AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4 News

[HotRod]

I think the fact that they have charged for ANY of the updates to AOS4 is scandalous.

lol... isn't that the sound of a MOS fanboy? :-P ... and now the whole flamewar begins...

That is just to tease me and it won't work. I would probably use MOS if I could but this is OT.

[jj]

Well I think my sig give that away

[jorkany]

I guess ssolie's method of "blame the users, blame the applications" wasn't actually getting the bugs fixed in Update 3.

[Matt_H]

It's nice that they're working on it. Hopefully they get it done in less than 18 months this time.

[Daedalus]

Oh, and...



...there are *no reasons whatsoever* to why you shouldn't be able to upgrade from an ISO. Every single one of the public MorphOS releases (v1.0+) came packaged as an ISO, and it was only on one or two occasions (1.4->2.0?) that you were recommended to do a clean install instead of upgrading. The only downside (and it's really a minor one with today's Internet bandwidth standards) is that file size may be bigger with an ISO, but the upsides are so much bigger. Clean install or upgrade - it's a matter of how the installer is set up (and then how the user decides), *not* if it's an ISO or not. With a properly put together ISO you will have a choice, without it you never will.

Absolutely, that should go without saying, but wasn't my point. Maybe you were so eager to disagree with me (I am an OS4 user after all) that you failed to understand what I was actually saying.

I'd like to be able to download an upgrade package, double-click it, and it goes ahead and upgrades my installation. Not to have to mess around burning CDs or mounting virtual CD devices. Update 3 worked like this for me, and I would much prefer future upgrades to work that way too rather than being ISO-only.

And, as for your previous point, yes, it's a shame the issues with the update were handled the way they were; I'm not denying that. As you pointed out, other systems have issues with updates too, and it's not unique to the Amigoid world either. The company I work for has several parallels with the current Amiga world: custom hardware, userbase measured in the hundreds or maybe low thousands, software updates maybe once or twice a year. There should only be 2 different configurations of our machines in the field, and we thoroughly test each software release on both, yet issues still crop up because: a) we have no control over what the user changes on the machines, and b) sometimes the updates show up obscure firmware or hardware bugs on specific setup and usage combinations. These things are just expected, and happen no matter how much validation we do on our systems.

What might even scare you is that these machines are used in hospital labs for testing patient blood samples prior to and during surgery! That's a far more regulated and tested product than some unheard of hobbyist OS, but still suffers from the same issues.

[Duce]

Takemehomegrandma, go away.  I'm a pretty open dude when it comes to the various "modern" platforms, but your nonstop gum flapping about things you likely haven't used is hysterical.  It's OTT and completely annoying.  If you want to get down to brass tacks, there was issues with the last MOS update too.  It's a hobbyist market, use what you like and enjoy.  Guess what?  All OS's with user numbers in the hundreds or low thousands are not exactly "primetime" and bugs will be seen.  You are to MOS what Dammy is to C-USA.

There was nothing catastrophic about the latest OS4 update.  In fact there was nothing wrong with what Hyperion did, wasn't their issue.  If OS4 is not your cup of tea, fine.  It simply was not Hyperion's doing, and if you had gone thru the process yourself you would have seen that.

I own OS4 and MOS machines, but the constant catty nonsense coming out of a few of the fanboys here (any camp) when they likely haven't explored all the options is extremely offputting, and in fact the reason I have not registered MOS thus far.  Sorry to you devs that work your butts off, but there's enough toxic weirdos in in the Amiga community and I won't pay for the privilege of being around them, lol.

[takemehomegrandma]

Absolutely, that should go without saying, but wasn't my point. Maybe you were so eager to disagree with me (I am an OS4 user after all) that you failed to understand what I was actually saying.

Well I read your post here, and I read your post on AW.net, and I got the picture that you really thought it was *either* an upgrade option *or* a clean install, and it all came down to the SW being packaged as an ISO or not (and it seems many other thinks so as well). Sorry I misinterpreted you. And for the record, of course I don't automatically disagree with people just because they are OS4 users.

I'd like to be able to download an upgrade package, double-click it, and it goes ahead and upgrades my installation. Not to have to mess around burning CDs or mounting virtual CD devices. Update 3 worked like this for me, and I would much prefer future upgrades to work that way too rather than being ISO-only.

