What could OS4 have achieved?

[swoslover]

In a utopian amiga society what could os4 have achieved?

If we are to imagine it being accessible on x86 hardware.

Do you think it could have brought some semblance of a return to the mainstream for the Amiga, admittedly not the late 80s early 90s glory days but something more akin to the late 90s perhaps.

I know its probably going to be shot down.  However, I do feel that amiga as a brand name has more legitimacy amongst the casual computer user than even linux, but then those people are probably content with windows.  Do you think this area could have been exploited even in small numbers?

Secondly is it too late for os4?

[Clooned]

I think the PS3 was a good relaunch point of AOS4 if a port was done.

also the PDA market is looking for a good OS to use rather than windows mobile.

[mike-]

OS4 is very much still in development, and actually as i see it, the biggest effort ever to refurbish and modernize the OS, however, 3.1 is by far the best amiga os if you ask me =)

But OS4 has a lot going for it, but sadly certain companies doesnt seem to see the efforts made by the developers to modernize and adapt it to fit the 21th century OS mentality.

If os4 could be released from its cuffs, launched to mac, ps3, the efika and some portable devices it would have a future, but dont get me wrong, it has a future, but the userbase isnt exactly as big as it should be.

[dammy]

Until it's unleashed from it's PPC chains, not a hell of alot IMO.  In today's rapidly changing arch landscape, it's madness to be chained to any given arch as a OS and survive.

Dammy

[Hans_]

dammy wrote:
Until it's unleashed from it's PPC chains, not a hell of alot IMO.  In today's rapidly changing arch landscape, it's madness to be chained to any given arch as a OS and survive.

Dammy

IMHO, they should release it for the MacMini, MacBook, and as many other PowerPC machines as possible before even considering puting time and effort into switching to another architecture. We need more users now, not years from now.

BTW, most OSes are chained to a specific architecture. Every transition to a new one requires writing an emulator to support old software. Plus, your application/games developers won't like you if you keep switching on them. I'm not a big fan of those write once, compile to a VM, and then run under JIT everywhere thingies. I do a lot of intensive data processing, and a JIT would only slow things down when compared to code written specifically for the target architecture.

Hans

[dammy]

BTW, most OSes are chained to a specific architecture.

Linux?  BSD?  Solaris?  Windbloat XP/VISTA/CE?  OS-X kinda-sorta?  Neutrino?  List goes on and on with OSs having multiple arches supported.

Plus, your application/games developers won't like you if you keep switching on them.

Nor would they like having a few hundred users to gain customers from.  Trust me on this one. ;^)

Dammy

[TheMagicM]

no.  I think OS4, MOS, AROS are going to be a hobbyist OS until it gets some real software and features like a real OS.  Amiga doesnt have a name brand.  I've asked my fellow coworkers about it and maybe 1 or 2 out of my team heard of the Amiga but have no interest in returning to use it.  These are tech folks, some my age, some older.  I've been using Linux since Caldera OpenLinux 1.0.  Back then it had software but nothing to write home about, unlike now.

Hyperion and the MOS devel team released their respective OS.  You didnt see a whole heck of alot of commercial support.  The excuse of "once its out of beta" which commercial companies (or company..) used.. thats just b.s.

They way to get it done is to port linux apps to OS4/MOS/whatever and build the software library that way.

Sigh.  IMO.

[amigadave]

swoslover wrote:
In a utopian amiga society what could os4 have achieved?

If we are to imagine it being accessible on x86 hardware.

Do you think it could have brought some semblance of a return to the mainstream for the Amiga, admittedly not the late 80s early 90s glory days but something more akin to the late 90s perhaps.

I know its probably going to be shot down.  However, I do feel that amiga as a brand name has more legitimacy amongst the casual computer user than even linux, but then those people are probably content with windows.  Do you think this area could have been exploited even in small numbers?

Secondly is it too late for os4?

OS4 never had a chance at the mainstream.  It was an idea that came way too late, and with the death of the PPC as a mainstream desktop, or laptop CPU, OS4 became even more of a dead end.

OS3.1~3.9 and beyond has more chance of a return using WinUAE, or E-UAE than OS4 does and that return will not be mainstream, it will be a retro movement.

As stated by others, an OS must have applications and basic items like a decent web browser.  No users = no money for developers = no applications. Hundreds of interested users is just not enough.  But if it ran on thousands of devices already out there and was released at a small cost then at least it would be in the hands of enough people to generate perhaps the kind of numbers that make developing for it cost effective again in a small way.

As for the Amiga brand name meaning anything anymore, you must be kidding.  Almost everyone using a computer today in their home has heard of Linux, but probably less than 1% know what an Amiga is.  You need to get out more me thinks. :lol:

And lastly "is it too late for OS4?", probably, but like I said above, if it were released on all PPC Mac models and maybe the PS3, it might generate enough sales of OS4 to pay for further development to port it to x86 and x86-64.  If not, I think it is essentially dead.

[redfox]

@swoslover

Imagine ...

