Yup, everything looked good! Set to dock with ISS on Wednesday.
For anyone that missed the launch, here is a video from T-minus 60 seconds through main engine cutoff.
http://youtu.be/jAq-Ic5SzfY
This is so obvious. I have been saying it since Apple announced they had an Intel version of the OS (which we all knew they did, they just hadn't admitted it). Where else does Apple have to go with their OS? The made a great OS. They made a great OS that will work on x86 systems. They made a boot-loader that will let people run the OS everyone else uses on their Intel system. They've made a great media-center type PC. What else do they have left to do?
The Intel stuff was all just a gauge to see how it would be recepted in the public. My guess is that you will see an AMD version of their system in 6-12 months, and a general version of the OS for any x86 hardware in 12-18 months.
Also, Cringley knows what he is talking about. He has for a long time, and still does. Hell, he was employee #12 at Apple, and helped move operations out of Steve Jobs parents' garage. That's gotta get him privy to something at Apple.:)
The more Microsoft makes "solutions" that cater to the computer industry, at the expense of limiting end-users' choices and flexibility, the closer they are to losing the base that provides their income.
I don't think the SkyOS are very reclusive at all; they do their best to always keep an open line of discussion via the forums on their website. How do I know this? You are speaking to one of the developers right now.
As far as being defensive about our mode of operation....we are always open to new ideas; just because we make a decision not to use a suggested idea does not mean we are defensive about our mode of operating, it just means we made a decision that we felt was best based on the information at hand.
I could name about 20 cool things that SkyOS has that other various operating systems do not. However, probably the coolest (in my opinion anyway) is the system-wide file attributes. SkyOS actively keeps track of every file on the system, and indexes all of the various attributes. This translates to just about instantaneous searching capabilities. You can literally search a 100GB hard drive and receive every result within about 2 seconds. On top of that, the Viewer (SkyOS equivalent of the Windows Explorer) will take advantage of these attributes in how it organizes and presents the files to the users (see the news archive on the website for more information about this).
Sorry we do not present this information on our website; we are very small, and spend all our time making money at our day jobs to live, and working on SkyOS in our spare time.
These are the types of people that young girls in school should be pointed towards as role models, rather than idiot actresses and trendy pop stars. This is a girl who actually accomplished something in her life besides just looking pretty.
And yes, it did take me three tries to type "pop stars" correctly (came up with "porn stars", "pop tarts", and "pop starts" before doing it right).
A few months ago, we (SkyOS development team) were looking for a new browser for SkyOS. SkyKruzer (native, using KHTML) just wasn't cutting it, and Links was a temporary solution. We were looking for something that could fit the bill.
I had used Opera a number of times, and was quite interested in making it available for SkyOS. I initiated discussions with Opera representatives, trying to see if we could get them to port it to SkyOS. They said (abbreviated version) no, that they weren't interested at this time, had other priorities, etc.
In the meantime, Firefox started picking up steam. I had tried Firefox a long time ago, and was not very happy with it. However, we needed a real browser, so I gave it a shot. Wow. Things had really changed (this was about...maybe version.7). I was splitting my time between Firefox and Internet Explorer. I found myself more and more relying on Firefox. I started putting bookmarks there instead of Internet Explorer. I changed my shortcut for the web browser to point to Firefox instead of Windows. Pretty soon, all that was left of Internet Explorer was a link buried in the Start Menu, for access on the rare occasion (once a week, maybe) that a site refused to render with Firefox.
We decided that since Firefox was now so robust, and Opera was not interested in working with us, that we would start the long process of porting Firefox to SkyOS. After weeks of work, Firefox has successfully been ported. You're welcome to our website for screenshots.
As for Opera? I made the prediction to others on our team that they had very little direction, and that within two years, they would just be remembered as an "also-ran" in the browser world. Call it sour-grapes, but either way, I still think I'm right, and we were right for stopping any further pursuit of Opera and going full-speed for Firefox.
Yes, but this model won't change. People will still be able to do this. However, they will also be able to go to the store to physically interact with what they are buying, should they find a value in that.
As far as the impulse buys go, that won't be eliminated. Most people don't impulse buy a $4,000 Plasma TV. They impulse buy a video game, or headphones. These items are small enough that they do not require the "warehouse" architecture, and can be stored in semi-large quantities on-site.
