[haiku-3rdparty-dev] Re: Just a few questions

  • From: "Apollo D. Sharpe, Sr." <adsharpesr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Alexander von Gluck IV <kallisti5@xxxxxxxxxxx>, contact@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:16:19 -0600

On 2/11/19 12:33 PM, Alexander von Gluck IV wrote:

We're currently still feeling this out. Personally, I see us
wanting to sit somewhere between Linux and Mac OS.
(Targeting somewhat technical users (like Linux), but offering a cohesive 
ecosystem (like OS X))

Could you see your project sitting closer to Mac OS, as far as positioning, than Linux?


We already have a few surprising commercial usages.  I know our driver code has 
been
used by third-party commercial companies (due to its MIT license), we also have 
a commercial
user of our full operating system (Tune Tracker Systems in their radio 
automation suite)

Ok, but you already know about those usages, so those aren't really surprising to you. What would surprise you?


We planned ahead somewhat for this.  Haiku is a trademark, so the core 
operating system
is the "main distribution".  Others are free to create their own forks or 
distributions
without the knowledge or approval of Haiku, Inc. , but the Haiku logo's and 
names have to
be removed.  (There is a build option for this to some degree, but the 3rd 
party is
responsible for ensure all Trademarks have been removed).  As a side note, this 
isn't saying
Haiku, Inc. wouldn't approve a trademark usage outside of our core 
distribution... just that
using said trademarks would require the approval of Haiku, Inc.

Ok, but which usage case would the project like to see utilized?


It's still a thing, but there really isn't something followed anymore :-)

Does that mean that it's considered completely irrelevant?


Yes. After R1, the 32-bit x86_gcc2h release should "go away" (with minor 
updates for a bit)
The usefulness of BeOS ABI compatibility is getting pretty limited.

I figured as much.


Driver support keeping up with modern hardware. Things a getting a bit better 
because
people like waddlesplash are beginning to leverage freebsd's drivers with a 
compatibility
layer.

We need graphics acceleration, which will likely follow the FreeBSD model of 
compatibility
layers, but we're woefully behind here.

Improvements to WebPositive.  it is getting pretty first-class... but we need a 
lot
of bug squashing in its complex codebase.

More developers helping out.

Indeed.


Haiku runs on pretty much any x86 hardware, I see the long-term *architecture* 
priorities as:

   * x86_64  (common)
   * arm     (low cost, low power, common.  We need aarch64 though)
   * riscv64 (new, exciting.  Hardware too expensive)
   * m68k, ppc, etc are *really* awesome, but won't be a high priority.

Sounds about right.


Nope! We still don't have a deadline for R1.  I'm working to encourage people
to do a R1 beta every year in Oct until R1 is "done" though.

Hmmm...that's disappointing. However, given the nature of open source, it's completely understandable.


Technically Haiku (the project)'s resources are run and managed by Haiku, Inc. 
(http://haiku-inc.org)
However, such a thing would need sign-off within the community. Haiku, Inc. 
doesn't dictate the
future direction of the project.

I'm making some big-picture assumptions here, but my guess of some of the 
community's requirements
would likely be:

   * Maintain the MIT license
   * Keep development in the light of day
   * Have a clear back out/escape plan in case the commercial venture failed
Keep in mind a lot of Haiku users are here because they were burned by Be, Inc.'s eventual
demise and selling off the source code / tech to Palm (which was their right).
I have a feeling there would be a strong push to ensure that doesn't happen 
again.

I recall PC-BSD. It was eventually acquired by iXSystems, which effectively killed it (IMHO) by renaming it and changing some of the features that I most liked about it. While I'm not against Haiku being acquired & being worked on full-time by a development team, I'm concerned about the prospect of it being changed into something else completely -with the original project effectively being killed off.


--
Regards,

Apollo D. Sharpe, Sr.
Iron Rook Computing, LLC
Member/Owner

http://www.IronRookComputing.com


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