Amount of MorphOS copies sold

[klx300r]

Actually, there are a fair number of AOS4 packages that can be run under MorphOS with a wrapper called OS4Emu. Of course I wasn't really expecting this one to work, but its always fun experimenting.

actually that's pretty cool cause I didn't know MOS has an OS4 emulator & heck experimenting is like 85% of the fun I have with my miggies both my classics & NG:)

[Iggy]

actually that's pretty cool cause I didn't know MOS has an OS4 emulator & heck experimenting is like 85% of the fun I have with my miggies both my classics & NG:)

Its not a full emulator, just a wrapper. Ambient has to be able to handle to Workbench calls or it won't work.

But, yeah, experimenting and figuring out how to make something work is at least half the fun.

[pVC]

And it should be remembered that this graph is only about registered MorphOS 2.x users, not all MorphOS users.

There are many people still using (regularly or occasionally) free 1.x versions.

For example of my closest local friends, who own Pegasos systems, about 40% have registered MorphOS2 while 60% still use 1.x because it's free and they can't afford keyfile or they are waiting with the decision on which platform they'd eventually register it.

[Kronos]

downloads of the alpha release of TimberWolf show over 3x that amount & that doesn't include 4.0 users

Download statistics are a very bad gauge. Even more with OS4-SW where a lot of those downloads might have happenend with their version of OWB (known to f###up downloads) or with downloads that are so old that people might have done a complete resinstall in the meantime (also not unheard of in OS4-circles).


Add those who don't own OS4.1 but download "just to check".

The whole thing gets 100% pointless if a specific download is missued as an gauge several times (as happened in another case).

[coldfish]

Those numbers are about what I expected.  

Kinda puts the situation in perspective.

Obviously, no one is going to get rich off the remains of the Amiga scene.

[KimmoK]

Interesting this serial number collection & users counting.
I wish we had knowledge of all variants of Amiga(like)s.

[Boot_WB]

The real trick will be figuring out how to alter the firmware.
I wouldn't be particularly worried about patching the firmware.
While some may view this as questionable, as far as I understand it, its completely legal.
Think about it David, when you install a Sonnet upgrade processor card in a Mac you patch the firmware. You know how proprietary Apple can be, but their fine with this. Even modding PS3 or XBOX360 isn't illegal. You can be banned from online services, but you can not be arrested for it.
We don't have to distribute a modified firmware.
We only have to patch it.
This should not involve any legal issues.

Since openfirmware can configure memory for Peg2 etc dynamically, I would doubt that the Efika memory is statically programmed in firmware.
However, if going above 256MB, there is a pin on the 5200b which requires bringing up to voltage (or connecting to ground, I forget which). This may be the 'firmware modification' which is referred to.

256MB upgrade should be easier, simply by replacing the current 64MB chips with 128MB ones.

Regards


Rich

[HenryCase]

MorphOS probably has 2x the amount of AROS and OS4 users combined (and I'm not saying that this graph reflects the amount of users, only registrations *sold*).

This sounds more like wishful thinking on your part than anything based in reality.

Let's remind ourselves of what your graph represents; it shows serial numbers registered for MorphOS 2.x. For every computer you want to run MorphOS 2.x on, you need a new serial number. Let's imagine someone who was a MorphOS 2.x fan from the start. First, they may have registered a copy of MorphOS 2.x to run on a Pegasos 2. Next, when the Mac Mini release came out, they would have bought another serial for that machine. That's two licenses for one user, and there are probably users who have 3+ licenses. Please note that the licenses are not transferrable, so even if this user didn't use their Pegasos 2 anymore, they wouldn't be able to transfer the license to a new machine.

Using registrations sold as a metric to gauge number of users is not going to be accurate, yet you've used these figures to state MorphOS has '2x the amount of AROS and OS4 users combined'. This is all without understanding how many users AROS and OS4 have. If you're going to make statements like that, you should at least have some understanding about the situation as it stands.

Apart from this, we're still talking small numbers. If you want some platform growth worth talking about, then look to ways we can work together to build a compelling platform, not compete over the small number of users left in the Amiga community.

[takemehomegrandma]

This sounds more like wishful thinking on your part than anything based in reality.

I'm not claiming to be sitting on a complete set of statistics here, there simply is no way of knowing for sure, we can only make assumptions and more or less educated guesses.

Sure, some users undoubtedly have multiple MorphOS systems registered (I have 2 myself), but there should also be a lot of people having only ONE registration. Even if the MorphOS hardware is very cheap, MorphOS registrations aren't exactly for free. New users in recent years (that got themselves a, say, PowerMac or Mac Mini as their first MorphOS system) probably won't see a reason to register a second computer of similar kind. This may change when PowerBook support is introduced with the release of MorphOS 3.0, it will be interesting to see how the registration graph develops after that. And you must remember that MorphOS is perfectly usable (without any limitations whatsoever) without a registration, at least for 30 minutes at a time...

