Hyperion and AmigaOS4.x

I was thinking to myself the other day (Dangerous thing to do, I know). Will Hyperion continue Developing OS4.x and beyond from now on? Or will they at some stage, pause and return to giving us the great games they were once famous for?

OS4.1.1 is almost upon us and from what I have seen, it is good. There is a new AmigaOne on the works which promises to make a lot of people sit up and notice, whether that is the MAP that has been talked about or not, no one is quite sure just yet.

However having a nice machine with a lovely OS to run on it isn't gonna be the end of it. What we also desperately need are some decent applications like a port of Neo Office a decent Paint/Multimedia Package and some Games too.

Now don't get me wrong, I think that the people at Hyperion are the best, but without the extras its not quite the finished package.
I recall some of the great games Hyperion ported to the Amiga, of these, I believe only QII is the one remaining that works with the latest OS incarnation.
- Whether they will ever have the resources to re-visit their previous game releases and patch them up to run on the latest AmigaOS is unknown by us mere mortals down here, let alone release new games.

The problem is that Hyperion are a victim of their own success, as they deliver more and more, the interest is more and more. One which may be satisfied for now, But what happens, when OS4.1.1 is out, will people be happy to look forward to OS4.1.2 or whatever? Or maybe like me, will start thinking, "I have a great OS, fantastic! now, what can I do with it?" that's not to say that there isn't some great stuff, already available, Wookiechat, Tunenet, SabreMSN, Hollywood, OWB (and soon Timberwolf) Yam and Simplemail to name a few. But the Amiga will also need everyday applications like an office package and a quality media/graphics package.

What the Amiga Community needs right now is for someone else to pick up the baton formerly held by Hyperion and start releasing quality commercial software once more. Be it Games or Applications/Utilities.

What does anyone else think?

@Mikey_C

hmm wasnt neo one of the clues??so maybe an office suite is part of the MAP ..anyhow the way I see it is once Firefox and an office suite are running nicely on OS4.1 (Final) or whatever you wanna call it, there will be alot more interest for ex-amigans to join the ranks once again.....more userbase= more software by third parties me thinks

@Mikey_C

I think i'll let hyperion do the os4.x.. Why change a winning formula?

They have their hands full with the os for a long time ahead. If they start doing well,they might get xtra people to start on working on games aswell. But before that,we need this new amigaone up and running. Since new modern games require lots of horsepower...

But there must be more to the map than just porting to a new ppc machine. They've done that several times allready (peg2/sam). So maybe full mem protection? 64bit os? dual core support?? Not sure,but one can hope.

Hi @Mikey_C

What does anyone else think?

I don't know how to answer this one! A great new comput'n machine sounds fine, but it's back to the paradox - where's the software for it? This condition doesn't exist that much in the PC world. I'm seriously considering: if the AmigaOne dies, then that's it for me and the Amiga. Gak, the real-time Grim Reaper isn't that far behind, so why bother with this computer crap! Mikey C, ask the younger generation because they are where the future will be, huh!

@Snuffy

Quote:

But then again,WHY bother with life itself? The software will come when we get a bigger userbase. You need to talk to the shrink.

@Snuffy
Seems you've gone very negative in recent times?
Quote:
I guess you mean the Chicken & the Egg problem: Without software, people might not buy the hardware. But without hardware, people won't buy the software.

The solution to this apparent logical dilema is to stop looking at the world in black & white, and instead use shades of grey:

You build some basic hardware (Amiga One) & a basic OS for it (OS4.0 pre-release), which gets you SOME users & developers, and so some new software is written.

What *should* have happened is that the OS gets improved (OS4.0 Final), allowing lots more hardware to get sold, along with more users, developers, software, etc. But because of Eyetech problems, hardware dried-up, and no doubt nearly killed OS4.

Thankfully Sam440 eventually appeared to follow in the footsteps of the Amiga One, providing basic good hardware. And due to the delay we have an improved OS to go with it (OS4.1). That means we finally get more users, more developers, more software, etc. This hopefully starts to feedback on itself, and become self-perpetuating. (This has been a bit slow to happen, due to (a) Sam440s initially being in limited quantity, and (b) OS4.1 being a bit buggy on Sam440s. But Sam440s availability is now fixed, and Update 1 should fix Sam440s main remaining problems.)

And we will shortly have MUCH better hardware (codename Nemo) courtesy of Hyperion/A-Eon, and quite possibly a much better OS too. That should hopefully lead to even greater numbers of new users, even more developers, and hence even more software.

Hopefully things keep climbing upwards, and at the moment I don't see any reason to think they won't.

@Mikey_C

So you took the time to say it again, but it goes without saying, because it has been said so many times. It looks like a good logical progress so far. After hardware, then the OS, then the applications. As the OS continues to mature, it becomes a stronger foundation to invite software application developers.
I agree that Hyperion is in up to their necks in OS development and unless someone wants to offer them a load of money to expand into applications again, then someone else needs to do it.
So Mikey_C, thanks for volunteering and I look forward to your next software releases. Can you tell us a little more about them?

@Snuffy
Quote:
That was the same paradox that existed when the Amiga 1000 first appeared. The software base that emerged was in many cases different than that available for a Win PC. However, we liked Amiga then and I like it now.

@Mikey_C

I believe as I've always believed; a little like how I view life... I don't worry too much about it, I live it the way I like and I let life take care of itself... Life truely is a complete perception and it exists ONLY inside your head... think about it... lol

There is only one thing most of us can do and that is either wait and have faith or actually take programming back up or begin programming from scratch...

Of course we can advertise in our own way to stir interest if we must try and acknowledge all the aspects of this...

Really the bottom line is we have to buy what comes out otherwise settle for what we have... encourage others to buy too but that's about it...

And again, those that create things on our Amiga HW that actually is seen or sold etc is an important way of supporting the whole thing too...

Also, there isn't much most people expect from there cpus... take me for example... I just browse and download and want the ability to compile mud source etc and actually learn C eventually... I could be so much more (isn't that the story of your life too? lol) but in all honesty I don't care enough to BE someone... heh...

But I always put my money where my mouth is... I own 2 SAMS and I will buy this next system... I couldn't give one toss if it costs me $2000 euro... what the hell is money anyway? Most peoples houses or even cars are way dearer than that? Put the new Amiga on your Mortagage if you have too...

Amen... now back to waiting to buy :)

I've visited all the other forums recently even MorphOS... I didn't post I just wanted to see what people said... EAB was to be expected, they are so lost in there own world... I actually think some of there really hate the Amiga now... which is so silly... I've been an Amiga User since 1986, I own over 90 classic systems (I really should probably now look at selling all of them over the next few years, especially my 10+ A4000 accelerator boards lol)

I've never owned anything BUT an Amiga... and look at me, I'm still bloody here aren't I? All the thousands and thousands I've put into this CPU... I don't feel dicked around by it etc... It was always my choice to use this computer...

Nothing compares to AmigaOS... the clones whatever... and there isn't any arguement against only wishful vantage points...

I'm kind of excited but I'm also very accepting; perhaps that is what is wrong with people that went over the end... they felt too much emotion and got lost in themselves... and didn't just accept what the outcome was...

good night ;)

I know I sort of wondered off the beaten path... but it's just people take life and the world too seriously... Amigas are good to use... take my world for it... heh

@hyperion-entertainment

Please do something about it. There are 1000 reasons for the AmigaOS to have real Flash support like other (commercial desktop) operating systems. That would catapult Amiga.* right to the top of desktop usability (and fun! Maybe the "fun factor" is more important that anything else for the masses) and it would be listed in one line with big names in the commercial business like Windows, MacOS X and/or Linux. That's the REAL POPULARITY booster. Just imagine!!!

Wikipedia says: "Synergy means that the effect of the whole is greater than the sum of the effects of the individual parts"

PS: I bet some people from Adobe had Amigas back then Nvidia even makes FreeBSD drivers Who dares wins!

I hope to see new software houses out there that could come back now.. let' s see what happens from now on..

@ChrisH

Hopefully things keep climbing upwards, and at the moment I don't see any reason to think they won't.

I can't climb anymore more! I'm 65 going on 66. Arterial sclerosis is a natural progression of the body over time. Time has ran out for this Amigan. It has nothing to do with being negative. It's a natural occurring 'limit of growth'! If some young 'venture capitalism' wants branch out the Amiga into a new path, that sounds wonderful, but I won't be able to 'climb and grow' with the new Amiga. I hope the younger generation of 2010 and up have a better experience with Amigas than I had.

@Snuffy

At least you know what a Zorro slot is. One of the "younger" users on aw.net asked what a Zorro slot was? dohh

So maybe you can't follow the future, but you experienced the past, which was the concrete blocks for anything futuristic.......now that's worth a lot!!

Name some of the weird stuff in the amigas history you saw in the last 3 decades??.....trust me when it really was important, you were there!! - that made people like hyperion convinced to continue at whatever the price.

There would have been no future without you and your patience!!

Never forget that!

I agree!

Heh, I guess that wasn't very helpful, huh?


I will add then.



Hyperion has a full plate. Full stop! Don't expect utilities, office or productivity or game SW from them, any time soon.

If you ask me? Perfectly acceptable. Anything that they may be able to squeeze in, we are very, very lucky for their commitment to produce.


The new HW is, in my opinion;

1) Top notch
2) Has breakthrough potential

and

3) Is sufficient to bring Amiga back to broad wide scale usage


And by wide scale, I am talking about a user base in excess of 5,000,000 people.

Even a 1.5 GHz G4 w Altivec and 1 Meg L2 cache single core could play DVD, Flash Anim, surf the internet, and do NLE video editing!!!! Combined with a current video card, this is enough for 75% or more of the public.


We are now, however, and AMIGA has done it again, on the threshold of some new kind of computing!!!!!


This is some exceptional new HW configuration, and I believe Hyperion when they say this that something unknown is on the horizon, and bless my soul, I say it again, that AMIGA is behind it.



I feel marvelous!




I'm gloating, look at me, I'm gloating!!!

@Snuffy

pfff 65 is the new 45 Snuffy ..but seriuously chill out and think of all the time you can play with your new X1000 now that you're retired (or close to it) ...lucky guy