Subject: Overview of the WOA press conference
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 00:18:04 +0100
From: Fabrice COLIN F.P.J.P.Colin@herts.ac.uk
Organization: EUDIL 98, GTR 95
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Hi there,
Here I am, back from the press conference given by AInc at Novotel in Hammersmith . I won't give too many details as I would like to go to bed :-) but rather give an oiverview of AInc annoucement. Well I m quite excited ...
The Amiga as it is known now (OS 3.1, AA and 68k) is declared legacy, or "Amiga Classic" in AInc terms.
An efficient development platform is required to incorporate all the new technologies we have missed during these years . It should bring the Amiga technologies to a wider audience as well as give a base for AOS 4.0 which will support memory protection, SMP ... on one hand and PCI, AGP, DVD ... on the other hand.
The sad thing is that this "Amiga Bridge" will be x86 based. No mention about PPC, at least nothing really clear even when W.Dietrich, who seemed to get nervous, asked if AInc intended to kill the hardware manufacturers. Nevertheless, this bridge is destined to be transitional only. As AInc will stay a software development firm only, other designs will be welcomed. As far as I have understood, it should not be a big problem since "Amiga Classic" will be supported through the Siamese system. The thing is: will AInc back up those who want to do a PPC port ? It seems so!
AOS 4.0, due for Nov 98 (yes) will be developed on top of a 3rd party kernel. We don't know anything yet, apart from the fact that AInc is currently in dicussion with several other firms such as Be ...
AOS 5.0 (end of 99), aimed at the "Digital Convergence" platform (still to be defined/unveiled) will be aimed at customers, although AOS 4.0 would also be usable for an en user. 3.5 is cancelled so the average user will wait 18 months for a revision of the OS. "Classic" and "Bridge" compatibilities will be assured via emulation .
Jim Collas, Senior Vice President of Gateway, who has been put under pressure by 3 MIB (who are they ? I don't know) and a bloke from Alive Mediasoft, promised to clarify the situation regarding the PPC tomorrow . That's it . More to come tomorrow I hope ....
PS: This post has been written in the train while I should have been sleeping. I must also say that I have eaten too much at the buffet 8>)
-- - Student in Computer Science --------------------- Eudil 98 - GTR 95 - colinf@chez.com http://www.chez.com/colinf/ F.P.J.P.Colin@herts.ac.uk (until June 98) - M$ is not the answer . M$ is the question . The answer is NO! -------
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