[openbeos] Re: Updating OSes bit by bit

On 2004-05-24 at 16:37:04 [-0400], Simon Taylor wrote:
> I don't really want to continue the off-topicness, but this has me a bit 
> worried. Surely there will be an official R1 release of OBOS, freely 
> available from the OBOS website?

This isn't really off topic. What we plan is basically this - that there will 
be what I call a "mini-distro" prepared and freely available. This will contain 
what is in our CVS and only that. No browser, for example. No IRC client. Etc. 
What I think of as a "distro-maker's distro". In order to call yourself a 
$newName distro, you will have to include everything that is in the mini-distro 
as is (or changed within some limits). That is the protection that you will 
have that anything that calls itself $newName won't be incompatible. Everyone 
will have the same media kit, etc, or will have cleared it with us or won't be 
able to call it $newName. There won't be .so/DLL pain like on other OSs. If you 
want to make something with all of the API changed into Elbonian, you can do 
that, but you can't call it $newName. :-)

If you want to download this mini-distro and add your own apps, etc, you 
certainly can. If you want to get a distro from someone else, you certainly can.
 
> One of the reasons I am so interested in the OBOS project is because the 
> entire OS is being developed by one team, with the same goals in mind, same 
> release schedules etc. It's certainly a major step up from the linux world 
> where every little part of the OS is developed by different groups with 
> different aims and everything.

100% agreed.
 
> The next step is to distribute and release it yourselves too, all from the 
> same central OBOS website. A single "official" distribution which the huge 
> majority of users will be on would be great for developers and people (none 
> of these strange linux dependency issues - "will work with OBOS R1" is much 
> simpler for users to understand). Obviously the license means there will be 
> smaller distros of source or whatever, but I really think the main distro 
> should be an "official" release by the project.

I think that we are on the same page here.
 
> The step after that is to sell it commercially, and reinvest the funds 
> created from that straight back into development.

That is possible, but I won't commit to it.
 
> There is such an opportunity here to show that an open source OS can be fast, 
> stable, user friendly, consistent, well led with a known direction for the 
> whole OS and a small team overseeing the whole thing, and commercially viable 
> too. Please don't waste it!

You should know me better than that. :-)
 
> I hope I can be around for some live IRC chats with the people at WalterCon.

Me too!

Michael

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