Michael Phipps: Many of the things that YT has done are things that I have (personally) planned to try to get into R2. I have said publicly many times that internationalization is a tough nut to crack, and that we don't want to do it until we can do it right. yellowTAB's solution, if I understand it, is not what I would call "The Right Way". There are a number of issues that are not dealt with that I think are important. But doing it the Right Way means many far reaching changes to other kits, so it is an R2 thing. Other things (USB, for one) could easily be made independent of the OS; the same USB stack should run on R5, Zeta and OBOS R1.
With regards to Zeta's locale kit, although it is definitely a great tool for localization, it may well fragment the application base since Zeta binaries that use it will not run in R5 (as of now). Are there any plans to implement a Zeta like (or compatible) locale kit in OBOS? We definitely think both yellowTAB and OBOS should do the BeOS community a favor and come to terms in this respect, so that there is a single, unified localization method accross the board (maybe beunited.org could step in here?). Any comments or information that you may be able to share with us?
Michael Phipps: As I talked about above, I don't personally care for Zeta's implementation. One example is that the GUI is still fixed width. If I have a label "Why?" in English and a Spanish user translates that to "¿Por qué?", the label may not fit properly. It could be chopped off, or it could overlap another view (which is a bad thing). My proposed solution is a totally different way to do GUIs where spacing is proportional. But that is *WAY* beyond R1. I would also introduce controls for calendar, time, currency, etc.
I don't mean to bash YT and Zeta. Please don't get me wrong here. I would assume that YT doesn't have the time and resources to "do it right", but needs to have as large a market as possible for their release. I might well have done the same thing in their shoes. But I am not in their shoes.
Some of the shortcomings of R5 include 1GB memory limit, and a lack of HW OGL. Will OBOS address these shortcomings, and can this be expected on the first release of OBOS?
Michael Phipps: Our plan is that a few of the shortcomings will be fixed: the design issues. The 1GB RAM limit will become 2GB or possibly more. Sockets will be file descriptors. Select and mmap will work. HW OGL is a *HUGE* undertaking. It is a good thing and we would like to support it. But not for R1, unless we get a whole ton of very focused, very knowledgable people who want to work on it.
It's WalterCon time now. It is great news that OpenBeOS will hold its own conference. Tell us all you know and can disclose us about this first OpenBeOS conference. When will it be held? Where? Who is your target audience for the event? What ideas are being entertained? Will you try to attract developers from the Linux arena? If so, how? Do you think or expect yellowTAB to attend the event?
Michael Phipps: Our tentative date is the weekend of the 26th of June, 2004 in New York City. That is not a promise, but it is the current plan. Our target audience is fans of the BeOS. I will be there, as will a number of the team members. We haven't decided exactly what we want to talk about. I anticipate speaking a few times, probably a few classes about different kits. I suspect a lot of R2 conversation will occur.
Let's take a look about the future of BeOS and OBOS in particular. Where do you see OBOS about a year from? Make some wild guesses if you wish. What about Zeta? Where do you think will Zeta be then?
Michael Phipps: Let me say this - I AM GUESSING. With Open Source, and in particular with small teams and open source, it is very hard to project where we will be next week, much less 52 weeks from now. My guess, though, is that R1 will be "released", meaning that there is a burnable .iso on our website as a beta. I suspect we will be in serious bug fixing mode.
Talking about the future, there is this project called Glass elevator which not many people know. Can you tell us what it is and how it fits into the OBOS project?
Michael Phipps: Glass Elevator is all about talking R2 and beyond. All parties interested in discussing R2 are invited, provided they follow reasonable protocol. Many good ideas have been discussed. When R1 is complete and we fork the code to start R2, we will hopefully get a report from the GE folks containing suggestions and ideas.
I am sure that you would like to get more developers to participate in the OBOS project. Give us in brief terms where a developer new to BeOS could start if he or she wanted to become involved with the OBOS project. Maybe we can attract some devs from the Japanese BeOS community!
Michael Phipps: I would love another 50 developers. :-)
Basically, if you have C++ experience, we are looking for you. There are many parts that could use developers. If you are a fairly inexperienced developer, the Preference Apps team could use your help. There is some porting and some fairly easy development that needs to be done. If you are a more advanced developer, there are a few places that we could use your help: the Kernel and Networking come straight to mind. Those two kits are the furthest from completion and need quality developers. The "problem" is that those are also kits that need very skilled people.
Anyone who would like to help should take a look at the teams section of our website. They should pick a team and a vague idea of the task that they would like to work on. Then they should email the team leader for help. If there are any problems or questions, they can certainly email me.
Do you have any message to the BeOS fans in Japan?
Michael Phipps: A few things. First of all, thank you. I see applications and drivers from Japan on BeBits.com. Without your support, the BeOS community would be a poorer place. It is unfair to ask more of you, but I must. We need more help: more drivers, more applications and maybe even a few developers on OBOS.
Finally, keep the faith. I know that it has been a long time. And that there are fewer compelling reasons to run BeOS than there were 3 years ago. We know that, too. We have huge (but incomplete) plans to make OBOS an operating system that will make people sit up and say "WOW!" again.
- "Michael Phipps Interview, Page 1"
- "Michael Phipps Interview, Page 2"
- "Michael Phipps Interview, Page 3"
