Future promises for BrailleNote From CSUN

[Gregory Nowak]

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Hello Sabahattin and all.

Sabahattin, you raise some interesting questions, and my thoughts are
below each of your points.

On Fri, Apr 02, 2004 at 07:10:30PM +0100, Sabahattin Gucukoglu wrote:
> The immediate questions that spring to my mind - and there always will be 
> some - seem to be: if the development model is sufficiently open that any 
> number of utilities and applications can be written for the BrailleNote, 
> is the BrailleNote-On-Linux project still worth pursuing? 

Yes, definitely. While Jonathan hinted at a developer's kit, keep in
 mind that this will still be a developer's kit for WinCE and Keysoft,
 which at its heart is still a closed, proprietary OS, which will
 still ultimately limit what the user or developer could do with
 it? A more direct way of putting it is: since we have Ms windows on our
 pc's, and have development tools to write windows programs, then why
 bother installing and using a GNU/Linux distro at all?

>  If so, is the 
> possible lack of functionality lost in the transition to Linux going to be 
> worth the use of entirely open source software? 

Again, yes. While it is understandable that there are those who would
 like to see a menu interface for freesoft and associated utilities,
 there are those (myself included), who recognize and would like the
 power and functionality of a shell command-line interface, such as
 bash, in order to be able to run the infinite number of open source
 and free software available for GNU/Linux, on a device the size of a braillenote.

>  Is now the time to 
> advocate open source to PulseData, in the hope that they will see the 
> immediate value in it and its obvious benefits in the war that is now 
> waged so terribly against FreedomScientific?

I doubt it. If PDI was to see the benefits and value of open source
software, they would have done so already, when they first chose to
run keysoft on top of winCE, instead of the linux kernel. They would
also not have taken the liberties you described with gpl-licensed
libraries in the 2 newest keysoft releases.

>   Does the licensing bother 
> concerning the open source software I reported on earlier still warrant, 
> to you, the need to open source the entire system?

Yes.

>   Do you feel at peace 
> with PulseData and/or their methods and predictions, or do you hate them 
> to bits?

While I wouldn't go so far as saying that I hate them to bits, given
how they have dealt with our group, and the licensing violations you
posted about, I do not feel at peace with them or they're methods. I
personally see PDI going the way of the old Blazie Engr. now that they
have a big customer base. Blazie wasn't always frank with their
customers (the pricing of the bns hardware/operating system is a case
in point). When PDI first came out with the bn/vn, they made lots of
promises (a developer's kit being among them), and offered free
software upgrades to all for the first 2 years if I recall
correctly. Three years later, with a fairly large customer base from
what I've heard, they haven't delivered on some of their promises,
have stopped offering free software upgrades, and have raised the
price of their units by about $400 if I recall correctly. True, they
say the price increase was due to the new motherboard, and keyweb, but
I don't see a motherboard costing $400 more then the old board, and if
I understand correctly that winCE already comes with pocket IE, then
all PDI had to do is to write a menu interface between keysoft and
pocket IE, which shouldn't have cost that much. Besides, yet again, if
keysoft wasn't a closed platform (in 2 senses of the phrase), then PDI
wouldn't have needed to write an interface to pocket IE, thus forcing
their users to incur additional costs, due to PDI's interface approach
and model.

>   If PulseData made their architecture open, does it bother you 
> that Windows CE is going to be closed - just how far do you want this to 
> go, or how far do you think it's worth going?

No, not at all. Making their architecture open, would have proven to
be a great benefit to us in terms of developing keysoft, in which
case, winCE wouldn't have mattered to me personally at all. After all,
the IBM-pc architecture is open, allowing anyone to build a machine
from scratch, while there are still plenty of people who run
ms-windows on their IBM-PC's, which is a closed operating system.

>   From my last enquiry: do 
> you understand the virtue of PulseData's methods - the ease-of-use 
> philosophy?

Yes. While it is nice to have a menu interface such as what keysoft
offers, I would still personally like to have a choice between such a
menu interface, and a bash command-line, rather then just being locked
into the menu interface permanently, just because the software
developers decided this should be so. After all, the term "free
software" also extends to the freedom regarding which user interface
you want to use.

>   Are PulseData slow to catch, and do they have an attitude 
> problem, or is it just that Jonathan is being honest and things will 
> improve?  Your answers, as always, are of interest.  My answers will 
> probably make their appearance shortly afterward - either here or on their 
> BN list.
> 

Given how J. R.'s emails to Jonathan have been dealt with, I would say
that PDI has an attitude problem. While I do think that Jonathan was
genuinely sincere in trying to help us, I also think that his
well-meaning efforts towards us were frowned upon by senior PDI management.


> Speaking of which, how do you get onto that list?  I can't find a single 
> reference on their homepage!
> 

http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote/

I've also got some ideas regarding how to move freesoft development
forward. I've had exams and stuff going on this week, so didn't have
time to sit down and formulate them into an email message. So, those
on the developers list, keep your ears on your inboxes.

Greg




> Cheers,
> Sabahattin
> -- 
> Thought for the day:
>     A penny saved is ridiculous.
> 
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> Sabahattin Gucukoglu
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