[XPS-devel] XPS and XSI Update

[Reid S. <re...@x1...>]

Dear XPS/XSI Mailing List Subscribers,

As you haven't heard much from me in the last few months, I thought I
should provide a little update about what's going on with the eXtensible
Programming System and eXtensible Systems, Inc.  

Since incorporating XSI last February, much of my time and effort has
been devoted to working on the business side of the project rather than
the technical side. Now you know why there's been zero code commits in
the last few months!  My theory was that working on the business side
could provide additional resources to help move the project along
faster. However, I've found that:

      * Now is not a very good time to talk to people about parting with
        their money (spending, donating or investing). 
      * Significant amounts of time and effort are needed to chase
        money.
      * Money will flow to the project with significantly less effort
        once it has reached "critical mass".
      * Critical mass won't happen until several  technically qualified 
        colleagues completely "grok" what I'm doing, find that it makes
        sense, and join the project to see it to completion.
      * Those "technically qualified colleagues" won't be convinced
        until I can provide a working prototype and sufficient technical
        documentation.
      * The project isn't ready to scale to multiple people yet because
        many fundamental technical decisions need to be made before
        anyone will be able to comprehend what it is that I'm trying to
        accomplish.

So, as a result of the foregoing, I've decided to make a change in
strategy, for now.  I'm going to focus purely on the technical side of
the project for the foreseeable future. I've recently taken an
interesting position with Mercury Interactive Corp. that will allow me
to continue to be exposed to all sorts of computing environments and
interesting software problems to solve. As with all my other experience,
this too will influence XPS directly.  Unfortunately, it also means that
I will only be working on XPS in the background with available "spare"
time.  In essence, I'm going back to the approach that has gotten the
project to where it is today!  

Here is what you should expect from this change of strategy:

      * The XPS project on SourceForge (
        http://sourceforge.net/projects/extprosys ) will continue to be
        the repository of code and documentation about the project. This
        should be your primary source of information (i.e. join the
        mailing lists there if you haven't already!) 
      * You should start to see much more technical activity on the XPS
        project, especially on weekends.
      * I expect to write and release an XPL primer concurrently with
        the first functioning version of the compiler early next year.
      * The XSI web site (www.x10sys.com) will be scaled down to just a
        short "brochure" which points to the XPS project site. All
        reference to business plans, investment, products, or services
        will be removed.
      * Little, if any, news from "XSI" will be forthcoming for at least
        another year.
      * If you were expecting to get a business plan in Q3 2003, I'm
        sorry to say that you won't.  Anything relating to the business
        side of things will be postponed by at least one year. 
      * Funding efforts will resume when it comes time to market XSI's
        first products (years from now).

Finally, here's some things you can do that would help us a lot:

      * Make http://extprosys.sourceforge.net/news.php your home page!
        This will allow you to keep track of the technical changes as
        they happen and you'll also help us grow awareness of the
        project because of additional hits on the web site.
      * If you know anyone with deep technical skills in the areas of
        operating systems, programming languages, virtual machines, or
        scalable architectures, please send them to the project web
        site. I need the feedback/input/critique from people that know
        better than me. Yes, this could be you!
      * Keep in touch, let me know what you think!

Thanks for all your support in the past.. 

Best Regards,

Reid

_______________________
Reid Spencer
President & CTO
eXtensible Systems, Inc.
re...@x1...

P.S. If you no longer want to be on one of the XPS or XSI email lists, I
completely understand. Just reply with an indication for removal and
I'll take you off the list promptly.