Helix Code Launched, Gnome Packages Available 157
From Nat:
Hello everyone!
We are proud to introduce "McKinley," the first preview of the Helix GNOME desktop. This is a beta release of the Helix Code GNOME distribution. The URL for Helix GNOME is:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/
The purpose of this distribution is to simplify the task of installing a fully featured, up-to-date version of GNOME on your favorite GNU/Linux distribution. You can now experience all the joy and all the excitement that goes into the wonderful world of GNOME without agonizing through long, arduous build processes.
Helix GNOME includes all of the core GNOME packages and a number of extras. The entire Helix GNOME desktop is pre-configured to be as attractive and simple as possible. You can see some screenshots here:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/screenshots.php3
Currently the Helix GNOME desktop is available for the following operating systems:
- Red Hat Linux 6.0 and 6.1
- SuSE Linux 6.3
- LinuxPPC 2000
- Linux Mandrake 6.1 and 7.0
- Caldera OpenLinux 2.3
In the next few weeks we will be releasing an updated version that will include support for other Linux distributions and other Unix systems. And of course, we're constantly adding packages to the build system and releasing new packages as new versions of the GNOME software become available.
How to install
--------------
We have made installing the full Helix GNOME desktop as easy as
possible. You just need to download the Helix installer program, and
it will take care of it for you:
You can find installation instructions at:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/download.php3
Mailing lists
-------------
If you want to subscribe to our announcements mailing lists, drop a message to:
announce-request@helixcode.com
And in the subject of the message put "subscribe". If you want to join the list of beta testers for the Helix GNOME distribution, send mail to:
beta-request@helixcode.com
A complete list of our mailing lists is available at:
http://www.helixcode.com/about/lists.php3
Questions and Answers regarding the Helix GNOME Desktop
------------------------------------------------------
Q: What does Helix Code do?
A:Helix Code is an open source software company devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux. We want to make GNOME the best desktop on the planet, and make it available to everyone.
Helix Code believes strongly in the importance of free software, which is why all of our software is licensed under the GNU GPL, and why all development is done in the public GNOME CVS repository.
Our main task is producing free applications for GNOME. Evolution is our first project: a groupware communications suite which includes an advanced mail client, calendar software and address book service.
We are also developing and improving the Gnumeric spreadsheet. Besides that, we maintain a number of core and peripheral packages of the GNOME system.
Q: What is the Helix GNOME Desktop?
A: Helix GNOME is a service offered to the GNOME user community by Helix Code, Inc.
The purpose of this distribution is to make it easy for end-users to install a fully-featured GNOME desktop on their favorite Unix system.
Q: Is this "Helix GNOME Desktop" another GNU/Linux distribution?
A: No, Helix GNOME is an add-on to your existing GNU/Linux distribution. You need an existing GNU/Linux system to run Helix GNOME.
Q: Is Helix GNOME free?
A: Yes, Helix GNOME is completely free. We are just packaging the latest and greatest versions of the various GNOME tools and making them as easy as possible for people to use.
As with other free software, you get the freedom to copy the software, modify the software, redistribute the software, and redistribute modified versions of the software.
Q: Can I buy a copy of Helix GNOME on a CD?
A: Helix GNOME will be available on CD in April.
Q: Does Helix GNOME distribution include support for Debian/Corel Linux?
A: Not yet, but we plan on supporting these systems in the near future.
Q: Does the Helix GNOME distribution include support for BSD?
A: The initial release of the Helix GNOME distribution does not include support for the free BSD systems, but we are on it.
Q: Will you provide timely updates to the various GNOME packages?
A: Yes, we will. GNOME is constantly under development. Whenever a new version of any piece of GNOME software is released, the dutiful hackers at Helix Code will do our best to make a packaged version available to you as quickly as possible.
Better still, the "Helix Update" application allows you to automatically update your GNOME desktop from the Helix web site whenever new packages become available. You can read more about Helix Update here:
http://www.helixcode.com/desktop/updater.php3
Q: Are you improving GNOME, or just shipping binaries?
