[openbeos] Milestone Prize

In a nutshell, I'm offering a cash prize for the completion of an 
important OBOS milestone.  Read on for further details.

As develepors, I'm sure that we're all aware of the importance of 
project milestones.  One of the next upcoming milestones will probably 
be the ability of the OBOS kernel to use the open file system.  This 
milestone will be virtually unknown outside of the OBOS world, with 
probably a passing mention on OSNews.  The next major milestone will 
probably be a basic version of the App_Server working with the new 
kernel.  For the first time, people will be able to see a shell 
displayed in an OBOS window (vs current text mode screen), probably 
with the ability to launch new shells or hello-world type apps.  Old 
BeOS users as well as OS enthuisiasts will probably hear about this 
milestone.

Once this milestone is reached, I can envisage major, if not frantic 
development taking place.  OBOS developers will be competing with each 
other to add funtionality virtually every hour.   Someone will get a 
bash shell working, someone will get most of the command line apps 
working, someone will get networking thrown in, someone will add a 
functioning libbe.so and libroot.so to this system.  Within weeks, 
someone somewhere (study, basement, bedroom, university), will try to 
compile a heavily hacked version of OpenTracker, and succeed.  

Picture this - In a darkened room on a development PC, someone will 
reboot their PC after compiling their work, and have the pleasure of 
being the first person on the planet to witness the running of a hacked 
OpenTracker and OBOS.  Can you imagine the euphoria this person will 
experience when they first try to navigate the File System, and 
succeed.  That developer will be the first OBOS user to use a mouse to 
navigate the file system instead of using the CLI shell.

This milestone will have a rippling effect in the online computer 
world.  Major IT websites will report the milestone: Slashdot, Salon, 
ZDNet, ArsTechnica, TechReport, and so on.  That is the definative 
moment when everyone realises that OBOS is for real.  Okay, 'rippling' 
may be a bit exaggerated, but there is hardly an OS enthuisiast who 
will be unphased by this news.   OBOS will transition from a 'hobby' 
project to a 'real' project.  Yes, I know that its real for everyone on 
this list, but it will become real for the IT world.  And this is 
before we even get to binary compatibility, a media server, feature 
completeness and so on.  This is THE milestone, when we become a signal 
on everyones radar, a blimp which is hear to stay!!!

To celebrate that moment (and to offer an incentive for it to arrive 
sooner), I, Zenja Solaja from Melbourne, Australia, am offering a prize 
(or bounty) of $1000 Australian (aroud 600 Euros, 650 US dollars) to 
the individual (or team) which complete this milestone.  Terms will be 
outlined at the bottom of this email.  Yes, I know that it's not much, 
but hey, it just might help spur further bounties by others for similar 
milestones.  And yes, I know that it will encourage sloppy programming 
near the milestone date (due to hacks) , but what the hell - we need 
that milestone.  

I encourage others who are not actively participating in OBOS 
development to also come up with incentives to spur the development of 
our favourite OS.



Terms and conditions:
1. These are the terms and conditions of the OBOS OpenTracker 
competition:  A cash prize will be awarded to the individual (or team)  
who first succeed to show / demonstrate OBOS running a version of 
OpenTracker.  The terms are non-negotiable.
2. All source code must be available (open) under the OBOS licencing 
terms.  At least 90% of the kernel code, app_server code and file 
system code (respectively) must be available in sourceforge's OBOS code 
repository.  That is,  the winning entry may not have more than 10% 
hacked code specifically made for this contest.  OpenTracker is exempt 
from this clause - you may hack opentracker as you please, without 
needing to resubmit your changes to OpenTracker repository.
3. The code must compile under BeOS R5.03.
4. The OT software must run under the new OBOS kernel and app_server.
5.  The following operations must be supported by the modified OT 
software:
        a) I must be able to mount a BeFile System.
        b) I must be able to navigate the BeFileSystem using a mouse in at 
least 2 independant windows.
        c) I must be able to rename a file using the OT software.
        d) I must be able to delete a file using the OT software.
        e) I must be able to drag an icon representing a folder from one 
window to another.  The corresponding copy/move must occur.
        f) I must be able to invoke at least 2 apps - a shell app, and any 
other custom app, even if its a hello-world app.
6. OT doesn't have to be 100% feature complete.
7. Binary compatibility is not necessary for this prize.
8. I must be able to verify all of the above conditions on my personal 
computer (which is BeOS compliant).  Alternatively, I must be able to 
verify the functionality on at least one PC I have access to (ie. PC at 
work).      
9. I (Zenja Solaja, from Melbourne, Australia) will make a bank check 
of $1000 Australian (or equivalent in any other currency depending on 
exchange rate on that day) addressable to the winner of the contest.  
The check will be sent via registered mail.  If a team claims the 
prize, the prize will be divided amongst the team.
10. Competition closes on April 12th, 2004.


Good luck.

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