mmmh yah, i know ... the usual completely wrong stuff. well at least complete.
> We know exactly how the majority of users see MAME: as a way to play free games and > nothing more. But even if all these users disappeared tomorrow, it would make no > difference to the future of MAME. That's because the vast majority of users don't > contribute to MAME in the slightest.
Dont be silly. First, lets hope that it will never happen. Second, are you a prophet? how do you know, what would happen? Should i start with some scenarios here, that are silly like yours? Ok, lets assume, your "vision" would happen. Now lets assume, that there are indeed some MAME derivates and to make you a little angry (like you do with your states) , Retroarch had become very popular and has a huge fanbase. Would you still think that the majority of the developers would still stay at official MAME?
> But for whatever reason, no matter how many times people have proclaimed that MAMEdev > has killed MAME in the last two decades, people don't stop using it, and MAME has a > habit of out-living other emulators that put more focus on the things the vast > majority of users seem to see as more important. And that demonstrates that MAMEdev > can't be completely wrong.
Complete nonsense. MAME is not the one and only dominating emulator on this planet (even if you wish that). One of the reasons why MAME has a habit of out-living other emulators, is that you have a huge developerbase and can easily replace someone who is leaving MAME. Also there are many other emulators that are still alive, even if they listen to their users community-base, like Vice or WinUAE for example and i dont think they will suddenly disappear in the near future.