#Screen swapping
Bob,
At DevCon, the stated "order of the day" is compatability! CBM claims that
they wish the majority of existing software to operate correctly on the new
version of the OS. If you can, I'd see about having anything that you wrote, be
check out by someone who has a full 1.4 ECS machine. If any problems are found,
then contact CBM with a bug report. They claim to be willing to work with
anyone inorder to make existing SW work.
Now, if all the rules were followed, (some of which were not too clearly
stated), things will be much easier on all concerned.
Another thing that I noticed is that SW written to use many (not all!) of
1.4 features, will work correctly on 1.3 with the advanced features just not
being there. There are a few areas that may need to be changed depending upon
the OS version, but Intuition in particular seems rather benign to 1.3-1.4
differences.
All in all, I'm quite impressed with the overall direction that CBM is
taking the OS. There are some major changes that will change the overall look
of the Amiga, but with few major incompatibilities. The new OS gives
programmers MUCH more control over the system than they now have, and also a
much more consistant view of the hardware upon which the application is being
run. Going with this is a higher level of responsibility to ensure that the
application can run seamlessly on all configurations.
-Dean