Final thoughts

Final thoughts

The Holy Grail, or: 50,000 x OS 3.9 = OS 4.0 (by Martin Baute)

I am sitting in front of my notebook, typing this article that was scheduled to be finished last week. But you have to make a living somehow, and my job keeps my timetable pretty much busy - my PDA is beeping appointment warnings almost nonstop.

I am not complaining; in the very least this job earns me enough money so I can afford all these nifty gadgets. Moreover, it is a good starting point for this article.

So it is dawning, the Digital Age. Many different devices, the so-called "appliances", each specialized for a specific task, are bound to replace the "jack of all trades" desktop PC. Makes sense: the DVD player should be placed on top of the TV, not on your office desk. The scheduler software on my desktop at home does not help if I am missing an important meeting because I am on the road. A web pad for armchair surfing is also a nice win; and for none of these tasks do I want to endure the troubles of installing, maintaining and bug-fixing a desktop. And it would be perfect if all these gadgets are used in a similar way, a similar look and feel.

So this is the right time for a technology like AmigaDE. Microsoft, Oracle and some others are trying similar approaches; however it would be cowardice to strike our colors just because of strong competition. In 1985, Amiga faced strong opposition in the computer market, but surpassed them all. The independence from the underlying hardware and the capability to run on several existing operating systems as hosts seem to make the AmigaDE superior to other approaches.

Of course, the final word on this can only be pronounced if the products are available for comparison - not only the AmigaDE is still under construction, Microsoft and Oracle are not that far ahead either. But it will be a close race, and Amiga Inc. only stands a chance if all talent and determination can be focused on the one, common goal.

But the noise coming from the user community: continue development on the "Classic" OS!

Haage and Partner delivered OS 3.5 and OS 3.9, and aside from compliments they also received massive criticism - too few real improvements, superficial touch-ups, overpriced shareware collection, those were the comments of disappointed users on the internet and at trade shows.

Then, Fleecy Moss attended the "World of Amiga 2000" (standing in for Bill McEwen, who was visited by Japanese Gentlemen with suitcases on short notice), and made a much discussed statement: Amiga Inc. would commit to OS 4.0 PPC if at least 50,000 pieces of OS 3.9 were sold. As opposed to OS 3.5 and OS 3.9, this project would be "specified and directed" by Amiga Inc. - exactly to avoid OS 4.0 PPC becoming the third overpriced shareware collection in a row.

Now I should state my own opinion for clarification: I can understand why Amiga Inc. committed to OS 3.9; they want to keep the users content. It is also understandable that, regarding the resources available to Haage and Partner, there have been little "real" improvements. However, I think any commitment for OS 4.0 PPC is a very stupid idea. A good friend of mine, attorney of law, more eloquently calls this "evident nonsense".

The release of an OS 4.0 PPC would surely calm down many people, especially with many great improvements in the OS, its capabilities, APIs and its Look and Feel.

But: Those users who wanted OS 4.0 PPC so badly, called for it so loudly in addition to (or even instead of) AmigaDE, would soon afterwards start their whining and bitching again, louder than before, the moment they realize that OS 4.0 PPC, too, would be a completely new OS with a 68k/OS3.x emulation.

Many Amiga users share one thing: the more they want an OS 4.0 PPC, the more negative - or at least indifferent - they look on AmigaDE and the plans of Amiga Inc.. These users seem to ignore that they would hardly feel any difference between OS 4.0 PPC and the AmigaDE.

A short trip to the technobabble: It is a fact that all software available today is written for the capabilities, limits and weaknesses of OS 3.x, and even in the case of Power/WarpUP software requires a 68k processor. To use this software with an OS 4.0 PPC,

• a 68k CPU had to be emulated,


• the OS 3.x libraries had either to run within this emulation, or be provided as PPC

All program-specific libraries (like e.g. the MUI libs, the Superview modules etc.) and the executable itself would still be in 68k code and have to run in emulation. If you donīt believe it, look at the end of this article - Fleecy Mossī replies on my inquiries.

Moreover, improvements in OS 4.0 PPC would not be available for old software - memory protection, resource tracking, any-nifty-cool-improvement-whatever could only be used by software especially written for or adapted to OS 4.0 PPC. The situation would be very similar as when the first PPC boards were released - almost no software package was able to utilize the fast CPUs, and even today only a fraction of the software used every day profits from the costly investment. This would be no different to OS 4.0 PPC.