A: The Helix GNOME desktop includes a number of improvements and patches that have been posted to public mailing lists, or have been committed to the GNOME CVS repository (but might not have been yet released to the public in source package format). This is all in the interests of making the best possible desktop experience available to GNOME users.
The Helix hackers are also constantly improving GNOME and the various GNOME tools, libraries and components and submitting patches to the various maintainers of those packages.
Helix Code employees actively maintain a huge number of GNOME packages, including: Bonobo, Achtung, Gnumeric, Go, Erdos, libzvt, gnome-terminal, gnome-core, gnome-applets, bug-buddy, gmc, gdk-pixbuf, eof, gnome canvas, evolution, gb, gtkhtml, gnome-vfs, camel, gnome-pim, glade, libibex, and others.
Q: Ok, I give up. What's spidermonkey?
A: Yes.
Enjoy!
The Helix Code Team
http://www.helixcode.com
Why not Debian packages? (Score:1)
Colors - Ack! (Score:1)
--
Ski-U-Mah!
Stop the MPAA [opendvd.org]
Helix Code and Nautilus? (Score:1)
How does/will the Helix Code desktop cooperate, coexist, or conflict with Nautilus and the like?
Re:Answer to what is spidermonkey (Score:1)
Isn't it something we should be expecting one time or another?
But GPL is great! It can be used as a great and strong way to avoid this commercialization from closing the source.
That's why I'm believing more and more that God exists, sends the GPL to RMS and illuminated Linus to use it on Linux.
"Show us the code" requires DOWNLOADING (Score:1)
For all the whiners, why don't you download the code FIRST, try it out, and THEN post? I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but maybe you would like to see what they are doing before you sound off with your opinion about what they are doing?
As for me, I'm glad they are doing this! I saw the announcements for gnome-core-1.5, but I was hesitant to try it out since I wasn't sure how it would interact with the rest of my environment. Thanks to HelixCode, I now am running the latest gnome, with all the new goodies. And it IS worth trying--some great stuff in here.
I must say that the "menu" panel is quite cool. I just wish I could figure out how to change the clock to 24 hours :-)
One gotcha: the new install did not handle my old configuration well. I must have done something mean to my session or panel config in the past, because it kept screwing up on load. Some vi hacking made that go away. I still think the new code was worth it, even with my isolated problems!
Re:installing on a rh6.1 box? (Score:1)
Re:Installer Problems? (Score:1)
Re:panel (Score:1)
So to people thinking about installing this use caution.
FYI: I am running Redhat 6.0
Re:What SpiderMonkey is... (Score:1)
What is SpiderMonkey?
SpiderMonkey is the code name for the Helix GNOME Desktop.
Screenshots / Which Theme? (Score:1)
Re:Why I don't use GNOME (Score:1)
Then you have all the power of the gtk+ widget architecture with the convient syntax of C++. No long names, nicely mapped as STL concepts, and a tutorial.
--Karl
Re:Why not Debian packages? (Score:1)
http://primates.helixcode.com/~peter/ [helixcode.com]
My time has lately been taken up with other issues related to this release, but the Debian packages are a high priority for me now.
It's unfortunate that you guys can't read our FAQ due to the Slashdotting.. It's one of the questions answered there.
Peter
What SpiderMonkey is... (Score:1)
- the article on Wide Open News [wideopen.com] says the Evolution mail client will be able to display Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint attachments;
- KOffice is one of the most promoted advantages of the new KDE 2.0 (and current 1.12), and Gnome has for a long time followed in the footsteps of KDE (not intended as an insult);
- There is no comparable GTK-based office productivity suite.
Clearly, then, [I cannot choose the glass in front of you, and] SpiderMonkey is an office productivity suite with word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and other components.C'mon folks, it's not a new kind of bagel spread. It's gotta be a software product built on GTK that fills a gaping hole in Linux users' desktop needs. What else could it be?
