[Scope-dev] Re: [jdistro-devel] Where do we go ?

[Christian H. <chr...@tu...>]

(Again a cross-posting ... but this is an important integration issue.
I think we all develop and develop but inter-communicate too little.)

Hi Gerard,

what was the reason for many of our projects to get started?
- JOS: an Operating System written in Java
- JDistro: a Java Desktop and Distribution containing several applications
- Scope: an extended MVC framework for Swing/JSP application creation
- CYBOP: a generic Java framework for system/application development
- ResMedicinae: a Java-based Medical Information System

Of course, there are many similar projects but what's common to the
projects above is:
- they are GNU GPLed (sorry, Scope is BSD)
- they use the Java programming language

My personal (lifetime) visions (dreams) are:
- a flexible operating system which can run on any device
- which allows in a very simple way to code input/ output modules
(textual/curses, graphical, web, vocal, Braille etc.)
- which already provides derived applications with basic communication
mechanisms, their protocols etc. (RMI, CORBA, SOAP, JDBC) so that an
application just sets a flag for which mechanism to use and that's all
- which integrates a nice desktop environment
- and all kinds of useful applications
- especially a complete Medical Information System including an EHR --
Electronic Health Record (the reason why I personally started free
software development)
- this all in an easy, clear, error-minimized way of programming
(which is why I had chosen Java as my favourite; possibly a new
language, for example based on XML, in the future -- Java is not "free"!
Python gains more and more popularity)

How do I think we all can contribute to that (or a similar) vision?
- continue to work on our projects
- start to look yet more into our neighbour projects
- try to find possible points of cooperation and communicate them

JOS:
- Did you think about how to allow a Graphical Desktop to base on JOS?

JDistro:
- Did you try to build on JOS or to integrate it into your distribution?

Scope:
- It seems to be very quiet in your mailing list. Did you all give up
or continue to contribute to the Free Software Community?
- Did you encounter design problems in Scope? If yes, then which?
What can we all learn from it?
- If the design turned out to be incomplete: What should be changed?
- If the project has stopped: Did you try to find a similar project to
bring in your knowledge and continue your work?

CYBOP (the questions I frequently have to ask myself):
- Did you loose focus, starting off from a small medical application
(ResMedicinae), ending up thinking about a generic framework for all
kinds of systems, about Operating System issues and even about a
replacement for the Java programming language?

All:
- Do you try to steadily improve your architectures and to be open
for new, effective ideas?
- Are you fixed on Java only or open to replace it wherever it turns
out not to be the ideal solution?

I can give you an answer to the CYBOP-questions, why I am where I am
now and how I came here, starting with one single line of Java code.
Can you answer the questions on your projects?

All I want is that we try to collaborate a bit more. Whenever something
seems unclear to me, I just ask the neighbour lists, for example some
months ago about Java event handling interna which were unclear to me.
Meanwhile, I could replace it in CYBOP by my own signal handling.
(I don't like the callback stuff with interfaces etc.; they cause too many
bidirectional interdependencies within a framework/ application;
but that's another topic.)

Concrete for JDistro:
- If the Desktop runs fine as it is, then just release your 1.0!
- Knoppix is a good idea; I think JOS was thinking about the same?
- Where do the console applications in JDistro and JOS differ, what
functionality is the same? Can this effort be merged?
- You mention a "JDistro library so that applications can be developed"
which sounds much like an "application framework" to me. Did you
inspect Scope and/or CYBOP to use their ideas or, better yet, to build
on these frameworks? Which of their ideas would be good for JDistro?
- The "virtual File System" is truely a duplication effort since JOS
as potential operating system has developed one, too.

Christian


On Wednesday 02 July 2003 10:31, Gerard COLLIN wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>  I like being part of this project, which I think is one of the best Java
> project available (and I'm using it everyday).
>
>  But I think something is missing: A goal.
>
>  What is the goal of JDistro ? Technically, it's to run all java
> applications in the same JVM under the same Desktop. That's fine, and I
> think most applications (except the heavy ones) now runs fine. But this
> could go one forever !
>
> In short, what needs to be in JDistro so that we can release a 1.0 ? What
> needs to be there ?
>
> I would like to discuss here what the result would be ? Should we make a
> JDistro CD using KNOPPIX ? If so, what progress is made in this area ?
>
> Is it a goal to make a JDistro library so that application can be developed
> for it ?
>
> I've seen that a virtual File System has been developed. What for ? As no
> applications are developed specifically for JDistro, what interest ? If we
> use KNOPPIX, then it will take care of that itself, no need to do it...
>
> I think now it will bring more visibility to the project if we say in the
> website, our goal is to ... For that, we need to progress in ... and ...,
> we are currently working on .... etc. We need to focus on something in
> order to motivate people !
>
> What do you think ?
>
>   G?rard