And then there is the subject of hardware. To use OS 4.0 PPC, I would need a "Classic" Amiga with PPC (which are estimated to be no more than 20,000 still functional today), or a Macintosh. It is a fact that all the announced G3/G4 boards and -systems are not available today. So the question has to be asked, how many companies would adapt their software to an OS 4.0 PPC, with a potential market of perhaps 50,000 systems maximum?

Many users fear the change. They keep ignoring that the step from OS 3.x and a well improved OS 4.0 PPC would be just as big as the step to AmigaDE. (And the smaller the step, the less improvements in OS 4.0...)

AmigaDE will provide a quite similar platform for old software, as has been announced numerous times. If the OS libraries are provided in portable VP code, library calls would not only benefit from a fast PPC, but - at your choice - also benefit from a fast Athlon, fast Alpha or cheap MIPS. ;-)

The result would be the same: old software would continue to be useful, new software can utilize the new capabilities of the OS. But the choice in compatible hardware would be so much bigger. The potential market would be much larger, too, just like the potential for continued and new developments.

All this aside, if you ask an "OS 4.0 PPC"-supporter what he wishes his "new" OS to have... the more ambitious the wish list, the more it looks like the specification of AmigaDE.

There is a certain quote that people keep to wave in Amiga Inc's face: "We have bought the Amiga from Gateway because of the community." They did not mean our purchasing prowess, not our whining and bitching in newsgroups and exhibition halls.

They meant our creativity. They meant the working hours Amiga users are willing to spend on new applications, projects and concepts. The Amiga market might play a role in the strategic plans of Amiga Inc.; but for the cash flow, it is only a little goodie compared to the suitcases of the Japanese gentleman mentioned above.

Amiga Inc. cannot survive from OS 4.0 PPC alone. The market is simply too small, not even taking account investments (and commitments) that have already been made for AmigaDE. So an OS 4.0 PPC would have to be developed alongside AmigaDE - less money, less developers, less software, less chances for both systems. Is this what we want?

If Amiga does not make the step into the future - future meaning AmigaDE, not the emergency heart stimulation done for the "Classic" OS - the Amiga market will continue to suffer and dwindle as it has for the last few years. Slowly but inevitably, regardless of Shogo and G3 boards and OS 4.0 PPC, the first multimedia computer in history will be forgotten by the world.

This might not matter much for some, as long as they will get their OS 4.0 PPC tomorrow, preferably today, so they can breathe a "modern" OS into their systems patched together from half a dozen expansion boards. They donīt think about the fact that they will need a OS 5.0 (from whom?) the day after tomorrow, bundled with another two or three expansion boards (from whom?), if they want to keep up with the computing world of tomorrow.

For the first time since 1992, when an A2000 became my first Amiga, I will not buy an improvement of Amiga technology. Back then, I updated from OS 2.0 to OS 3.1 because I needed the new OS for the tasks at hand. (I think it was Wordworth requiring OS 3.x...) I updated from OS 3.1 to OS 3.5, because I wanted to do my part for the future of Amiga. And for exactly the same reason, I will not buy OS 3.9 - because I want to do my part for the future of Amiga.

The Amiga's future is inevitably linked to the success of AmigaDE, in the eyes of the rest of the computing world, not in the eyes of the Amiga market. I know it is hard to accept - but, as a market, we have become irrelevant. What remains is our determination and our skills. But those we can make better use of than crying for "OS 4.0 PPC"...

(Following are parts from Fleecyīs answer to some technical questions I asked him while doing this article. Fleecy, if you read this: sorry but I lost the original; I had to re-translate it to English...)

Yes, however the libraries called could be native PPC, which might be the most of the work.

Yes - OS 4 would provide the classic Amiga in a single memory block, so the old problems would still exist for old software. However new software written for OS 4 could make use of the new, modern kernel.

Yes, and since the sources for most old software donīt even exist anymore, I think you have answered your own question. Any OS 4 would simply provide a way to run old stuff on the new hardware - the real value of an OS 4 would be in new software written for it.

From here onwards, everybody has to make up his own mind. (Remark: I lost the original mail, and had to re-translate it from my German translation. I am confident that, even if the wording might not be identical, the meaning has remained unchanged.)

Finally, a word to Haage & Partner: I donīt want to discourage anybody from buying OS 3.9 because he needs it. The reason for this article was a different one: Those who think about buying / not buying OS 3.9 to "vote" for OS 4.0 PPC should be aware of both sides of the story.

I welcome comments, feedback and (constructive) criticism.

Martin Baute <solar@baud.de>