Installer Problems? (Score:1)
'Unable to parse mirror listing' is all i get when i select a mirror site, i was able to get all of the rpms, but the installer wont let me click Next when i select the local directory, aarrgg..
I know this should be sent to the helix support site (which is quite slashdotted right now
If it means anything, the GNOME installer looks really cool
Re:Installer Problems? (Score:1)
Does anyone know what files exactly are required to un-grey the next box?
Success! :) (Score:1)
apparently you needs everything to be in a helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/ directory...
note: allmirrors.xml, mirrors.xml, installer-latest-intel do not need to be in that 'local media' path... now i can have funfunfun
oops (Score:1)
O:)
Re:Important step in the wright direction (Score:1)
Gnome can now be managed as a more cohesive whole, and people can start to see a more consistent desktop identity -- assuming that people do the smart thing and use Helix Code or some equivalent packaging/improvement scheme.
Re:Installer Problems? (Score:1)
Not as such, but this is what my directories looked like when I installed...
helix/
helix/allmirrors.xml
helix/mirrors.xml
helix/installer-latest-intel(*)
helix/distributions/
helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/
helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/metapackages.xml
helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/packages.xml
helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/updates.xml
helix/distributions/Red_Hat_6/(various RPMs)
(*)This is unzipped and set executable.
Jay (=
Re:Why I don't use GNOME (Score:1)
You can't have a window with only a text box widget. Why? Because the window is a widget. There's a container widget of some type there, and then inside of that, you'll have a text box. You'll probably have some buttons there, too. Remember that those are also widgets.
The problem you describe has nothing to do with the toolkit. It'd be difficult for the toolkit to go about making decisions about what should have focus, and being wrong about that could be dangerous. The programmer is responsible for deciding what widget has the default focus. Blame the author, not the toolkit : )
Another question: aren't the function names much too long? Why all those casts? Doesn't that come from the C choice. I'm not a grat programmer, but that scarces me. I'd prefer C++ for the UI
The function names are hardly longer than those in many other toolkits. It doesn't seem to bother those of us who use GTK+, anyway. I'd call it a non-issue. The casts help insure correctness. If you're making a mistake with your objects, you'll be informed by debugging messages. And as for C++... it's a great language, but it's a lot more difficult to link against other languages. Just look at the number of binding for GTK+ vs. QT. There's a lot of flexibility there. I'm sure if you look through the linux kernel archives, you'll see why C++ is discouraged in the kernel. The same reasons apply to a lot of low level libraries, like libc. I think using C for GTK+ was absolutely the way to go.
RedHat and RealAudio (Score:1)
argh! (Score:1)
my applet panel chorks. no happy footprint icon, no icons at all... just chork.
Logging out by 'kill -9 X' sucks...
Now to figure out how to fix this...
Re:GNOME is a security risk! (Score:1)
Also obscurity of binaries (through lack of source) does not gives, IMO, better secutiry. It gives less, since you may not be able to trust the producer of the binary. And not know if they went ahead and added secret backdoors without your knowing. At least if you have the source, you could check for secret backdoors.
Why no mirrored SRPMS? (Score:1)
Well, I've been poking around at the various sites during the day, and I'm kinda disappointed to see that only the helixcode.com's server has the SRPM files available. And, as those who've tried to visit it today can attest, it's slower than tar flowing uphill. I tried to start downloading, and I was getting ~1K/sec on a fast pipe.
Regular GNOME gets a nice kick in the pants when I rebuild source RPMS with -mcpu=i686 -O6 - I'd like to get a chance to play with this a little.
good point (Score:1)
Yeah, a better idea would be to download the shell script, read it, then run it.
--Kneel
Re:Why not Debian packages? (Score:1)
In any case, you can try using alien, or just wait a few days for it to be debianized.
And there's always the good ole' tarball...
Re:Making Money (Score:1)
Ok. I disagree, but I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise, since I'm sure you've heard all the arguments before (I'd be surprised if you haven't) and I doubt anything I can say will change your mind at this point.