Here is my prediction of the future of retail. Put as much credence in it as you care to.
Retail goes through waves of changes. The first generation of retail stores were the K-Marts and the Sears's. They enjoyed success for quite a while, but were eventually replaced by retailers who saw where technology was going, and marketed towards this. These companies were the Best Buy's and the Circuit City's.
We are currently at the beginning of the next wave of change. Slick marketing isn't going to cut it anymore. Customers are looking for one thing: low prices. And what is the only method you can really use to get lower prices in the retail industry? That's right, higher volume. Welcome to Walmart. The next 5 years will hold one of two outcomes for Circuit City: they will go out of business (unlikely), or they will get bought out (likely). Next will be Best Buy. I'm looking at about 10 years from now. Best Buy is the biggest electronics retailer in the world, next comes Walmart, and then (way behind), Circuit City, which is why Circuit City will be first to go. Don't worry though, Best Buy is losing ground every month to Walmart. By 2015, there will be no Best Buy or Circuit City. Only Walmart (and local retailers, who cater to the high end consumer that actually puts quality over cost).
But for those of you that hate Walmart, don't worry, their future is bleak as well. They will be a victim of their own success. At some point, they will not be able to push any more volume, limited by the amount of physical space they have. Enter the winner: The Internet.
Internet sales have grown exponentially for the last 10 years, and they show no signs of slowing. Eventually, I think we'll find something like "learning centers". Right now, stores are basically walk-through warehouses. Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart....it's just a big warehouse that you walk through. I think eventually, the model will move to small, impressive displays of technology, where you will order what you want, and it will be shipped to your door, or alternatively, to the store for pickup. This minimizes physical location costs to stores, while still giving customers the "hands-on" interaction that they have come to expect (and is the only real reason brick and mortar stores still out-pace Internet vendors).
So if you want to be the next big thing, be the first-arrival on this sales model.
This is pretty simple really. The first player to support >1GB for under $99, and be comparable functionally with the iPod (which almost all music players are, at least to some degree or another), will dominate the market.
Just look at how new entrants are dancing around the 1GB mark. There isn't one player (that I have seen) that supports over 1GB that costs less than $199. They keep offering larger players for one reason: it doesn't cost any more. The companies want the base price for any "real" players (not the cheapo 256MB players) to be $199, and it looks like for at least the foreseeable future, it will remain that way. The base price will stay at $199, and the storage space will simply increase.
I'm not willing to spend $199 on a gadget that I will only get limited use out of. MP3 players are still a niche market, and until the cost goes down, rather than simply the space increasing, they will stay that way. Of course, with our wonderful capitalist system, someone will eventually understand this concept, and they will get a rather large jump on the market.;)
I've seen now a few posts saying how "embarrassing" it is for NASA to have a private enterprise reach space for the price they did. But if you are frustrated with NASA (like I am), put it where it is due. The NASA of the '60s was daring, inventive, and always looking for a new challenge. Don't take away what they did, they reached space, orbit, and the moon, all within 10 years. And they were the first (or roughly tied for first with Russia) to blaze that path, a path that SpaceShipOne and Burt Ratan are now following.
Don't take away what NASA accomplished in the '60s and early '70s. They were really pushing the envelope. Only since then have they stalled, and now deserve the criticism they receive. Their plan was to have a reusable spaceship that could lift astronauts and equipment at a fraction of the cost of previous methods, but that plan was horribly inaccurate. There was no real plan after that, and over the next decade and a half, it became painfully obvious, which is why there was such a shakeup around 2001/2002.
The next 5 years will determine NASA's future. If they can get back on track, set big goals (like the '60s) that interest the public and push science and technology, and most of all, work with the private industry, they will continue to be relevant, and I dare say, could easily accomplish feats that rival those of the early '60s. If, on the other hand, they continue to drift along, dabbling in various projects, but never commiting to anything large, as they have done for the past 20 years, NASA will fade into obscurity, and private enterprise will take over.
The ball is in your court NASA. Will you run with it?
