[alliance] Fw: Freedows/Alliance Split: One Year Later

["Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr" <midryder@intcon.net>]

Well, I tried to send this to the list last night, but something went wrong
with DUCE.net's email again... *SIGH*  Oh well, let's try again...

-------------------

> > 'Ello all - I'm going to do this a little odd.  See, Spence is writing
> an
> > article on the Alliance and Freedows split - a rather nice idea, I
> think.
> > Spence is handling this in a good way - he's emailing both groups, and
> > getting information directly from the PR guys.  Ya'll know my opinion -
> > I'm just a stuffed shirt for this project.  So, I'm going to answer all
> of
> > the question, then all of you take a look, and see if your opinions
vary
> > from mine on where we are at, etc.  I'd rather he get good solid
> > information from the developers instead o' the project spin doctor
> <GRIN>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Spence Nichol <disc_druid@yahoo.com>
> > To: <midryder@intcon.net>
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 7:57 PM
> > Subject: Freedows/Alliance Split: One Year Later
> >
> >
> > > Hi...
> > >
> > > Since we've already talked about the Freedows/Alliance one year later
> > > thingy on Icq, I won't bother with all the preliminaries I did with
> > > Freedows.
> > >
> > > I would appreciate you taking your time to answer the following
> > > questions in as much detail as you would like. Some of these
questions
> > > are certainly answered on project web sites, however I prefer going
> > > straight to the horses mouth. I will pull "sound bites" and quotes
out
> > > of your answers as I feel necessary.
> >
> > That's great.  I don't know about Freedows, but, with Alliance the web
> > page is always slightly behind the times - information takes time to
> > trickle into it, as the developers have to take time out to tell us all
> > thier status.
> >
> > > *What progress has Alliance made in the past year?
> >
> > Yeeks.  Where to start?!  Tell ya what - I'm going to leave this one to
> > the developers to answer!!!
> >
> > > *Is Alliance still at the specification stage or is there actually
> > > code?
> >
> > Both.  Since the project spans more than one area (CK, SK's, GUI, etc.)
> > each area is in different shape.
> >
> > CK:  The specs are horribly outdated the last time I checked.  There's
a
> > good amount of code here, some demo tasks, etc.  But, for the most
part,
> > the specs are written after the code.
> >
> > > Where can the specifications and code be found?
> >
> > On CSV.  Where?  Ummm.... I don't have the addy for the CSV off hand
> right
> > now.  However, it's uploaded daily to FTP:
> > ftp://ftp.allos.org/pub/allos/trees/daily/
> >
> > > *What development model is Alliance currently using?
> >
> > You know, I'm not sure how it's classified at the moment <GRIN>
> >
> > > *When do you expect a final release?
> >
> > Final release?  Is there such a thing?  There will always be a million
> and
> > one various things that will be added, etc., just like Linux.  It's
> never
> > quite done.
> >
> > > *What features does Alliance currently plan to include in the first
> > > release?
> >
> > A complete list?  And how detailed?  I'll leave THIS up to the
> developers
> > to answer - they know better than me what's going to constitute a
'first
> > release' version of Alliance.
> >
> > > *How many people are currently working on the project?
> >
> > Right now, there are 25 people in the Alliance directory - I THINK
> that's
> > everyone.1
> >
> > >In what capacities?
> >
> > We have very few 'support' personell in Alliance.  One person maintains
> > the FAQ and a few other things.  There's myself, the PR guy.  Daryl
> Borth
> > heads up the web site.  There's annother person who works with Daryl.
J
> > Wynia is User Ed.  Lloyd Duhon is the project lead.  As for everyone
> > else - well, most of them have 'teams' they list them selves as being
> on,
> > like "Network SK" or "Cache Kernel'  However, it really doesn't work
> that
> > way - pretty much everyone put thier noses in everyone's part of the
> > project, pitches in ideas, code, whatever is needed.  There's also one
> or
> > two people who are on vacation at the moment.
> >
> > > *Do you think creating an emulation of Windows by the project or some
> > > outside party for the Alliance CK is really likely considering the
> > > difficulties WINE is having?
> >
> > I think it's possible.  Will is happen?  Unknown.  If it does, it won't
> be
> > a core part of the Alliance OS distributions.
> >
> > There's alot to be learned from WINE - both positive and negative.
WINE
> > is getting more and more robust as time moves along.  I'm sure the
> > original people who came up with the idea and said 'lets do it' already
> > see tons of areas that they could have saved a lot of time by doing
> this,
> > or things would have been easier this way, etc.  So, if someone were to
> > start Windows on Alliance, then they have a damned good reference for
> the
> > API's,. and also a good idea how to do it just a little nicer from the
> > begining.  Don't take that as a slam against - WINE.  It isn't.
> >
> > > *What is the current view of the project towards the other?
> >
> > Apathy?  Everyone wished them the best of luck a year ago, and the
offer
> > was there to cooperate, but, that never panned out.
> >
> > > *When Alliance split with Freedows, how many people actually left and
> > > how many actually stayed, not counting those who had signed up for
the
> > > project but had not received a position?
> >
> > Only a handful of people left Freedows - all but two of those were
> > developers.  Grand total, probably 20 people.
> >
> > > *How did the events that lead up to the Freedows/Alliance split
affect
> > > the organization of Alliance?
> >
> > Alliance is a VERY loose, self managing group.  Completely different
> from
> > when the developers were with Freedows, which was a rather structured
> > group.  It's rare to see Lloyd say much on the lists in the capacity of
> > the group leader - it's just unnessisary.
> >
> > > *Has the last year been a smooth one for Alliance, all things
> > > considered?
> >
> > All things considered?  VERY smooth, with the exception of the usual
> > little bumps that happens during development like this - people taking
> > vacation from time to time, etc.
> >
> > > Anything else you want to add? Feel free.
> > > Thanks for your time.
> >
> > Thanks for the opportunity to say our piece about it, Spence!  It's
very
> > much appreciated.  Now, I really have to cut this short - I will most
> > certainly have a couple things I'd like to add later, but, I've got
this
> > red head girl friend who's doing everything in her power to make sure I
> > get off the computer as soon as possible! <GRIN>
> >
> > > Disc Druid
> > > disc_druid@yahoo.com
> >
> > Midnight Ryder
> > Aka Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
> > Ambassador for Alliance
> > ....Did I mention I love red heads?
> >
> >

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Alliance:	http://www.allos.org/
Archive:	http://humbolt.nl.linux.org/lists/