But either way, I suspect that Helix plans on making money in much the same way as Red Hat has.
And for the record, I consider it paying for convenience. And I've paid for Red Hat (more than once). And I plan on paying for Helix.
It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think you just crossed it.
--
- Sean
Ahem (Score:1)
Hmmm... seems like they plugged that one pretty quickly!
It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think you just crossed it.
--
- Sean
Re:Making Money (Score:1)
Do they plan to sell a shrink wrapped box on the shelves of Fry's? Why in the world should I buy it when it's already available on (insert FTP site here)? Are they only counting on the ignorant for sales? And if it seriously becomes so bloated that people won't download it, why not just get a $2 CD from Cheapbytes instead?
Or do they plan to go IPO and rake in cash from ignorant investors instead?
Or do they plan to make money through support? I don't think so, unless they're truly machiavellian. Consider that the better they make their product the less support it will need. If this is to be the easiest to use operating system, simple enough even for your grandmother, who's going to need support?
Or are they going to create closed source addons for Linux and sell those instead? This would be highly unusual (and hypocritical) since a lot of Linux components come from GNU.
The only thing I can think of is so they can sell manuals. So why then are they a software company instead of a publishing house?
It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think you just crossed it.
--
- Sean
Re:GNOME, Nautilus, now SpiderMonkey (Score:1)
And those idiots at Eazel shouldn't hype their product until they have at least an infrastructure and some solid code in CVS...
Oh, and those stupid GNOME coders shouldn't even mention their product until they have a 1.0 release ready. WTF are they thinking?? Wait....
What I want to know is... (Score:1)
Where are the Debian packages?
No Caldera support yet (Score:1)
Despite what the above article states, it looks like there is no Caldera OpenLinux support yet. The go-gnome script exits with a message stating that the version of rpm Caldera is using is too old, and to download the packages manually.
However, when trying to get a list of Caldera packages from the web page, it breaks with a "file not found" message. Looking at the directories manually shows that although a "distributions/Caldera" directory exists, it is empty except for an
Maybe HelixCode should remove Caldera from the list of distributions they claim to support until such time as such support is ready!
This sort of packaging is essential (Score:1)
essential if Linux is to succeed as a mainstream
desktop-OS.
Gnome is great, but installing source-packages
or even RPMs is not for your average windowsuser.
Helixcode as I understand is also a part of
the gnome-development.
The desktop looks very professional, very slick
and very inviting.
I'll try this
Debian already does this (Score:1)
Re:My impressions (Score:1)
And yes I could get the installer to work and download the whole shebang in 4 hours! Thank U very much. It simply looks great!
Re:Helix Code and Nautilus? (Score:1)
They are both companies that work to give gnome professional stuff. Both work on gnome and both companies work is in CVS in gnome.org web site.
No conflicts!
Hope this helps, it's the best I can do at midnight
Re:What is their goal? (Score:1)
JM
What is their goal? (Score:1)
Also, beware that gnome will be adding Visual Basic support and a registry soon. These are not unconfirmed rumors (one was told to me by Miguel). Since I don't feel like the GNOME people are innovative and I feel like they are trying to emulate Microsoft as closely as they can, I have stopped using gnome.
DAMNIT (Score:1)
So I emptied out 150 mbs, and the program proceded to re-download the whole damn thing again, and then said "Not enough space, free up 45.9mb." GAWD DAMIT.
