Chris, Frank & Bob, Thanks for your understanding.
Let me explain my logic. I remember how eCos community was active 5-6 years ago. Now when my company decided to use some open-source software for development of CNC machine control (before we relied on commercial products only) I decided to re-visit eCos project web-pages after long absence. And what do people like me see here? 1) The latest release is nearly 5 years old. 2) The news on the page were updated 1.5 years ago. Moreover, in last 3 years they were updated only twice. 3) Then I checked the mailing list. I went to ecos-devel list because according to its title it had to demonstrate the real development progress. What did I see? In October there was only 1 post (another one was ad in German), in September 3 posts. Then would it be strange for any person to ask the following question: "Is the project dead?" And that was exactly what I asked the mailing list. Such questions are very important when you select the software for commercial products whose life span is normally ten-twenty years. I can ensure that I had no any intention to insult anyone from eCos community. I really appreciate guys who spend their spare time developing some amazing things available for everyone. But there should be no fanaticism because it can easily cause overreaction what Grant nicely demonstrates (with all respect to his contribution to the project). ...Well, there is one useful outcome of my posts: I see that the community is alive and active :) Of course, Grant will be my favorite :) Best regards, Alexander -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Frank Pagliughi Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 4:06 AM Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ECOS] Re: Is eCos project still alive? As a embedded-systems consultant, I've been using eCos for several years, and I love it. I've used it for my own development - test apps and demos - but I have never been able to sell a single customer on using the OS for a project. When a potential customer (usually a manager type) has a look, those things do stand out: it *looks* old and out of date, on first pass. Most don't seem to get past poking around the web page. For more technically sophisticated customers, when 2.0 first appeared, it literally took ten minutes to download the code, and get a sample app running on an old PC. Now when I tell a customer to take it for a test drive, the setup gets involved, with pieces from several places. I try to tell them to look closer, but by that time, they've already chosen something else. From my experience, the current state of the project doesn't seem to help sell it. Frank -- Before posting, please read the FAQ: http://ecos.sourceware.org/fom/ecos and search the list archive: http://ecos.sourceware.org/ml/ecos-discuss -- Before posting, please read the FAQ: http://ecos.sourceware.org/fom/ecos and search the list archive: http://ecos.sourceware.org/ml/ecos-discuss
