Proposal: OAA & OAD (Apps and Demos databases)

Hi everyone,

Actually I'm using FS-UAE with my Amiga games, applications and demos.

Is incredible connect to OAGD.net and have all information and pictures about my games.

But now it is not possible with Applications and Demos.

I proposed yesterday my idea to FrodeSolheim and he is open to collaborate, but he needs to know if the people is interested on this.

And who will participate on those databases.

In my opinion, the best solution is this:

FrodeSolheim can create 2 webpages like OAAD.net and OADD.net. (Copy&Paste from OAGD.net)

He will give power to add information to all loged users and review to some administrators.

This information will be public when the administrators accept it.

This is very easy to do with WordPress and is the actual platform of OAGD.net.

On this way, it doesn't take a lot of time to FrodeSolheim and we will have a better FS-UAE.

Now, is your turn. Are you interested on this?

[Vaude]

The more comprehensive Amiga database is, the better. From this point of view, I see no reason why database shouldn't also have support for applications and demos. However, I don't have any statistics about it, but I'm guessing that big majority of FS-UAE users have little to no use for Amiga demos and applications. I think it's great that emulators run them, but having a database for it seems overkill. I know there are hardcore Amiga enthusiasts who still watch demos and use applications, but generally speaking, how much sensible use those things have today? There are countless demos made for Amiga, and adding them to a database is a huge undertaking with little practical use. If most users aren't interested in applications and demos, it's also likely that those entries won't be added and updated to the database as it would require. Sure, dedicated individuals can achieve a lot, but like I said, is it really worth the trouble? I think that Amiga applications and demos have mostly historical value today. It's good that you can run them if you want for whatever reason, but having them on a database is mostly useful if there's enough demand to use them on a regular basis. Back in the day, some demos were astonishing displays of technical wizardry that stood as proof how their creators could milk incredible things out of Amiga's (now limited) capabilities. But all that stuff can't be understood by average people (which was true in those times as well), and the wow factor and entertainment value of demos is now limited - giving little reason to watch them. Applications have even little use. If you're running Amiga stuff in emulator, you already have a computer that can use modern software to achieve things better than those old Amiga applications. Granted, someone might want to create a new Amiga game today, and then he probably could use those old applications. If that game would turn out to be good, I for one could be interested in playing it. But does that require own database? No. I know that what I just said might upset some readers, but in that case please realize that I'm not against you, I'm just saying it like it is, nor am I criticizing nostalgics. After all, I still play Amiga games occasionally.

But if someone really wants to make that database happen for applications and demos, then why not?

[jbl007]

I really like the idea of demos in the database. I rather watch demos than play games. At least floppy-based demos or (older) single file demos, which can be used as df0:, can work without many changes to the launcher and the db. But for demos in .lha/.lzx you need a custom startup-sequence and sometimes additional Amiga files...
The best thing about demos is, they could all be downloaded automatically, and the user can launch with just a single click and doesn't have to care about the configuration. I think, this is cool.

Regarding an app db, I really doubt the use of it, because most of them require a fully set up workbench environment and need to be installed first. I doesn't make sense to launch
Deluxe Paint from floppy, paint some stuff and do not know where to save the picture. Applications should be used from workbench only, here they can interact with each other. I don't see the point to launch them individually....

Maybe the oagd.net can be extended with some popular demos that made the Amiga so famous, maybe with a new platform entry (e.g. AmigaDemo), which can be sorted out by the launcher and the web-ui.
Cloning oagd to oadd might be a little overkill, like Vaude said...

Just my 0.02€