Opera is the name of a new browser that has been released on the PC, claiming to be better than Internet Explorer and Netscape. To help the browser challenge these two main browsers, Opera software launched Project Magic, which was the porting of Opera to other operating systems.
They are asking users of other operating systems to tell them if they would like Opera ported to their OS. Initially, the list of operating systems they were considering was: MacOS, OS/2, BeOS and Linux (spot the one that's missing).
Thankfully, they were persuaded to include AmigaOS in the list, so now you can email them, and say you want a port of Opera to the Amiga. The Mac only had to receive 2000 votes for them to decide to do a Mac version, so assuming Amiga users can be bothered to vote, we will get a decent browser at last!
How is the voting going? Just before the Amiga was added to the list, MacOS was 1st on 2000 votes, OS/2 was 2nd, Linux was 3rd, and BeOS was 4th at around 500. Within three days of being added to the list, the Amiga had overtaken BeOS.
Currently, the Amiga is now 3rd, just behind OS/2, quite impressive when you consider the Amiga voting has been going on for a month (at the time of writing), where as the other platforms started a few months earlier.
In a way, voting for the Amiga isn't just about getting a decent browser, it's about showing that the Amiga is still alive, and that there are still Amiga users out there. It's just so typically anti-Amiga the way Opera wanted to consider alternative systems - and then go on to consider every system except the Amiga. Okay, they didn't have RiscOS (the Archimedes one), but Linux? Where as Linux is a popular OS, most people will be running it along with another OS, and I doubt there are many people running just Linux. And a port to the Amiga will have the advantage that it will be better than the competition, as opposed to the Mac, which already has IE and Netscape.
By the way, when I talk of a 'decent' browser, I'm not wishing to put the existing Amiga browsers down. They do a good job, and are certainly better than nothing - it's just that it would be nice if we had a browser that supported things like Javascript and Java, and also supported new tags, etc, as soon as they are announced.
So will we see a port? Well sadly, nothing is certain. One interesting thing is that the author says that there are probably a lot of people voting for the Amiga just for the sake of it, rather than actually having intentions to buy it. Well, this is true of course, but surely this applies to the other platforms as well as the Amiga? Why single the Amiga out?
On a more reasonable note, he said he simply hasn't got the resources to port to every single OS out there, as much as he would like to. But you can't help feeling it's a bit off if he extends the voting to the Amiga, but then ignores the fact it gets to second place, and does a port to OS/2 and not the Amiga!
He said one possibility would be to get someone else to do the Amiga port - they would only receive royalty payments, and not any upfront costs. This seems more hopeful - this is the Amiga we're talking about here; I'm sure there are die hard coders out their that would do the port for free!
Seriously though, I don't think finding an Amiga development team would be a great problem, it's just a matter of letting someone have the source code and get on with it (Indeed, when the Netscape source code gets released, there will undoubtably be plenty of Amiga coders doing ports, not making any money from it).
Mark