| From: | Jim Peters |
| Date: | 14 Sep 2000 at 10:01:42 |
| Subject: | Re: AMIOPEN: Absence of VP in distros, and strategy |
On Thu, Sep 14, 2000 at 08:35:37AM +0200, Juan Carlos Marcos Rodr�guez wrote:
> From: Jim Peters <jim@aguazul.demon.co.uk>
>
> >> there should be some way for the OS to _enforce_ the presence
> >> of .00 (VP) binaries in any installation archive. However I don�t
> >> have any way of enforcing this at hand.
>
> > This is all nonsense. It's not an Ami program if it doesn't have
> > VP binaries - it would be an Ami/x86 or Ami/PowerPC program
>
> Then... So what, for the customer? Almost every computer in sight uses a x86
> processor. So this is viable. In fact, it's profitable. So it will happen.
> The solution is centralised control of the distributions, something very
> rare and alienating. Of course, I'm worrying too much.
Anyone who releases only x86 binaries is simply not getting the
concept. I read an article somewhere where some Amiga Inc person was
talking about making the second reference platform completely
architecturally different from the first, to discourage `cheating' -
to show up anyone who had been hacking the hardware or doing anything
that breaks compatibility with the virtual machine.
This Ami thing means nothing if it doesn't translate fluidly into the
next generation of processors, or if it doesn't translate fluidly up
and down, into high-end Alpha or PowerPC workstations or into the kind
of processors that might live in a gaming console or set-top box. x86
is not at all cost-effective for many of these targets.
The whole thing of Elate and all of that is so laden with spiritual
terms ("Tao", "Intent" and so on), let me introduce another one:
"Fluidity". This means that if x86 continues to give the best
price/performance ratio, we use x86, and WE WIN. If x86 loses to a
newer technology that gets twice the speed at the same price, we use
that processor, and WE ALSO WIN. By having the freedom to fluidly
move from one processor to another, we (`friends of Amiga') can always
be in the right place at the right time. Windows users are stuck with
their x86s forever, perhaps, but we have the fluidity to leap beyond
that.
Now then, this is not going to work if stupid people start releasing
x86-only binaries. I hope no-one here is stupid enough to do that,
nor stupid enough to hack the hardware or do other things that are
going to make their software break on another processor, or another
graphics card. [*]
There seems to be a strong fear that there *will* be people out there
who are that stupid - commercial developers, or whatever. If this
really is the case, then I really hope that Amiga gets on and shows us
an Alpha Amiga, or a StrongARM Amiga, or something, so right from the
start it is clear that no VP-compatibility-breaking nonsense is going
to be stood for.
Is this making any sense ?
Can you guys please make a conceptual leap - it's like you're so used
to seeing Windows `win', that you can't believe that it's possible any
other way. Let the Windows users have it their way, blindly towing
the x86 line. We can dance around them, so long as we keep our
`fluidity'.
Just in case I'm out on a limb - can someone from Amiga tell me if
I've got all of this wrong - I'm not the only one believing in all of
this, am I ?
Jim
[* Incidentally, this also means that there is a lot of pressure on
Amiga Inc to `get it right' as well, so that we can get what we need
from the API without having to cheat. ]