The actual OS contains no GPL code, so we are under no obligation to make the code available under the GPL. The only reason a few people are upset is because we included a few applications that are available under the GPL without making the source available (due to a confusion on our part). As of 5.0, the source for those applications will be made available.
Apparently you are quite confused about the situation, if you think that we are "hiding" something because we have chosen not to use the GPL for our operating system. We have no more obligation to use the GPL than we do to use, say, the MIT license.
It appears you simply have deep ideological differences in how you think software development and distribution should work. I respect that, its your right to feel that way. However, you really should check the amount of animosity you have towards those who feel differently than you. You can believe that all software should be OSS, and you can say that you feel we should open source, but for you to say that we "abuse" our users is way out of line.
If it was 4.0, just know that you've basically used a totally different operating system. SkyOS 5.0 is nothing like SkyOS 3.0 or 4.0.
I can't really say much as far your conversation with whoever you talked to, because I wasn't a part of it. If it was Robert, you would have to remember 1) he is very limited on time and doesn't generally have a whole lot of time for chit-chat (he gets many, many e-mails every day, and tons of suggestions and offers for help), and 2) his first language is not English, so he may have left one or two punctual adjectives out.:)
We are working on expanding the dev team. This time last year, the team consisted of Robert. Now, we have myself (Lead Graphics Designer), Nathan (Lead Software Designer), 3-4 software designers, 1-2 graphics designers, community contributors, and of course, the main man, Robert. We are still looking for people who are interested in joining the software development team, so if you have a lot of experience with the C language, and are a hard worker, then we would be glad to have you on our team. Visit skyos.org for more information.
First of all, if you downloaded SkyOS, unless you are a beta tester, you are using one of the old version of SkyOS (4.0 or earlier). So much has been done since that release, its literally the difference between Windows 3.0 and Windows XP (new file system, new interface, more stable, etc.). So you really gave yourself a poor representation of what SkyOS currently is (or will be at the next public release).
Second, I really take offense to you saying that we (the developers) have poor attitudes. We have tried so hard to work with our community, take feedback, help people, and listen to suggestions. To then hear someone say that we have a "poor attitude" is really disheartening. Luckily, I can take solace in the fact that you probably aren't of the SkyOS community, so you really have no clout to say that we have "poor attitudes".
"RMS would object to the SkyOS project's treatment of end-users. He wouldn't describe an operating system as "evil"."
Are you an end user? On what would you or RMS base your objection to how we treat our end users? We don't really have any end users at this point, the only thing that comes close really is our beta testing team. We have had no complaints from any of them about our "treatment" towards them. In fact, we make a point to look at the feedback from them numerous times a day and try to help them with issues. We've also worked personally with each and every person to make sure they've all received everything that they have paid for and to make sure they are satisfied with everything.
If that is poor treatment of end users, then I suppose I just don't know what good treatment is.
Slashdot Mirror
Hah, I couldn't blame him. ;)
For anyone who missed the live stream, here is the video of the jump.
http://youtu.be/g4nJF9JFleI
Yup, everything looked good! Set to dock with ISS on Wednesday. For anyone that missed the launch, here is a video from T-minus 60 seconds through main engine cutoff. http://youtu.be/jAq-Ic5SzfY
The Intel stuff was all just a gauge to see how it would be recepted in the public. My guess is that you will see an AMD version of their system in 6-12 months, and a general version of the OS for any x86 hardware in 12-18 months.
Also, Cringley knows what he is talking about. He has for a long time, and still does. Hell, he was employee #12 at Apple, and helped move operations out of Steve Jobs parents' garage. That's gotta get him privy to something at Apple. :)
At least it wasn't $7.4 billion in Disney "fun money", right?
Bad news for Microsoft, good news for other operating systems.
I don't think the SkyOS are very reclusive at all; they do their best to always keep an open line of discussion via the forums on their website. How do I know this? You are speaking to one of the developers right now. As far as being defensive about our mode of operation....we are always open to new ideas; just because we make a decision not to use a suggested idea does not mean we are defensive about our mode of operating, it just means we made a decision that we felt was best based on the information at hand.
