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[alliance] [Fwd: [freedows-chat] Re: <important info> The Project, SourceForge, The Future]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [freedows-chat] Re: <important info> The Project,
SourceForge, The Future
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 22:06:35 -0800
From: "Reece Karl Sellin" <reece@mail.ocis.net>
Reply-To: freedows-chat@egroups.com
To: <freedows-chat@egroups.com>
CC: <brian@geeknik.net>
Hello All!
It has no doubt been quite some time since any of you have heard
about
what's happening with Freedows, etc. This is intended to be a
fairly large
update, and will hopefully explain to why there hasn't been a lot
of
progress as of late, and what we intend to do to further develop
the
project.
A lot of people have asked what the overall goal of Freedows is.
I think
over the last year and a half it has become somewhat more
specific. As it
stands, the goal of Freedows is to develop a core Kernel system,
based off
of Stanford's Cache Kernel, with the goal of providing a solid
platform for
emulation (of other operating systems and perhaps even other
hardware/OS
combinations). Our target platform is still the x86, however I
feel that
the majority of our work will probably bridge relatively easily
into
whatever significant (if any) new platforms pop up while we're
developing
the kernel.
It is important to note that there is still interest in
developing
Windows/Linux and other "Emulation Kernels," however this should
not be our
primary goal -- we need to develop a core operating system first.
Once we
have that available, we can work on emulation to grow the
application base.
Third parties will likely become more interested once the Kernel
is better
refined, and it may turn out that work on Emulation Kernels is a
separate I
think most would agree this is probably a lot more reasonable than
the past
goals, and is probably something that we can achieve within a
reasonable
time frame.
The other big question is if we are or are not an open source
project. I
cannot completely answer this question, other than saying that I
think we're
a unique type of open source project. I say unique, because I
think the
focus of our project has always been somewhat more
"commercialized" than a
lot of other open source projects. The project is still being
conducted
under the GPL.
In an effort to open up the development process even more, I have
placed
the project on sourceforge (www.sourceforge.net). This allows us
to have
CVS, a shell account, anonymous FTP, a place to host releases of
software,
etc. I feel that it is very beneficial for us to make use of this
resource.
In order to better manage things, the following is going to be
required of
those that intend to be "project members." You will be required
to create a
personal account on www.sourceforge.net (if you do not already
have one).
Contacting me, Christian Hammond or Fabian Arce Jofre (and giving
us your
username) will allow us to officially add you to the project on
SourceForge.
The advantage you will get from doing such is that you will be
kept much
more up-to-date on the project, will be able to access current
source code
and builds through CVS, be able to track bugs, read documentation,
and
assist in any way that you can in the development process.
I will likely keep this listserver active for the next while -- I
will be
establishing a new listserver for general project discussion on
sourceforge,
in addition to a listserver for kernel discussion. We can move to
there if
required. The main website of the project will remain the same --
www.freedows.net.
Another question that has been raised lately regards corporate
involvement
with Freedows. AFAIK, there is not currently any corporate
involvement with
Freedows. I am not anti-commercial-involvement -- I feel it could
be a
positive thing for the project. From my viewpoint, any future
corporate
involvement will have to be such that the project remains GPL.
This is
something that we can decide together, if the need arises.
Regarding the current status of development -- there really isn't
any
on-going. Over the past several months, most of the project's
main members
(me, Christian Hammond, Jason Lind, Fabian Arce Jofre, etc.) have
been
bogged down with work outside of Freedows. I can see the
situation
improving somewhat for me come May -- this is my final term at
University.
At the end of April I will have fulfilled all of my requirements
for my
B.Sc. (CS Major). I am not planning on going to graduate school
this year,
and will be working further with my company
(www.tech2k.net/www.virtualtimes.net) for at least the next year.
This
should free up at least enough time for me to help out with
Freedows more
than I have in the past year and a half.
All in all, my point here is that I still believe in the concepts
behind
the project. Freedows has always been a dream of mine to
accomplish, and I
think this is a shared dream with many other people around the
world. Even
though we have had a lot of issues surrounding the project, a lot
of delays,
and have seen quite a few mistakes (including some of my own), I
think it is
time to move on, continue developing the project, and to work
towards
turning our dreams of Freedows into a reality. I have always
believed, and
continue to believe that Freedows OS can be helpful to many
computer users.
I think there is still a need Freedows, and that we are capable of
filling
this need. Based on this, I propose that we re-start the
development
efforts of Freedows OS, and see where it all leads.
The short-term plan is to start work on the documentation again.
I would
like to first of all put together a team of people interested in
annotating
and re-defining (in a lot simpler terms) the Cache Kernel Spec
from
Stanford. From there, we can discuss what to do with the pre-July
1998
Kernel Specs (and if we can retrofit them into our new
specification
progress), and exactly how we want to tackle finalizing the rest
of the
kernel design. I think we need more communication... We have to
start
asking questions and discussing solutions regarding the kernel,
the OS as a
whole, and even the entire development process.
I would sincerely appreciate feedback regarding the contents of
this
e-mail, both publicly on this listserver, and if you wish,
privately to me.
Sincerely,
Reece Sellin
Project Lead
Freedows OS
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