----------------------------------------------
Re:Making Money (Score:1)
treke
Window Manager? (Score:1)
Re:This sort of packaging is essential (Score:1)
to be successful in the desktop arena, your average trained house pet must be able to install it. I often read in various threads here on
about the instabilities of windoze and how it crashes often however the average
Re:This sort of packaging is essential (Score:1)
Re:Debian GNU/Linux and GNOME (Score:1)
Re:Why not Debian packages? (Score:1)
Others I've "experienced":
Digital setld (simple but also featureless)
AIX lpp (bang head on wall several times)
Solaris pkgadd (a close 2nd but no apt-equivalent)
RPM (featurefull but complex)
SLP (you gotta be joking)
Re:Spidermonkey (Score:1)
Re:Yaaahh!! Security? (Score:1)
Gnome 1.1.5 (Score:1)
Re:Whats with all the negetive vibes? (Score:1)
Re:My impressions (Score:1)
Helix Code is the company name (Score:1)
Helix Code is an open source software company devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux.
Their product, as fas as I can tell, is called Helix GNOME installer. It's GPL-ed, and you can download the source [helixcode.com] from their ftp site (which is not yet
installing on a rh6.1 box? (Score:1)
Re:installing on a rh6.1 box? (Score:1)
Re:What is their goal? (Score:2)
The GNOME project only releases packages in source format. There are no updated packages released in a timely fashion, nor they are easy to install (one of the main complaints from users).
It is not about a fork. Everything in Helix GNOME is either a released package, or a released package with patches applied to it to customize it for your specific system.
This means that Helix GNOME has been tuned for your particular GNU/Linux distribution.
Regarding Visual Basic support in GNOME: it is true, we are developing a sandboxed interpreter of Visual Basic for GNOME, as it is required if you want complete Excel and Word compatibility.
Sadly, the Word doc files and Excel XLS files are the standard these days. Not our nice and beautiful XML-based file formats. So, for the sake of the users, we are providing full compatibility with the existing systems.
The sanboxed GNOME Basic is designed to avoid security problems and denial of service attacks.
If a user can not use his word document or his excel spreadsheet because it contained some visual basic macros, the wrong answer is "Visual Basic is Evil" (or any variation on that). The user will just go back to use his working Excel/Word applications and wait until the free software people get a clue.
So just like Microsoft had to use TCP/IP for its communications instead of their own protocols (as TCP/IP was the standard), we need to interoperate with the existing standard (and yes, it happens to be a Microsoft-defined one). But so it goes, it is not the end of the world.
Best wishes,
Miguel.
Re:Spidermonkey (Score:2)
The above server is referenced in their xml files.
There - clear as mud.
...j
yeah right (Score:2)
kfort
how does that relate to eazel? (Score:2)
enhancements, i wonder what the big picture
looks like?
any idea how these different projects will
work together? or do they have different
objectives? afaik, everyone is touting
"make gnome easier", but thats quite a
fuzzy term is it.
Re:Why not Debian packages? (Score:2)
~luge
It looks cool... (Score:2)
My impressions (Score:2)
Segmentation fault
Oh well. I'm having a bad overall weekend: Linux has, for the first time, bit me. Sawmill upgrade is fscked up, lots of other things are breaking all over the place. ACK! A pal of mine called with his ruined NT machine (added a modem, won't boot anymore) so I guess its not so bad.
Sorry, off-topic. Has anyone got the package installer to work?
Re:The need for standards (Score:2)
You are right in saying that having to package the same program n times because there exist n Linux distributions is annoying.
However I disagree with your comparison with the Unix situations. This comparison has been agressively fed to the press by Microsoft, although it is vastly inaccurate:
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
----
Re:Yaaahh!! Security? (Score:2)
----
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
The answer is, you wouldn't, at least not likely. I think it is likely they will make most of their money with corporate contracts. For example, a small distribution wants to use Gnome as their default desktop. But they want it customized. Helix Code will do that for them for a fee, customizing any details they want. Maybe this company also wants them to write a wizard to set up networking or something. The possibilities are endless. The company pays Helix code to write them a customized desktop environment and even to write additional applications for it.
As for contracts, it sounds interesting. But ask yourself why a company would pay Helix to write an application that will be released for free when it is complete. The "free rider" problem inherent in this situation is enormous!