I could name about 20 cool things that SkyOS has that other various operating systems do not. However, probably the coolest (in my opinion anyway) is the system-wide file attributes. SkyOS actively keeps track of every file on the system, and indexes all of the various attributes. This translates to just about instantaneous searching capabilities. You can literally search a 100GB hard drive and receive every result within about 2 seconds. On top of that, the Viewer (SkyOS equivalent of the Windows Explorer) will take advantage of these attributes in how it organizes and presents the files to the users (see the news archive on the website for more information about this).
Sorry we do not present this information on our website; we are very small, and spend all our time making money at our day jobs to live, and working on SkyOS in our spare time.
That wasn't a nurse, it was an alien! Don't worry, your flashbacks will come soon enough.
5. Hobbits? Do they run Linux?
I don't know about Linux, but a Hobbit powered the original BeOS computers.
SkyOS is not Linux. SkyOS is built from scratch, and is not based on Linux in any way.
These are the types of people that young girls in school should be pointed towards as role models, rather than idiot actresses and trendy pop stars. This is a girl who actually accomplished something in her life besides just looking pretty.
And yes, it did take me three tries to type "pop stars" correctly (came up with "porn stars", "pop tarts", and "pop starts" before doing it right).
I had used Opera a number of times, and was quite interested in making it available for SkyOS. I initiated discussions with Opera representatives, trying to see if we could get them to port it to SkyOS. They said (abbreviated version) no, that they weren't interested at this time, had other priorities, etc.
In the meantime, Firefox started picking up steam. I had tried Firefox a long time ago, and was not very happy with it. However, we needed a real browser, so I gave it a shot. Wow. Things had really changed (this was about...maybe version .7). I was splitting my time between Firefox and Internet Explorer. I found myself more and more relying on Firefox. I started putting bookmarks there instead of Internet Explorer. I changed my shortcut for the web browser to point to Firefox instead of Windows. Pretty soon, all that was left of Internet Explorer was a link buried in the Start Menu, for access on the rare occasion (once a week, maybe) that a site refused to render with Firefox.
We decided that since Firefox was now so robust, and Opera was not interested in working with us, that we would start the long process of porting Firefox to SkyOS. After weeks of work, Firefox has successfully been ported. You're welcome to our website for screenshots.
As for Opera? I made the prediction to others on our team that they had very little direction, and that within two years, they would just be remembered as an "also-ran" in the browser world. Call it sour-grapes, but either way, I still think I'm right, and we were right for stopping any further pursuit of Opera and going full-speed for Firefox.
As far as the impulse buys go, that won't be eliminated. Most people don't impulse buy a $4,000 Plasma TV. They impulse buy a video game, or headphones. These items are small enough that they do not require the "warehouse" architecture, and can be stored in semi-large quantities on-site.
Retail goes through waves of changes. The first generation of retail stores were the K-Marts and the Sears's. They enjoyed success for quite a while, but were eventually replaced by retailers who saw where technology was going, and marketed towards this. These companies were the Best Buy's and the Circuit City's.
We are currently at the beginning of the next wave of change. Slick marketing isn't going to cut it anymore. Customers are looking for one thing: low prices. And what is the only method you can really use to get lower prices in the retail industry? That's right, higher volume. Welcome to Walmart. The next 5 years will hold one of two outcomes for Circuit City: they will go out of business (unlikely), or they will get bought out (likely). Next will be Best Buy. I'm looking at about 10 years from now. Best Buy is the biggest electronics retailer in the world, next comes Walmart, and then (way behind), Circuit City, which is why Circuit City will be first to go. Don't worry though, Best Buy is losing ground every month to Walmart. By 2015, there will be no Best Buy or Circuit City. Only Walmart (and local retailers, who cater to the high end consumer that actually puts quality over cost).
But for those of you that hate Walmart, don't worry, their future is bleak as well. They will be a victim of their own success. At some point, they will not be able to push any more volume, limited by the amount of physical space they have. Enter the winner: The Internet.
Internet sales have grown exponentially for the last 10 years, and they show no signs of slowing. Eventually, I think we'll find something like "learning centers". Right now, stores are basically walk-through warehouses. Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart....it's just a big warehouse that you walk through. I think eventually, the model will move to small, impressive displays of technology, where you will order what you want, and it will be shipped to your door, or alternatively, to the store for pickup. This minimizes physical location costs to stores, while still giving customers the "hands-on" interaction that they have come to expect (and is the only real reason brick and mortar stores still out-pace Internet vendors).