My Amiga laptop, my Amiga notepad, my Amiga phone, listening to Amiga-tunes, using Amiga-meeting software for online presentations, Amiga-Nav in my vehicle, and Amiga-FishFinder for my fishing boat.

The part I like best is being able to access my files and my programs from any of my Amiga-enabled devices.  I do not need to synchronize any of these devices, they all know where to look.

So, for example, I'm preparing a multimedia presentation to share online with other enthusiasts.  One evening, I use Final Writer 2008 and some other programs on my Amiga minitower.  The next day on the way to work on the train, I make some changes using my Amiga notepad or Amiga phone.  That evening, I do my online presentation at the club house using my Amiga laptop, using Amiga-meeting software.  I did not have to copy the files manually, or store them on a USB sitck, or keep track of where they were.  All my devices know where to find the files.

And just for the fun of it, I like checking the time, weather and news headlines on my Amiga-watch.

;-)

redfox

[swoslover]

@amigadave

I think you are wrong.  In terms of brand wareness of the name Amiga, in the UK at least, is well known by most people with knowledge of a computer over the age of 20.  Maybe only as a retro platform but I would still say it is well known.   Certainly more than the underwhelming <1% figure you qoute.

 Linux, I am sure, is not something almost everyone is aware of.  Its pretty irrelevant to the masses who all use windows, perhaps you should be the one getting more vitamin B?

[mbrantley]

Amiga always suffered brand awareness problems in the United States -- even at its zenith. I think David is correct in terms of the U.S. market at least. It always was a different picture in other places. Here, lots more people have heard of Linux than Amiga, even in its historical context. When you reference Commodore to the average Joe of a certain age, he's sure to recall the Commodore 64. It's not so certain he'll remember Amiga.

[redrumloa]

In a utopian amiga society what could os4 have achieved?

I had high hopes when OS4 was announced for a yet to be announced PPC machine back in ~1996, I thought for sure Amiga would take over the world from the still crappy X86 clone boxes.

I had hopes again when OS4 was re-announced by Gateway in ~98, even though that OS4 was initially meant to be based on QNX. Later this was changed to Linux based and at the time I thought the world had ended, in actuality this was probably the best idea.

Hopes slightly rekindled in my mind in ~2000 when McBill and Fleecy bought out the Amiga trademarks and announced OS4 based on Intent. Not exactly what I was looking for, but maybe it would be neat. "On schedule and Rocking" came and went, hopes again faded.

Then came the Eyetech-Amiga-Hyperion backroom deal in early ~2002 and my hopes again were piqued, this seemed like exactly what I wanted and I became a fairly rabid red camper. I even pumped the coupon scheme in this forum, Amiga again would take over the world. By mid 2003 I had started to give up and jumped ship to a Pegasos/MorphOS combo (which was awesome, shame that died off). Even though OS4 alpha was finally released for the "AmigaOne" in ~2005, I had soured on what I felt was pathetic poor hardware. The fact OS4 wasn't released for classics until very recently, even my CSPPC cards were sold by ~2006.

Fast forward to today, I don't think OS4 will ever reach any more users than the current <2000 who use it. It has been 12+ years since OS4 was announced. Amazing.. The lawsuit(s) over OS4 cannot end well, there will be no winners. If anything remotely Amiga based has a future, it will probably be AROS.

Just my $0.02.

[nikodr]

1)No new hardware to run amigaos 4.0.
2)Expensive hardware obtainable from ebay for high prices.
3)Outdated hardware that can't follow web advancement.(can you surf and browse sites such as youtube,facebook myspace etc?)
4)No support from the game industry (can you run world of warcraft for example)

Practically for me one must be very enthusiastic retro lover to spend cash on amiga os 4.0 machines.Too expensive.
I understand that it runs very well on that hardware and that amiga never needed many mhz to do wonders but hey it is 2008 not 1998!.

PPC platform -with the exception of PS3- is dead.

So Amiga os 4.0 can't do much.And won't do much with competition.On the other hand that's not entirely bad.

Previous years i was more optimistic for amiga future,but as time passes i only see amiga as an emulator hobby.Pc machines are so cheap to get and with few money you can easily setup a powerful machine with windows xp or linux and run UAE.Emulated amiga will be lights of years ahead more fast than any 68040 based machine.

Bill the owner of amiga inc is not different that Doomy.At least doomy has a descent website full of crap but way better than this pathetic thing called http://www.amiga.com
 .

Let's hope aros does something in the end.

Amiga os 4.0 machines are just an expensive hobby for us.So no i won't take it.

[bloodline]

Hans_ wrote:

IMHO, they should release it for the MacMini, MacBook, and as many other PowerPC machines as possible before even considering puting time and effort into switching to another architecture. We need more users now, not years from now.

The MacBook being an x86 machine... I think you mean PowerBook and iBook...

[persia]

A decade late and a killer app short, it couldn't have achieved anything.  If the current OS4 were released when it should have been, back before OS X, the Amiga brand might have continued, but world domination?  I don't think so.  realistically there was no winning hand.