Maybe you aren't quite in tune with how Open Source business works. Do you have any idea how many people are paid to write open source (free) applications? And it actually works. Let's go back to the example of the distribution company. Let's call them GreenCap Linux. GreenCap is a new distribution. They like what they see with the Helix Desktop, but want a bit more. They pay Helix Code to customize the desktop to their specifications. They pay them to write a few small configuration tools (in the spirit of the RedHat control panel or something), wizards, that sort of thing. They pay the Gnome experts to write customized Gnome documentation for the GreenCap manual. There you have it. GreenCap outsourced a part of their product for a fee. They make the loss back and actually make profit when they sell their freely downloadable product in boxed form with support agreements, beautiful manuals, and some extra commerical applications. See how it works?
----
Re:What is their goal? (Score:2)
As for not being innovative, you obviously don't keep up with Gnome development. The evolution mailer, for example, is extremely innovative. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have yet to see such a model for handling mail. The "folders" are simply different ways of looking at your mail collection--filters, or database queries, if you will.
----
slashdotted (Score:2)
Okay that was fast as hell. I don't think I've seen something go down that hard in a long time.
Congrats to all involved in the world's most effective DoS attack.
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
I suspect that several companies will attempt this, with most of them failing. But this is a free market economy, so either one will find it or it doesn't exist. I suspect that in five or ten years you will find that commercial Free Software will have found all of its niches, but that there will be some it can't utilize, and those will remain proprietary.
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
Why would I choose Helix Support, Inc. over Redhat or Linuxcare support. As an enterprise, doesn't it make much more sense to have a single support source like Linuxcare who would support Gnome and KDE and Linux and Apache and whatever else you needed support for. I also question the assumption that sales can be replaced by support. It's like declaring the skill of the developer to be valueless.
As for contracts, it sounds interesting. But ask yourself why a company would pay Helix to write an application that will be released for free when it is complete. The "free rider" problem inherent in this situation is enormous!
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
To take your GreenCap example, let's say that I am starting my own Open Source business. Let's call it YellowTop Linux. Why should I hire Helix as a development firm to create a new desktop for me, when I can spend zero dollars and use the one they made for GreenCap? This is what I meant by the "free rider" problem. Why pay the money when you know all of your competitors will receive your product for free?
Free Software may have rewritten the rules of software development, but it hardly touched the rules of economics and business. If you look at the Redhat IPO filings, they do not claim that they will profit in the long term by selling shrink wrapped boxes. I have no doubts that Helix will make money in the short term. Everything with the word "Linux" attached to it is certain of that. I just want to know how Helix is going to make its money in the long term.
Re:Cut it out (Score:2)
True,
On the other hand, I remember hearing that a board had only a limited amount of liability regarding the contents of the posts, provided that they were not excersizing editorial control, by removing even one post.
Since 'slashdot' itself never really removes any posts (even those moderated all the way down), I'm not sure how much liability they really have.
Re:Let Hemos take a whack at it (Score:2)
A:Helix Code is an open source software company devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux. We want to make GNOME the best desktop on the planet, and make it available to everyone."
Reading isn't exactly your best talent is it?
If you mean what is Helix GNOME, it's a release of GNOME made by Helix Code....again not exactly rocket science to understand
Re:Making Money (Score:2)
But this isn't what you are saying. Quite frankly, no one really knows much about how Free Software business works. The only real reference point is Red Hat who have been in business long enough and develop entirely free software.
You are quite right. If other companies can freely redistribute and sell Helix GNOME with its own additions (perhaps propietary) then what does Helix offer to the consumer that others don't?
Perhaps since this is free software we are talking about, that the various companies can cooperate instead of compete? That doesn't make much sense now that I think about it.
I'd like to think that as a company Helix can adapt to a very new business model (like Red Hat has been trying to do for the last billion years).
In summary I have to admit that there is plenty I don't know about business to know other ways of making money off of free software, or whether it's pointless. I don't think Miguel does either so maybe he should hire someone who does. But I think they are doing this even though the risk is so large is because the potential is so great.
Perhaps Red Hat would hire them for development?