So if you want to be the next big thing, be the first-arrival on this sales model.
Just look at how new entrants are dancing around the 1GB mark. There isn't one player (that I have seen) that supports over 1GB that costs less than $199. They keep offering larger players for one reason: it doesn't cost any more. The companies want the base price for any "real" players (not the cheapo 256MB players) to be $199, and it looks like for at least the foreseeable future, it will remain that way. The base price will stay at $199, and the storage space will simply increase.
I'm not willing to spend $199 on a gadget that I will only get limited use out of. MP3 players are still a niche market, and until the cost goes down, rather than simply the space increasing, they will stay that way. Of course, with our wonderful capitalist system, someone will eventually understand this concept, and they will get a rather large jump on the market. ;)
Don't take away what NASA accomplished in the '60s and early '70s. They were really pushing the envelope. Only since then have they stalled, and now deserve the criticism they receive. Their plan was to have a reusable spaceship that could lift astronauts and equipment at a fraction of the cost of previous methods, but that plan was horribly inaccurate. There was no real plan after that, and over the next decade and a half, it became painfully obvious, which is why there was such a shakeup around 2001/2002.
The next 5 years will determine NASA's future. If they can get back on track, set big goals (like the '60s) that interest the public and push science and technology, and most of all, work with the private industry, they will continue to be relevant, and I dare say, could easily accomplish feats that rival those of the early '60s. If, on the other hand, they continue to drift along, dabbling in various projects, but never commiting to anything large, as they have done for the past 20 years, NASA will fade into obscurity, and private enterprise will take over.
The ball is in your court NASA. Will you run with it?
SkyOS uses the OpenBFS, a clone of the original BFS (or BeFS).
Nope. Still bad.
SkyOS =)
Was there anything in your e-mail about bridges for sale, or maybe ocean-front property in Arizona?
The actual OS contains no GPL code, so we are under no obligation to make the code available under the GPL. The only reason a few people are upset is because we included a few applications that are available under the GPL without making the source available (due to a confusion on our part). As of 5.0, the source for those applications will be made available. Apparently you are quite confused about the situation, if you think that we are "hiding" something because we have chosen not to use the GPL for our operating system. We have no more obligation to use the GPL than we do to use, say, the MIT license.
It appears you simply have deep ideological differences in how you think software development and distribution should work. I respect that, its your right to feel that way. However, you really should check the amount of animosity you have towards those who feel differently than you. You can believe that all software should be OSS, and you can say that you feel we should open source, but for you to say that we "abuse" our users is way out of line.
I can't really say much as far your conversation with whoever you talked to, because I wasn't a part of it. If it was Robert, you would have to remember 1) he is very limited on time and doesn't generally have a whole lot of time for chit-chat (he gets many, many e-mails every day, and tons of suggestions and offers for help), and 2) his first language is not English, so he may have left one or two punctual adjectives out. :)
We are working on expanding the dev team. This time last year, the team consisted of Robert. Now, we have myself (Lead Graphics Designer), Nathan (Lead Software Designer), 3-4 software designers, 1-2 graphics designers, community contributors, and of course, the main man, Robert. We are still looking for people who are interested in joining the software development team, so if you have a lot of experience with the C language, and are a hard worker, then we would be glad to have you on our team. Visit skyos.org for more information.
Second, I really take offense to you saying that we (the developers) have poor attitudes. We have tried so hard to work with our community, take feedback, help people, and listen to suggestions. To then hear someone say that we have a "poor attitude" is really disheartening. Luckily, I can take solace in the fact that you probably aren't of the SkyOS community, so you really have no clout to say that we have "poor attitudes".
Are you an end user? On what would you or RMS base your objection to how we treat our end users? We don't really have any end users at this point, the only thing that comes close really is our beta testing team. We have had no complaints from any of them about our "treatment" towards them. In fact, we make a point to look at the feedback from them numerous times a day and try to help them with issues. We've also worked personally with each and every person to make sure they've all received everything that they have paid for and to make sure they are satisfied with everything.
If that is poor treatment of end users, then I suppose I just don't know what good treatment is.