Hi Dave,

Enabling 'Wild speculation' mode..

Given that
- Efika took 1.5 years from announcement to initial release with all hardware documentation available (2 years until soundchip support);
- Mac support has been rolled out over >2 years; and
- Powerbook support has been around 2 years from Piru's 'teaser' video
I would estimate at least 2 years once porting work begins to an initial 32-bit/single-core/incomplete-drivers release, especially given that MorphOS team only release when there is a reasonably complete & stable support in place.
The memory controller/pci bridge is completely different chip to the G4 models, in addition to any on-board peripherals.

The development/release cycle (whilst fast for Amigaland) takes a while as evidenced by the current wait for 3.0. Since this was expected in December (as recently as October), and the delays seem to be down to a couple of key devs being out of commission, this highlights a vulnerability in MorphOS development: it's a spare-time development job for devs who are in demand in the salaried world.

It's all finger-in-the-air stuff, but I'd expect a two-or-three 3.x releases after 3.0 over the next 2 years adding further support for laptop peripherals/features. Following this, my crystal ball becomes less clear: G5 support? A shift in architecture (ARM please!)? Or a stalling of development/loss of inertia?
I suspect sales figures will have a large influence on this..
Currently MorphOS lacks any real strategy to attract new users. It's available for cheap hardware, but is it desirable for non-Amigans? How do people discover MorphOS? What features/software/advantage does MorphOS offer for 'ordinary users' who make up the bulk of any userbase?
These questions need addressing to inform any realistic development plan beyond appeasing the current userbase with faster hardware.

I'm with TMHG on this - why spend an additional 2 years supporting G5s, only to end up at the bleeding edge of a dead architecture (in terms of general purpose computers)? That time would imho be better spent porting MorphOS to a currently evolving architecture, ensuring a path for future development beyond 2016.

In summary, I wouldn't expect an initial G5 release for 4 years at least, if at all. But I'd love to be proved wrong...