1 will be 3.9

The other choices, AROS, MorphOS, OS 4, will only get fractured support from the community, and there will never be any unifying event, or breakout winner.  Eventually they will all fade into obscurity, but the retro scene will remain alive.

That scene would probably use 3.1 forever, and there would be no successor, but I predict, that
someday when Amiga, Inc. is bankrupt, and no one else to watch over the IP, that 3.9 will became the favorite as the last release that runs on emulators like WinUAE.  People won't pay for it, but they'll pirate it freely, if, well, there is no IP owner to stop them and it doesn't hurt anyone, people who wouldn't normally pirate something, won't see objection to it.

Thats what I consider the most likely scenario...still, I don't think its overwhelmingly likely, maybe 10% chance...I just don't see anything else as being more likely to happen.  I certainly don't *want* that to happen.

[Lando]

ruben wrote:
Personally, I don't see much of a future in MOS: from a technical point view it targets the same restricted hardware as OS4

Not really.  MOS will run on:- Pegasos, Pegasos II, Teron (has been tested, and works), CyberStormPPC, BlizzardPPC, and (as stated by Bill Buck) PPC Mac hardware by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, OS4 will only run on CSPPC and Teron, thanks to AInc's licensing policy.  

[bloodline]

The dominatant system will simply be the one which prvides the following:

1. A customisable Amiga environment.
2. Gives good Price to performance ratio.
3. Has the "Killer Apps".

I personally think all three projects can forefill requirement 1.
The price performance requirement is a subjective one, depending on what hardware you have now, and how much it was cost to use the OS.
As for requirement 3... I'll bet that any app worth it's salt will probably be ported to all three... (Though I imagine, the MOS team and Hyperion could probably secure a few exclusive deals).

So... to me the future look uncertain, but then again I've already made my choice...  :-)

[tumash]

This is hard to predict. In my opinion the AmigaOS4 looks (hears? better than the MorphOS. In fact, I think that AOS4 has every chance to be much better system. In all aspects.
Yet, it still isn't freely available, therefore its lacking developers.

In my opinion, we are about to see a situation when better AmigaOS4 is being finally released but it will be a system without support from developers and companies.

Time IS the factor in this race.