There seems to be some sort of general consensus that "a fair number of users" would currently be obtained by dividing the registrations with 2, and I agree, I think it's a fair assumption. This would give around 700 MorphOS users, which is a pretty decent number actually!

Timberwolf for OS4 has been downloaded 770 times at the moment. I *sincerely doubt* that any active OS4 user haven't downloaded this piece of software by now, given all the hype, all the attention, and the poor browser situation on the OS4 platform in general. It's "the holy grail" in the OS4 world. I think it's fair to assume that close to 100% of all active OS4 users has downloaded Timberwolf now, when almost a month has passed after its release. But don't forget that many active OS4 users today have multiple systems as well, this is not a phenomenon limited to MorphOS. Multiple downloads comes from this. And as has been pointed out, there might be some problems downloading SW using some of the OS4 browsers, resulting in multiple downloads per user simply because of troubles/errors, people will DL it again after re-installing their computer, etc. And (as we have seen in the past), you can't rule out that some people actually makes multiple downloads simply to make a "statement" through these kinds of statistics (especially after numbers have been publicly discussed).

Anyway, I think it's a fair assumption to divide that number by *at least* 2 as well, which gives a picture of about half the amount of active OS4 users compared to MorphOS users, meaning some 300-350 people, possibly less.

I don't want to belittle AROS in any way, but MorphOS and OS4 plays in a completely different league. I sincerely believe that very few people (other than the developers and some hardcore enthusiasts, counted in a two-digit number in total) *actually uses it* actively, at least in a comparable manner as MorphOS and OS4 is being used. I think people may download it (various "distros") from time to time out of curiosity, to check out how far it has come since the last time they checked it out.

About 700 active MorphOS users would mean 2x the amount of about 300 active OS4 users coupled with some 50 active AROS users.

But again, your guess is as good as mine...

[Lando]

I sincerely think that sales of MorphOS licenses will sky rocket when Powerbook support appears in 3.x.  It will be the first time ever that a laptop has been able to run an Amiga *compatible OS natively.

*by Amiga compatible I mean binary compatible, obviously Aros is running on laptops for years

[takemehomegrandma]

Since KimmoK decided to bump this one year old thread anyway, I take the opportunity to post the latest graph!

Here it is:



The last reported number was #1344, almost exactly a month ago.

I understand how Pegasos1, Pegasos2, and Efika users wanted to upgrade to Mac Mini (and thus get themselves a second license, showing in the visible bump around 30.10.2009), I did so myself.

Some existing users may have decided to purchase a Power Mac to be able to use graphic cards with more memory and/or faster CPU cards (the tiny (is it even there?) bump at 30.10.2010).

I think it's fair to assume that another batch of "multiple licenses" will happen after the MorphOS 3.0/PowerBook release, which will create another noticeable bump in the graph.

Other than that, there is a *steady* growth rate in registrations with about #20 entities per month, or 100 people per half-year. Not a very big number perhaps, but it's a steady growth that isn't directly connected to MorphOS introducing support for new HW. It's a clearly visible trend, spanning over several years. I think most of those registrations comes from Classic users and OS4 users deciding to get themselves a cheap and powerful MorphOS system!

It's worth noticing how the *tilt* of the curve (the growth speed) became *visibly steeper* after MorphOS 2.4 (Mac Mini/First Apple HW supported). Conclusion: Supporting a mainstream HW platform like the Apple Mac *was a good decision*, despite the Mac's only being available as second hand. Price *does* matter (hear that Acube and A-EON? ), so does the acknowledged quality and low risk of well tried, mainstream stuff, and so does the fact that it's so easy to obtain.

And of course, so does the features, performance and qualities of MorphOS!

[takemehomegrandma]

@Lando

+1

[HenryCase]

And you must remember that MorphOS is perfectly usable (without any limitations whatsoever) without a registration, at least for 30 minutes at a time...

I do not doubt that there are some people who have sampled MorphOS 2.x without paying for it, but you should be careful with making too much of this, as you are likely to undo your own argument. For example, if we class 'OS samplers' as users, then think about what this means for AROS. It's possible to try it out in a VM without too much hassle, which many people have done (not just across the whole Amiga community, but those interested in alternative OS too). Furthermore, AROS is now included in WinUAE, and there will come a time where it'll be bundled with all versions of UAE. Simply put, MorphOS hasn't got a hope in hell of competing with the numbers of people who use UAE, not in its current state anyway, so I wouldn't make too much of the '30 minutes at a time' users.

There seems to be some sort of general consensus that "a fair number of users" would currently be obtained by dividing the registrations with 2, and I agree, I think it's a fair assumption. This would give around 700 MorphOS users, which is a pretty decent number actually!

Okay, let's say for argument's sake that there are 700 people who have at least one registered copy of MorphOS. I still think this is somewhat optimistic, but let's use this figure for now...

I *sincerely doubt* that any active OS4 user haven't downloaded this piece of software by now

Then your sincere doubts have done you a disservice. Not every OS4 user can run Timberwolf, and I've heard accounts of OS4 users saying they're not going to bother with it until it's more mature.

