[openbeos] Re: some points

> > The "development" section is actually independent from the general status. 
> > "alpha" generally means something like "somewhat working", "beta" usually 
> > stands for "functionally complete". So 90%-100% developed would generally 
> > mean anything between beta and mature. Beta could start earlier, the effort 
> > for alpha status is different from team to team. The development bar tries 
> > to reflect how much work has been done already to achieve maturity of the 
> > component; when it's 100% complete and the status is "mature" (note, also 
> > missing tests can keep a component in beta status), you can say it reached 
> > R1 stage - ready for release.
> 
> Well, gee wiz. That is even more confusing.

Yes.
 
> So the midi kit is almost done with development but hasn't reached a point 
> yet where they can can claim it's alpha? Is that because it really can't be 
> tested or used until it's just about code complete? Or is it just that the 
> team lead hasn't updated status? From the MIDI status page, it looks like the 
> former.

There are no real standards for alpha or beta, except that beta is generally 
better than alpha. 

Let's talk in a couple of extremes:
1) For Kit Foo, Team Leader Bar likes the "release often" mindset. He releases 
a new alpha once a week. Maybe there is little functionality, but he releases 
anyway.

2) For Kit Bar, Team Leader Omega hates bug reports. So he waits until his 
stuff is completely code complete, all tests pass, and the OpenBSD team has 
expressed amazement at how secure the code is. Then he makes an alpha.

Reality, for Haiku, falls somewhere inbetween. 
There are frequent builds of the kernel kit. It is not code complete, by any 
means. On the other hand, there have never been any alpha of the interface kit, 
and it is at least as far along as the kernel kit, I would say. 
 
> If it is, it really seems like alpha/beta/mature section deperately needs to 
> be in a different table.

There needs to be some space between them, I will agree. 
 
> Of course, maybe I'm just still lost about the whole thing and shouldn't 
> really be worrying about it at this point.

Eh. In a lot of ways, you can ignore the alpha and beta columns. If you "just" 
look at status, when they are all correct, you will get a good idea of where 
the kit really is.

Michael

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