[openbeos] Re: BePDF is working in Haiku!
- From: "Zenja Solaja" <solaja@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 01:33:00 +0000
I'm pretty sure that as computer enthusiasts, we've all installed quite a
number of OS's and their relative versions and families. Some distributions
were quite excessive (virtually any Linux distribution, with 3 choices of
every possible app), some were too minimal (early Amiga and early Windows,
which required downloads to do basic tasks), while others were very close to
just right (BeOS, MacOS, with the right balance of usability out of box vs
excessive).
Haiku will eventually release what will be known as "The basic
distribution", which will be free and open source. It's up to 3rd party
distributors to enhance the "basic" distribution with additional content
(both commercial and free). The question we've all been debating is what
constitutes basic and what is a 3rd party opportunity.
There is another solution which can satisfy both schools of thought. Haiku
(non-profit organisation) can release a "basic" and "essential"
distributions.
The "basic" distribution contains the minimum components which 3rd party
developers can assume will always be present on a users PC. This guarantees
a minimum set of known shared libraries, with known API version. This set
has a known file structure, known installed translators and add-ons, and
known utilities (GUI and command line). This is the "minimum most common
denominator" Haiku-OS present on every users PC.
The "essential" distribution has additional components which will make the
OS experience more enjoyable out of the box, without hunting for additional
applications / libraries. etc. IANAL, but I think only legally
distributable applications can be included here. This set should only
contain applications which probably all 3rd distributors will also contain.
Essential applications (from Bebits) could be BePDF, Firefox, VideoLan,
Beezer, etc.
BeInc when releasing R4.x/R5 also had a 3rd party installation option, with
demos of Gobe Productive, MoHo, ePicture etc. Haiku can avoid this, and at
most provide webspace for sponsored 3rd party links. At the end of the day,
this is the market for 3rd party distributors, and Haiku (non profit
organisation) should not interfere with their earnings opportunities.
Always keep in mind that Haiku (the non profit organistion) must support
whatever it decides to distribute. This means that the "basic" installation
must be fully supported, with a patch plan management. The more
applications Haiku "basic" supports, the more patches Haiku (organisation)
needs to release.
Anyway, my 2 bits worth.
Other related posts:
