Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 2732 from 2003/2/24
@koszer
Three observations:
1) Stretching over time, the trend is straight and *steadily* pointing upwards.
Conclusion: MorphOS rules and is *constantly* gaining ground!
2) In addition to the "normal" growth, there was a visible bump when MorphOS 2.4 was released (Mac Mini), a slightly smaller bump after MorphOS 2.5 (eMac), and maybe a teeny-weeny bump after MorphOS 2.6 (Power Mac)Conclusion: Introducing support for new computer models *does* pay off with *immediate* visible results in new licenses (for some models more than others). Of course the spec list of new features in the OS itself plays a part as well, but there wasn't any noticeable bump between MorphOS 2.6->2.7 when no new computer model was being introduced, despite MorphOS at version 2.7 is the most polished and best featured release ever.
3) The *tilt* of the curve (the growth speed) became *visibly steeper* after MorphOS 2.4 (Mac Mini/First Apple HW supported)Conclusion: Supporting a mainstream HW platform like the Apple Mac *was* a *good decision*, despite the Mac's already being a bit aging and only available as second hand. Price *does* matter (hear that A-EON?

), so does the acknowledged quality and low risk of well tried, mainstream stuff, and so does the fact that it's easy to obtain. Of course it doesn't hurt that (mostly, except some Power Mac's perhaps) is much more powerful than what was previously supported. Before the Mac support, the growth rate was still steadily increasing, but after the Mac support, the growth rate increased visibly. Something to keep in mind for the future (when a new Architecture is to be chosen, post-PPC). Maybe one could also weight in the characteristics, price, performance etc of the various models as well? I think many people has appreciated the Mac Mini's small size, its cheap shipping cost, its high performance compared to its price, the ease to get it up and running, etc.
It will be exciting to see if/how MorphOS 3.0 / PowerBook will affect the curve!
:-)
MorphOS is Amiga
done right!
MorphOS NG will be AROS
done right!