What MorphOS/AmigaOS needs

[MarkTime]

Well I know...

I'm at risk of beginning the same conversation for the 10,000th time.
But it's what we do here, is it not?

I spent a while thinking about how an OS would compete in this competitive market.
I think what we need is unique value.

I remember a few years ago, in my job as database administrator for a fortune 500 company,
going outside my area of expertise to advocate for the macintosh platform.

The support department had did its annual routine, of telling management that they
could only support PC's.  And the Mac users were hanging on, with ancient 60mhz PPC 601 Nubus based Mac's.  Afraid to request an update, knowing they would be replaced with PC's.

And I stepped in.  I made two key arguments.  The first, was I countered the 'PC's are a standard' argument by saying but Mac's are the standard in publishing, and these Mac's are used in our advertising departments and other departments that interface with publisher.

Then I countered the support argument.  I agreed that our support department provided
no real support to the Macintosh users, but they weren't without support, they supported
themselves.

I said our support department would be no better at supporting Publishing issues on Windows NT machines, than they could support Macs.  The reason being, that esoteric publishing issues are hard enough to resolve on Mac's, and impossible on the nonstandard windows machines which were never designed for publishing.

And I used real examples.  I went into a real world example of setting color calibrations on NT vs. a Mac.  

I did win the argument, and G4's were purchased to replace the aging machines.

I won the day, for two reasons.  Though I don't actualy believe in 'standards' I knew I could win on that point, in this specific scenario, so I pragmatically used it anyway.

Secondly, though, my point about color calibration was a classic example of FUD (misplaced importance) it did drive home one point very clear:  The support department could come up with no counter argument, proving my point that they couldn't support even the NT machines.
Better just to give the users what they wanted, unsupported.

Now, back to Amiga and MorphOS.

Bill is calling for advocacy, and I say this: ADVOCATE WHAT?

Give me something.  Give me an angle, give me something!

What Microsoft does, nobody else can do.  You have to be somekind of huge monopolist to stay out in front, by staying behind and copying other people.

We are trying to play catch up, and in doing that, we lose.  Everyone outside of Microsoft will only win by providing unique value...by innovating.  We can't just get a browser, thats playing catchup...a FUDster knows, you have to play the angles.  We need an angle.

I'll give you an example.

MySQL is free on Linux, available even on Amiga.
But nobody, not microsoft, not apple, not even Linux has made a database as an integral part of the OS (even if it is included in the linux distro's).

If MorphOS simply stuffed mysql into the OS, thats an angle.  The first OS to ever
have database services standard.  Its one angle, then I can sell this OS on a feature.

Maybe, thats not the best example.  But we need SOMETHING.
32 bit PNG icons aren't cutting it.

I can't sell this OS yet, so I'm not going to try.

Thanks,
MarkTime

[Van_M]

Maybe a VERY GOOD office-like suite coming free with the os-hardware bundle. Then the people might think "why buy a wintel PC for $700 + $150 for Windows + $250 - 300 for office, when I can get a Pegasos with all the above for $800-900". I think, at present, the major selling point of Morphos to the "outsiders"(such as myself) is it's responsiveness and short booting times.

[Amiga1200PPC]

I aggree with you to some degree.
Problem is, I don't want mySQL, it's crap, I prefer postgreSQL.

[MarkTime]

the problem with innovation, (integration of an office suite, postgressql....I like both ideas) is you will lose the fast boot times, unless you really develop an instant-on type of technology, rather than just have fast boot times as a side effect of having almost no OS features...which is what it is now, not so much a feature, as it is a side effect of having an OS with almost no services running.

btw, I hope nobody thinks I'm trying to kill hope...I have great hope for the future, I'm just not going to declare victory just yet....too soon, grasshoppa.

[Van_M]

well yeah this is kind of true

[ruben]

When I talk to others about my Pegasos, the only thing I can say is that it's completely noiseless and it runs an Amiga-esque OS that boots in a few seconds. But I agree totally: we need exclusive things that others do not have. We can't base success on ports.

I think the key to sucess is a blend of excelent and unique software, hardware and community around the platform.

[Hammer]

If MorphOS simply stuffed mysql into the OS, thats an angle. The first OS to ever

Note the Unbreakable Linux alliance e.g. Red Hat + Oracle + Dell based solution...

Note also that Windows has OBDC data source engine for its integrated database access (e.g. MYOB Accounting Plus R12 can export it’s data via OBDC). The superseded MS Office 2000 Premium Edition has a cutdown MS SQL 7.0 as part of the package.

[Hammer]

Van_M wrote:
Maybe a VERY GOOD office-like suite coming free with the os-hardware bundle. Then the people might think "why buy a wintel PC for $700 + $150 for Windows + $250 - 300 for office, when I can get a Pegasos with all the above for $800-900". I think, at present, the major selling point of Morphos to the "outsiders"(such as myself) is it's responsiveness and short booting times.

Note that MS Office XP is available as OEM edition when bundling with a new PC.

Some X86 PCs bundles the following
1. Corel WordPrefect Office OEM edition (package with my old PC).
2. Open Office.
3. MS Works OEM edition.
4. Lotus Smart Suite Millennium Edition (R9.5) OEM edition.

Lindows 4.0* PCs has bundled Open Office 1.x.x.  
*Dumb down Linux distro.

[MarkTime]

Hammer
those are not examples, about something being integrated into the OS
integration into the OS was my point.
SQL Server is the backend for several Microsoft products.  If they want to write something for SQL Server, Microsoft has the option of including SQL Server as part of the install, but most developers do not have that luxury...

That doesn't mean, as a developer, I can write for SQL Server and expect every single windows owner to have database services running natively on the machine.

I can write an extension to office, I also cannot expect every single Windows owner to have Office installed.

That's why integrating something into the OS, is different from selling it as an add-on product.

I also think, when you integrate something into the OS, you USE that functionality when designing the OS.

For example, being able to write natural language queries to find content on your hard drive.  One tiny example.

The same would go with office suite if it was a fundamental part of the OS....the spell checker from your office suite, would then be available to any application written for that OS...one example.

The same how Microsoft IE when it became part of the OS, gave birth to OS features like Active Desktop, whereas, stand-alone browsers like Navigator never had any impact on OS improvements.  (not that I like active desktop)

Maybe I'm not laying the vision out clear enough....integrating something into the OS is different from including it in a phuper bundle, or whatever.