Today yellowTAB announced that Zeta RC2 has gone to press and will be entering retail channels within the next couple of weeks. This new release candidate incorporates hundreds of changes and bugfixes since the RC1 including many submissions from users. A few days ago a misunderstanding aroused among the Zeta customers and YellowTAB regarding the free availability of RC2 or not. RC2 is just RC1 with Service Packs 2 and 3 applied. Current customers will receive the ServicePack 3 download for free. They will also have the option of getting an RC2 CD at an upgrade price.
yellowTAB Announces Zeta 1.0-RC2 Officially
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yellowTAB still needs an online bug tracking database if they are going to use their customers for testing. From what I hear, RC1 was just an alpha because it wasn’t even feature complete. Does anyone know what RC2 really is?
http://bugzilla.yellowtab.com
You could probably say RC2 is beta.
try http://bugzilla.yellowtab.com
—
http://perso.hirlimann.net/~ludo/blog/
I’m glad they focused on bug fixing, that’s what was needed before they went on to other things. The biggest problems in usability stemmed directly from all those bugs, broken links and translation typos. I agree, if this update has taken care of most of that, Zeta will be beta quality.
Jay, you do know that RC stands for Release Candidate – its entire purpose was to be a prerelease for early adopters, to beta test what YellowTab had at that point in time to reveal any bugs that may exist. There were still components still under development which never made it onto the CD (like the USB2 stack, scanner support via SANE, printer support via CUPS (I miss the printer kit) etc). All RC1 users knew what they were getting into, thats why its recommended for most users to wait for the official release which wont have 100’s of bugs, broken links, translation typos etc.
Geeez.
Jay, you do know that RC stands for Release Candidate – its entire purpose was to be a prerelease for early adopters…There were still components still under development which never made it onto the CD…
But it is my impression that a release candidate has all known issues resolved. See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/migration/unix/umpg/pa…
YellowTAB’s definition does not match Microsoft’s even closely. Hence the confusion.
Traal is absolutely right. RC means “Release Candidate.” When you release an RC, you are stating that if no showstopper bugs are reported in response to th RC, then the changed code of this release will be the final one. Usually, a few showstoppers are reported, so there are a couple of RCs, but the whole idea is that each RC could potentially be the final release.
This is not just Microsoft’s definition, but the one used throughout the industry. Both KDE and the Linux kernel, for example, use the term the same way Microsoft does.
The heck is a “Release Candidate” entering retail channels?
I meant it would be “beta” in a positive sense (as opposed to “alpha”). I knew what I was getting into when i bought Zeta. Actually, it’s been a lot of fun. Anyway, it does seem yT has their own definitions of things like Service Packs and Release Candidates, etc. All I meant was they really needed to have this big bug fix now.
curious… weren’t we given the line of BS that yT had this OS “ready to sell” like over a year ago, then they found one “Big” bug and had to fix that and everything would be hokey-pokey.. turns out this is turning into a big mess.. there trying hard to collect money; devs that left yT (loon) have pretty much said they don’t have the people to do any kernel hacking – so all were gonna be offered is a BeOS Max edition with tons of language translator crap because of the german roots of yT.. and now he’s trying to go public or something (sell some kind of shares) over there and they dont even have a fully functional, documented, legaly valid product..hell.. i think i’m gonna buy zeta and get me some SCO linux while i’m at it, they both seem like there going the same direction.. down..
“Why?
By anon (IP: —.dialup.xtra.co.nz) – Posted on 2004-01-16 23:05:09
The heck is a “Release Candidate” entering retail channels?”
[argh]
Why the heck is MS charging for useless betas? And through retail channels???? OMG, thats soooo lame, isn’t it?
Damn YT, What are you doing???? Charge your customers for a RC, omg that’s soooo lame. Thank gok god I still can choose to pay for a useless alpha from the company I hate the most, MS.
[/argh]
Think before you type, brave one (anon).
-Vecc
devs that left yT (loon)
Loon is an idiot – yellowTab got rid of him the moment they realised that he wasn’t anywhere near as good as he claims he is. How professinal is someone who puts “Die Microsoft Die” in an About box of a hack-fest called Phos. Loon is a moron, hence yT did the only sensible thing which any sane company would do – they got rid of him. The sooner everyone else realises that Loon is loony, the better.
No, I don’t care if they charge people for downloads, or burnt media of it. But it seems a little ridiculous for them to be pressing CDs of pre-release software and putting it into stores.
By the way, did they find the kernel source yet? These sort of things are always in last place you look…
the reason the released it in stores is that nothing helps you get bugs better than real users. Only I would have sold it as a beta with a free version of 1.0 final stamped on the box. Otherwise you might disapoint people who use it and think it’s just trash. they will give up on it and never look at it again.
Does anyone know why YT has started this whole Zeta thing AT ALL? It’s just so obscure… nobody knows their legal status, and they don’t show anything REALLY promising in terms os underlying OS improvements… They don’t possess BeOS passion for things… So – why?
I asked some of the same questions. It seems my post has been removed by the moderator. … and yours are “pending review”.
Now, my question is: Why on earth is it not allowed to ask about the legal status of YT in this forum ?!?!
Certainly there are questions about yT status but that is really the concern of yT. They say they have some sort of standing with the product and until a credible challenger takes them to task (or court) we as users won’t really know.
