[openbeos] Re: The world as we know it
- From: "Nathan Whitehorn" <nathan.whitehorn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 11:54:05 EDT (-0400)
> > extend it without having source. Look at the MDR, for instance. We
> > had
> > no source to anything at all. Yet we managed to extend the system,
> > and
> > replace part of it with something that is (IMHO) much better. You
> > don't
>
> Hey, have you already forgotten that the source of BeMail has been
> released for us??
Heh. That's true enough. Although, I must say that we have replaced
nearly all of its non-UI code for message parsing and related things.
> > need to clone everything to make changes. That's the beauty of Be's
> > modular architecture.
>
> Come on, you can't just replace the kernel, you can't just replace
> the
> app_server. The kits aren't not that independent, and there is a lot
> of
> private communication going on.
That's true. But there are discrete blocks of kits. Libbe.so/app_server
/input_server are one block that, AFAIK, have no internal communication
with other kits. The media_server lives by itself. As does the
print_server. The private kernel traps aren't that numerous.
> And also, we're over that discussion. We're replacing R5, we're
> fixing
> any bugs we can, and that's exactly what we are doing, better get
> used
> to it.
The fact that we are doing it doesn't make it any less pointless. It's
like Bush wanting to invade Iraq. It's idiotic, dangerous, horribly
expensive, and unlikely to do any good. And yet, op-ed columnists the
US over (some of them members of the Bush administration) have been
seriously arguing that we should invade Iraq because, if we don't, the
Bush administration will suffer a loss of credibility. Here, we are
doing things simply because that is what we're doing. Look how much
time we've invested in this strategy. We can't back out now, can we?
> And who says we can't introduce a new API one week after R1 is out? :
> -
> ))
There are quite a few structural issues behind an API. The API doesn't,
for instance, support non-rectangular views because the app_server
doesn't. And the app_server doesn't partly because the API is based on
rectangles. The API isn't simply a wrapper for the internal operations
of the OS, it often *is* the internal operation of the OS. And, also,
the number of people here against any modifications, anywhere, at any
time to the API is really quite extraordinary.
-Nathan
--
Fortune Cookie Says:
Q: What's a light-year?
A: One-third less calories than a regular year.
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