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Branding is such a scam... Like putting the name Commodore on any crap box is going to make it magically like a C64 or an Amiga..

Which begs the question; WTF is happening with the Amiga legacy at the moment?

I stopped following Amiga developments circa 1995, when the new Amiga owners wanted to re-release the ageing A1200 for 100 pounds *more* than it had been selling for when C= went bankrupt. (Even then I knew the difference between trying to get the Amiga back into the mainstream, and squeezing the last drops of cash from the fanbase).

From thereon, it seems the story gets very complicated, as the Amiga OS and hardware rights got sold off, split up, sold off again, and...

Okay; back to what you said. What the *hell* does Amiga anywhere (seemingly a built-on-Java ME games environment, or something) have to do with the Amiga?!

Quite frankly, it seems to me that people *will* buy because of the name; or at least some Amiga fans will (is this trying to con the hardcore, or going for the Amiga nostalgia market?).

Another thing; what on earth is happening with Amiga OS 4.0? Version 3.0 came out in the early 1990s, version 4.0 has been gone on about for *ages*. I don't see how it can have any relevance now; things have changed too much in the intervening years, and it seems to be used to string die-hard Amiga fanatics along.

BTW, I agree with you about Napster. It's just another paid service that happens to have the rights to that name, but the way it was reported in the news was some kind of corporate rebirth. Annoying...

Well it's not like they're rereleasing Workbench 1.3.

It's about as meaningful as saying "DOS was cool, but it's had its day" in response to a new version of Windows :/

I assume all three of you are happy.

You said this wasn't a troll?

If it's not at least tens of thousands, I can't imagine this is really /. worthy.

The number of remaining active users must be at least 1000s (judging by the number of "Amiga club" members, for example). I doubt it's 10s of 1,000s - but the number of people who aren't users, but are interested (such as myself) would be a lot higher, and this is surely the more relevant number.

It's not clear to me that say, BeOS (which gets front page Slashdot coverage), still has more active users than the Amiga. Occasionally new operating systems (eg, AtheOS, SkyOS) get mentioned on Slashdot, and I can't believe that they have more users too.

Can someone help me understand why this platform is still getting development effort?

Well, Hyperion are either mad, or they think there's money to be had. Amiga Inc got $65700 just by charging membership for the aforementioned Amiga club.

1314 people joined the "Amiga club" which costs $50, which suggests that the idea that barely anyone is interested in the OS belongs in fantasyland.

If they were worried about no one buying it, don't you think that the duplication cost is going to be rather insignificant compared to years of development costs?

> Step three is to set up a paypal account and start begging.

Heh!

Its called Amiga DE. Its kinda like Java, except, err... okay, let me get back to you on that. Its available for Windows and Linux, last time I checked. More info, including a store that sells the player and a few games, at http://www.amiga-anywhere.com/.

...of units sold, go here: http://www.amiga-anywhere.com/main.php?PS=1

Although the production boards aren't out yet, you can join the "I am Amiga" club for $50, which includes a $50 voucher against the cost of an AmigaOne or AmigaOS 4.0.

Whether this is a good idea or not, I'm not going to comment on, beyond that I'm intending on buying one, but some people have expressed concerns about whether the production boards will ever be released. However the URL of the promotion is:

http://www.amiga-anywhere.com/main.php?prod_id=41

Amiga is set to release a player for PocketPC in April. So far they already have a player for Linux and Windows. Eventually, they plan on having a platform where you can use the same apps on cell phones, set top boxes, PDAs, PCs, etc. A week ago on TechTV(Screensavers), Bill McEwen of Amiga demoed how you could play the exact same game binary on Linux, Windows, PocketPC, and WindowsCE. For more info check out Amiga-Anywhere or Amiga.com. To see the TechTV video clip, download the MPG from one of the mirrors listed here.

That is right.

And opposing to this proposal from SUN it already exists ! Full binary compatible video games, running on the AmigaDE (which is more of a "virtual computer" than a "virtual machine". Plans are to make this a stand-alone OS, binary independant, coming with complete HAL and a virtual CPU concept. (Similare to Transmetas "translation" layer between the CPU and the Software, but this is CPU independant and offers much more (API and driver wise)

This is a product in its early stages however and one has to see where it goes. But it is not only a gaming-engine. It is to become a real, completely hardware independant "instant OS / instant computer".

Let's face it, Java sucks for anything that needs performance. Why not try a new(er) multi-platform OS...

Anyway, it might be useful to check out.