If you are a commercial developer then this issue is a significant one to consider. As a user it is less of an issue because of OpenBeOS. OpenBeOS gives users a credible option if there are problems with yT. This applies to commercial developers as well to a lesser extent.
It is reasonable to keep this question in perspective. All the lamentation about yT is meaningless for most people IMO. To put this in perspective consider that there is a MAJOR dispute as to who even owns all the various parts (IP) of UNIX where billions of dollars and major corporations (with 10s of lawyers for every employee of yT) are struggling to decide who owns what. Only after millions of dollars are spent and only after a court has ruled will we know who owns UNIX.
Who or what yT owns or has rights to may one day be known but it will be complex covering several business contracts and it will be expensive to examine legally. I don’t think palmsource or anyone else has much interest in spending those dollars.
Ahhh… I see. My honest question was regarded as flamebait and moderated down. …*sigh*. Couldn’t you just have answered that nobody knows? That was all I wanted to know. As a potential customer, I regard it as an important factor, if those who sell to me have the rights to do it or not. Maybe you don’t, but I do – and I didn’t know the answer.
Ahhh… I see. My honest question was regarded as flamebait and moderated down. …*sigh*. Couldn’t you just have answered that nobody knows? That was all I wanted to know. As a potential customer, I regard it as an important factor, if those who sell to me have the rights to do it or not. Maybe you don’t, but I do – and I didn’t know the answer.
The problem is that no one, including YellowTab, knows the answer.
Adam
> The problem is that no one, including YellowTab, knows the answer
Ehh… ?? With the risc of being moderated down: If YT has used the original BeOS code, surely they must know if they have the rights. copyright is not that random.
They must have at least some kind of contract with either Be or PalmSource.
They must have at least some kind of contract with either Be or PalmSource.
Yeah, but no one outside of yT seems to know what that contract it, and yT has remained quite silent on that matter, making me (and many others) wonder if yT even knows what their legal status is.
Adam
Yeah, but no one outside of yT seems to know what that contract it, and yT has remained quite silent on that matter, making me (and many others) wonder if yT even knows what their legal status is.
The fact that yellowTAB remains silent on that matter doesn’t mean they are doing something illegal or that they and their partners don’t know what rights they have though…
…Before Be, Inc. sold its assets to Palm, Inc., we managed to close a deal allowing us to distribute the PE version and had started negotiations over the future of the Pro version. Koch Media was ready to reissue the copies of the Pro Version that they hadn’t managed to resell, to make it a part of a new distribution first called BeOS NG (New Generation), now renamed to “Zeta”…
This info has been on yellowTabs homepage for a long time. Read it all here:
http://www.yellowtab.com/company/history.php
So? According to that one paragraph, yT had a deal with Be, Inc (not Palm, the current owners of the IP), to distribute PE. They then go on to say that their continued negotiations came to a stop when Palm came into the picture.
So, according to this, they’re allowed to distribute PE. Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me that’s all yT is doing?
Adam
Yes… but that only talks about some binary copies of BeOS 5. Nothing about the source code or the right to distribute anything but a binary PE or sell out an inventory of Pro CDs
That’s all just hilarious. At least, maybe it’s not much to worry about (we spend dollars on different shit every day and don’t even notice), but it’s just… very in spirit of the last days of Be – too much conspiracy and this dodginess and all. I wonder if they actually hired Jean-Louis as a general consultant (guru). So instead of crying over it, let’s laugh… maybe.
A long time ago at BeGeistert YellowTab wouldn’t even admit to a deal with anoyone stating “NDA” to any question.
They have got code from PalmSource, that has long since leaked so it’s clear there is some deal, but if they are not talking about it it’s because they are not allowed to.
I understand their predicament, I’ve signed NDAs myself and they can be highly restrictive.
I for one have no reason to think Zeta is in any way illegal.
>>>…Before Be, Inc. sold its assets to Palm, Inc., we managed to close a deal allowing us to distribute the PE version and had started negotiations over the future of the Pro version. Koch Media was ready to reissue the copies of the Pro Version that they hadn’t managed to resell, to make it a part of a new distribution first called BeOS NG (New Generation), now renamed to “Zeta”…
This paragraph is meaningless. Anyone can distribute the PE version — Dane Scott has been distributing PE in his BuzzCD for ages, he never claimed to have a deal with Be Inc. to distribute same. It’s the same BS that Lindows pulled awhile ago when Lindows claimed that they have made a deal with Netscape. AOL Time Warner said that all Lindows did was clicking “OK” at Netscape’s website.
Koch was a former BeOS distributor. As a BeOS distributor, Koch got to distribute 5.01, 5.02, and 5.03 fixes — so why not 5.1 Dano fixes.
>>>They have got code from PalmSource, that has long since leaked so it’s clear there is some deal, but if they are not talking about it it’s because they are not allowed to.
It’s the exact opposite.
If YT has a deal with PalmSource, then the code is worth some money to BOTH PalmSource AND yt — therefore the code shouldn’t have leaked.
>>>They have got code from PalmSource, that has long since leaked so it’s clear there is some deal, but if they are not talking about it it’s because they are not allowed to.
It’s the exact opposite.
If YT has a deal with PalmSource, then the code is worth some money to BOTH PalmSource AND yt — therefore the code shouldn’t have leaked.
I didn’t word that well did I…
The *news* of them getting code leaked. There was a code leak but that was nothing to do with YellowTab.