Well, on MorphOS, ISO's are perfectly clickable, no hazzle! :p

IMHO there is a certain "beauty", or "cleanliness" if you like, of releasing the OS as a complete ISO that contains everything needed, hence every new release becomes like a new lowest common denominator, increasing the predictability, and making it easy to do a clean install of any version if you want to. Releasing a series of incomplete/partial patches that each builds on the previous one, isn't really "kosher" in my view. I can understand why this is done on Windows, where sizes counts in gigabytes, but on Amiga? Since the bigger size of an ISO is the only rational argument *against* ISO-style releases I can see, it obviously comes down to a matter of taste of the OS4 devs. They simply don't like ISO's. Or maybe Hyperion don't want to distribute complete releases in any other shape and form than a physical CD with a boing-ball printed on it (isn't that one of the most important parts of their product after all - the boing ball (TM)? ). I don't know. But even if you "have to" burn a CD (and given the frequency of OS4 releases - how much of an effort can this really be for a user? It's not a daily, not a monthly, heck, mostly it isn't even a *yearly* chore!), this "one time" effort must surely have a lot of benefits as soon as you decide to do a clean reinstall with the latest version, in comparison to first install the latest ISO, then one update, then another, then a third, etc.

I can see many voices in favor of an ISO on various forums, so I'm getting quite sure they will give in and finally release their OS as an ISO this time; it was many revisions ago they did this (was it OS4.1.1?). And given that OS4.1.4 will (supposedly) be the last revision in the OS4.1.x branch, I think it makes sense to "wrap it up" in a nice and clean ISO that marks the end of the "OS4.1.x era", before "OS4.2.x" enters the scene with all its groundbreaking, mythical improvements that will change the Amiga paradigm forever...

[takemehomegrandma]

there was issues with the last MOS update too.

Never have I claimed otherwise! There *are* bugs in MorphOS!

But *never* have the MorphOS Team released something of *similar poor quality* as OS4.1.3. Why do you think they are announcing a OS4.1.4 release this quick? Or rather, why do you think they are announcing it at all? OS4.1.3 was supposed to be the last one before OS4.2.0, but now they are rushing out a quick fix! Only praising Hyperion and silencing criticism of their work won't improve one thing. Enlighten the problems might. I am perfectly aware that they have a couple of years of development to reach the competitions level of features and Amiga compatibility, but if they set out to deliver products under the name "Amiga" they should at least try to live up to its standards when it comes to *quality*! OS4.1.3 was a mockery...

[raddude9]

A new version of any flavour of Amiga operating systems is always very good and welcome news.
The constant trolling by various members whenever AmigaOS is mentioned just makes me sad though. But maybe that's what they want, to drive people away. If they can't have the Amiga legacy to themselves then nobody can have it!

When will they understand that this helps nobody.

And cut the "this is constructive criticism" BS. It's not. Bringing up the same point multiple times in the same thread, and then on every thread you can find is not helpful.

If there is a few issues in a new OS release, don't blow it out of all proportion, and then don't whinge even more when there is a new release which will fix the couple of bugs that you were whinging about in the first place.

[jorkany]

The constant trolling by various members whenever AmigaOS4 is mentioned just makes me sad though.

^^ fixed this for you.

[stevieu]

Never have I claimed otherwise! There *are* bugs in MorphOS!

But *never* have the MorphOS Team released something of *similar poor quality* as OS4.1.3. Why do you think they are announcing a OS4.1.4 release this quick?

La di da...

Steve

[wawrzon]

I guess ssolie's method of "blame the users, blame the applications" wasn't actually getting the bugs fixed in Update 3.

i have followed the 4.1.3 story a little and can confirm that it really looks like many troubles were caused by screwed mui classes/libs and the like. things a limited number of devs for a hobby os cannot realy take into account. so i dont think its right to blame it all on os4 and the devs instead of its (in many cases rather clueless) users. of course you might say a good os can defend itself, like windows demanding approved drivers etc. even me, i might say i had not such severe problems testing so many kind of stuff on os3.x and aros68. but i really think the problems are really blown out of proportions and in the end the os4 users may also accept some responsibility (what they apparently do), especially in this little community.

[Duce]

*ALL* you do here is slam on anything you feel isn't "THE TRUE AMIGA", Takemehomegrandma.  Have you ever used OS4 on a modern SAM?  Many of the OS4 "issues" you are claiming as fact simply are not true, lol.  Talking head nonsense, and it's offputting to see the division of the camps drive people away from otherwise good offerings.

The most hysterical thing is how many people from your side of the camp have been apologetic via PM's to people about your uppity fanboyism, lol.
People have outright avoided some software offerings due to this, and that is not an exaggeration in the least.  People on your side of the fence have apologized and said "please ignore the yappers that slam on anything other than our product".

Use what you like, and everyone should be thankful we have ANYTHING vaguely resembling the Amiga, nevermind the fact we have a handful of choices for Amiga OS's to pick from (MOS, OS4, Aros, legacy, etc).

[Akiko]

It's a shame yet another OS4 related thread is being spammed by the usual suspects.
Is absolutely nothing wrong with constructive criticism, but this just the same politically
charged crap from a minority of individuals that troll just about every OS4 related thread and is beginning to wear thin.

[itix]

They are having long road to improve release quality but I guess I can defend this news item this time: it is news that they are working on update 4 rather than the next release would be 4.2.

[QuikSanz]

Now I remember why I don't check this site very often anymore.

Chris