Building something as complicated as an operating system is hard work.
Experience has shown that more work gets done when there is something to
run. I enjoy the JOS binary distribution created by Corrado Santoro
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> because there is something I can run.
Who knew exactly how complicated it would be?
Some people are convinced that the JOS Project is the first example of a
next generation of operating system. This kind of operating system is
scalable on a spectrum the software industry has never seen before. JOS is
capable of providing a operating system for sub-minature consumer devices,
a personal workstation and a server farm. Linux and Windows are not capable
of scaling to this extreme. It scales better than Java.
This project has had more than its fair share of setbacks. We moved our
mailing lists. We have lost source code. We have lost enthusiatic but
impatient members. We temporarily lost our Wiki service. We had
intermittent shutdown of our CVS service. Each setback tends to discourage
members from working hard.
There are many reasons to be encouraged. JOS Binary Distribution is ready.
CVS is up. (A recent snapshot is available if it ever goes down.) We have
JOS Wiki again, thanks to www.metamech.com. Source Server should be
replaced by static WebSource pages. We are systematically working through
each technical problem. In spite of any critics, the project is making
progress.
As an open-source project, it is hard work by a lot of people. What is our
next step? Where are we going? What do we need to concentrate and focus on?
My gift is wasted if you can't open it. If you can't run what I wrote, it
is of no benefit to you. Our first priority is always running what we have.
There are two parts to running what we have: distribution and installation.
We must pave the road from the desk of a developer to the desk of the user.
It must be easy for the developer to publish a product. It must be easy for
a user to download it. Distribution is hard work. But without distribution,
nobody knows what you're working on because they can't run it.
Once a product has been distributed, it is necessary for a user to install
it. The worst case scenario is when a user thinks your product is horrible
because they couldn't configure it to run on their equipment. All the work
in programming, distribution and installation is wasted if a user can't use
it.
Our most important users right now are members of the JOS Project. Members
have been reach out to other members. Many have helped to get JOS up and
running on other member's equipment. I thank you.
We can look forward to more members. We can look forward to others
contributing appropriate source code and documentation to the JOS project.
More members are going to make meaningful contributions to this project. We
should approach this systematically.
What have you accomplished? Where have you succeeded? Encourage other
members by looking backward a little to see how far you've come. Others
will follow.
_______________________________________________
Kernel maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://jos.org/mailman/listinfo/kernel