I don't want to belittle AROS in any way, but MorphOS and OS4 plays in a completely different league.

I am under no illusions that AROS has fewer regular users than OS4 and MorphOS, but that doesn't concern me, the momentum for AROS continues to build, it's not a question of 'if' it'll catch up/overtake the other two, but 'when'.

About 700 active MorphOS users would mean 2x the amount of about 300 active OS4 users coupled with some 50 active AROS users.

But again, your guess is as good as mine...

That's your guess. Okay. Let's look at it another way. How active are the following forums:
http://www.amigans.net/
http://www.morphzone.org/modules/news/
http://aros-exec.org/

At the time of writing, 7 topics on amigans.net had posts from 'Today', 2 topics from morphzone.org had posts from '11-03-2012' (today's date), and 9 topics from aros-exec.org had posts from 'Today'. Your definition of active users may be different from mine, but seems unlikely to me that MorphOS users are that much quieter/less opinionated than OS4 and AROS users, seems much more likely to me that there are just fewer users who are actively involved with MorphOS. YMMV.

[number6]

That's your guess. Okay. Let's look at it another way. How active are the following forums:
http://www.amigans.net/
http://www.morphzone.org/modules/news/
http://aros-exec.org/

At the time of writing, 7 topics on amigans.net had posts from 'Today', 2 topics from morphzone.org had posts from '11-03-2012' (today's date), and 9 topics from aros-exec.org had posts from 'Today'. Your definition of active users may be different from mine, but seems unlikely to me that MorphOS users are that much quieter/less opinionated than OS4 and AROS users, seems much more likely to me that there are just fewer users who are actively involved with MorphOS. YMMV.

I'm lost here. What are you attempting to illustrate here?
OS4.x, for example has at least 3 major forum sites. Amigans.net surely does not carry the same traffic as AW.
AROS...AW is very lively with AROS postings, as opposed to AROS-Exec.
Morphzone...MorphOS does a lot of it's business in irc as opposed to on their forums. If anything, Amiga.org carries significant MorphOS discussion in general.
I just don't see how what you've said leads to any valid conclusions, sorry.

Oh wait...maybe that was your point.

#6

[takemehomegrandma]

you should be careful with making too much of this

I'm not. I don't even know why I threw that stupid sentence in there (the last thing I did before hitting the submit button). Had I known that this would be the only argument of mine you would have noticed, I would have left it out completely...

I've heard accounts of OS4 users saying they're not going to bother with it until it's more mature.

I'm sorry, but that's bollocks. I don't deny that there might exist one or two OS4 users who won't bother (for whatever reason), but not very many on top of that. It's kind of like saying that "No, I won't bother downloading the free OS4.1.1 or OS4.1.2 updates because they doesn't have USB2 yet". The browser situation on OS4 is dire, AFAIK many OS4 users have to use several browsers for different things and purposes, and here comes Timberwolf, what everyone has been waiting for since 1995, a freely downloadable software from the holy Frieden twins, the browser that may solve everyone's problems. "I won't download it for free and try it"?! Not very likely, not among the active users...

the momentum for AROS continues to build

Maybe. The Odyssey 1.16 release was definitely one step in the right direction...

it's not a question of 'if' it'll catch up/overtake the other two, but 'when'.

...but I sincerely doubt that however. There is nothing that speaks in favor of that.

How active are the following forums:

I'm sorry, but that's a terrible instrument of measurement, utterly useless, it's impossible draw one single conclusion from that. Most MorphOS users are posting more on amiga.org and amigaworld.net than they are posting on morphzone.org. It has more to do with site culture, "site momentum" (people go where the discussions take place) etc. Even Fab (a MorphOS core developer) used to post on amigans.net. MorphZone.org has always been a "quiet" place, or rather free from the pointless, shallow noise that other sites suffer from, it has more depth (and there is also an active mailing list where most support issues are handled). 10-20 people using amigaworld.net like it would be an IRC channel may give the impression of activity, but you can't possibly draw any conclusion of how many active MorphOS/OS4/AROS users there are based on these kind of impressions, not when many community members are occasionally posting on *all* the forums you mentioned (regardless of their preferred system of choice), and many are also using more than one system. There are many "silent" MorphOS users, sometimes you gets surprised, not expecting this or that person to ever try MorphOS, and suddenly it shows in a discussion that they are even registered users. And many of the posters aren't even using *either* of the systems anymore, they are just participating in the social club...

[HenryCase]

Oh wait...maybe that was your point.

My point was that if takemehomegrandma's assumption about MorphOS having double the number of active users was correct, it would be reasonable to assume that you'd see more discussion surrounding it (not necessarily double, but something close to it). I'm aware there are cross-platform sites, but the vast majority of discussion about usage of MorphOS isn't found here, it's found on morphzone.org.

So the question becomes, if you do have double the users, why are there fewer discussions surrounding it? Seems to me we have a different definition about what 'active' users means.