OS Enhancement Pack for 68K users - market demand?

[HammerD]

I'd like to know if there is any market demand out there for an OS Enhancement Pack that would include some of the new features of OS 4.  

I understand that some of the modules have 68K versions, and large features like eg. RoadShow work on 68K.  

Question: Is there market demand for this?  If so, how many of you would purchase it, assuming it would work on some set minimum configuration of Classic Hardware and Emulators (eg. Amithlon, WinUAE, and Amiga Forever) ?  

I'd like to forward the results to Amiga Inc. and Hyperion.

Thanks

[MarkTime]

I think the market is still very much focused on 68k, though there is large interest in PPC, most people own 68k or a PC machine with some kind of 68k emulation.

However, let me say this, I would only be interested in purchasing OS 4 for 68k, if it was included as part of the Amiga Forever install.

I'm sure some would like stand alone...but they can answer for themselves...I think its very much ashame that AF is stuck at 3.1

[amigahal]

I would just to support the effort and for a preview of things to come. I have an A3000D.

[lempkee]

Its time to move on guys and gals...

68k no more... the modules you are talking of wont be released for 68k , or would they? , if they did then the whole concept of moving the plattform to ppc would be insane.

all or nothing.

move ON! ,  and btw marktime just because you own a pc doesnt mean the rest of us do , i own only amiga's and an amigaone.   no x86 no mac's  ..no linux stuff... (the a1 is sort of an linux /mac without the os , but that wont be for loong)

[jeffimix]

Yeah, amny of the modules are written in C and thusly work on 68K computers, the only problem is that 68K computers are ancient, hardware-wise it simply doesn't deserve a new OS update.

[Karlos]

Aside from the technicalities, Hyperion don't have a lisence for creating a 68K port....

[itix]

Market demand? AFAIK OS3.9 was not that great success. And since many PPC users can run PPC OS (MOS/OS4) in the future there is only little interest for 68k.

Really drop that ancient 68k crap. 68k is *dead*. Dead dead dead.

[theTAO]

I asked Ben Hermans about this a few months ago and the result was basically what some other posters suggested: porting at least some OS4 code to 68K would be rather easy, but Hyperion doesn't have a license for this, and Amiga Inc. is obviously more interested in the PPC.

Personally, I would support an Enhancement Pack, but with one reservation: it *must* be bug-free.  OS 3.9's BB2 was unsatisfying because H&P basically ran out of money for the project and just gave us what they'd accomplished up to that point.  I don't want more updates that take "two steps forward and one step back".  If they're going to release major, new features, they'll have to follow it up with yet another release to fix the bugs.

Honestly, I'd settle for a BB3 that back-ports the top-50 or so bugs from OS3.9 that were subsequently fixed in OS4, plus some optional extras like the new Reaction classes.  Hyperion could set up a temporary BugTracker site where users could voice their gripes and make sure no major issues were forgotten.  Then BB3 would be available for download with a credit card for <= $9.95 US.

Does anybody else find that appealing?

Todd

[Ilwrath]

Yeah...  Another update for the old 680x0 series would be worthwhile, I think.  Hopefully it's politically possible.

I think there are at least some people who would want it for a Pre-PPC Amiga.  Let's face it, the number of people with CyberStorm PPC 4000s isn't exactly a large fraction of total 680x0 Amigas with 3.1 ROMs...  Not to mention the emulator crowd.  People are saying PPC is the future...  But I, for one, don't see that future as compelling enough to drive an expensive (also obsolete) hardware purchase.  I'd drop a few bucks for a new software update to obsolete hardware I already own and love, though...  

I'd vote for making a BoingBag 3 update available on CD, as well as the download, though.  I'd rather fork over a $20 to Software Hut for another nicely printed CD, than pay $10 for a download...  What can I say?  I like the pretty coasters.  (Don't make me burn it on my PC and write out an ugly label, myself...)

[redfox]

Could be a nice teaser to tempt people to upgrade.

I would require a 68000 version, because my "classic" Amiga 2000HD does not have an accelerator card.  It will crash if it encounters code for any of the other 680x0 CPUs.

AmigaOS 3.1 runs just fine on this machine.  It would be an interesting experiment to see if a teaser version of AmigaOS 4.0 would run.

I would be willing to fork over $20 Canadian for a CD containing a teaser version of AmigaOS 4.0 that could run on the 68000 CPU.

However, I would be even more interested in AmigaOS 4.0 running on an AmigaOne.

---------------
redfox

[Russ]

It would sell. I would like to see software protection on it to prevent hackers from stealing.
A nice label goes a long way. $20-$30. Road Show would
sell it since Miami DX is no longer available. I don't think it would hurt AmigaOne sales
much. It would keep users around longer to save up for the newer Amiga's
Hey it means more sales for me

[Russ]

It would sell. I would like to see software protection on it to prevent hackers from stealing.
A nice label goes a long way. $20-$30. Road Show would
sell it since Miami DX is no longer available. I don't think it would hurt AmigaOne sales
much. It would keep users around longer to save up for the newer Amiga's
Hey it means more sales for me

[Ilwrath]

I would like to see software protection on it to prevent hackers from stealing.

That I have to disagree with.  For those who aren't going to be honest and pay, there isn't a protection in existance that will deter them from obtaining a less-than-legal copy...  And for those of us who DO want to pay, being limited by brain-dead copy protections is a real pain in the arse.  There have been multiple occasions where I have had to download cracks to things I legally purchased, just to be able to use them!  

A nice label goes a long way. $20-$30.

Exactly... Sell a reasonable product at a reasonable price, and it should do well.  You have to make people want to be legal, because you really can't force them to be -- and trying to causes problems for everyone -- usually the innocent are punished even more than the guilty!

[Warface]

itix wrote:
Really drop that ancient 68k crap. 68k is *dead*. Dead dead dead.

There are many (and we speak about the majority of Amiga users) out there with 68K processors. Still many with no intention or opportunity to switch to PPC. (For many Amiga is just a hobby, and can't spend hundreds of euros/dollars/whatever on their beloved Amiga)

What were the actual sales numbers for OS3.5 and OS3.9?

[itix]

Warface wrote:

There are many (and we speak about the majority of Amiga users) out there with 68K processors. Still many with no intention or opportunity to switch to PPC. (For many Amiga is just a hobby, and can't spend hundreds of euros/dollars/whatever on their beloved Amiga)

I can't imagine that anyone would spend money on OS3 upgrade especially when that upgrade offer virtually nothing. You are not going to use anti-aliased fonts or gradients on your 020/030/040. FFS2 is quite small improvement and RoadShow... Ok, RoadShow could be nice to have but most Amiga users have working TCP/IP stack already.

Can't imagine that anyone would pay for another Aminet Patch Compilation (if you strip PPC related stuff).

What were the actual sales numbers for OS3.5 and OS3.9?

I don't know about 3.9 but OS3.5 sold 15000 copies. Definitely 3.9 sold even less. Today many top users have Pegasos or AmigaOne, some even have MorphOS beta running on their Amiga (or maybe even OS4).