But making money off of Free Software is something I support.
I don't know.
Cut it out (Score:2)
Seriously, this sort of thing should not get moderated up. It's the soul of redundancy, and it infringes on Helix's IP rights. Maybe they wouldn't mind. Maybe they would. I know a lot of sites that would. Helix probably isn't one of them, but that's hardly the point. You could actually be opening Slashdot up to liability by posting illegally. Just because there's a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, doesn't mean it's true -- Slashdot is not a common-carrier.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Re:Cut it out (Score:2)
Slashdot does excercise control over what gets posted. Not through moderation, either. You can only post once every 90 seconds, and you can be banned from posting at all (for a limited time, but the point remains). The latter point, more than the first, makes them a discriminating carrier. Telephone systems are common carriers: you can talk all you want (it costs you, but you can do it) and no matter what, the telco cannot take away your line for something you've said on it. So yes, truly indifferent boards can be considered common-carriers, but I hardly think Slashdot qualifies as one of these.
In any case, this is beside the point -- posting copyrighted material (which was the concern of my previous post) is illegal, and infringes on the intellectual property rights of others. If you don't respect other people's IP rights, how can you expect them to respect yours? (read: the ever-precious GPL).
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Re:Cut it out (Score:2)
My comment may have been off-the-cuff; I was trying to drive the point home. Although it may not apply to you, many people here on /. find it very convenient to break IP laws when it suits them (read: MP3s), but still scream bloody murder when a company like Corel commits an infraction of the GPL. I'm simply trying to say that you can't have it both ways, so if you're going to throw other people's IP out the window, keep that in mind when they start kicking around yours.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Article on Helix Code and GNOME (Score:2)
Re:Window Manager? (Score:2)
Re:Did anybody get mirrors? (Score:2)
Hope this helps!
A Small Package Question (Score:2)
RPM (featurefull but complex)
SLP (you gotta be joking)
I have to admit, creating RPMs was way more complex than I wanted, compared with creating [Slackware] TGZs.
And what functionality do SLPs give you that RPMs and DEBs don't?
[This message is not a flame, nor is it flame-retardant]
--
it *is* cool (Re:It looks cool...) (Score:2)
I wrote an article [htp] over the weekend for which Miguel and Nat explained to me their plans for World Domination through ease of use. I'm going to start using Evolution when it's officially released, because just having a *faster* email program that reads MS Office docs will make a world of difference.
Why I don't use GNOME (Score:2)
Progress,but linux still a lackluster web platform (Score:2)
Linux is losing ground every day to the windows platform in terms of web browsing - windows has a better browser (IE5) than anything available for linux, and every manner of streaming player is available for the platform. How many media players does linux support? RealPlayer on linux is a joke.
Eazel mirror (Score:3)
Did anybody get mirrors? (Score:3)
Their server was struggling when "gnome.org" posted the link. With Slashdot posting as well they're down for the count. Did anybody get any mirrors? Please post-em if you have-em.
Re:Streaming media? (Score:3)
I agree that a decent browser is important, but keep in mind that Linux distributions will start shipping with a kick-ass browser (Mozilla) within a few months. Windows users will have to struggle through a download in order to get a state-of-the-art browser.
I suppose streaming media is important for some people, but I don't really care. A non-proprietary standard for streaming media will emerge (maybe already has - I don't follow this stuff) and Linux will support it well.
For my personal use Linux is a great desktop. My business clients will start switching to Linux desktops once 1) Mozilla is released, 2) Corel Office Suite is released.
Average home users will switch when either 1) Linux gets more games, or 2) Playstations become so popular that people don't bother with PC games anymore. I suspect that both of these will occur to some extent over the next year and by next summer Linux will be in homes in a big way. If 1999 was the year of the iMac, 2001 will be the year of Linux Desktops.
RPMs easier than DEBs? (Score:3)
Daniel
Re:Progress,but linux still a lackluster web platf (Score:3)
RealPlayer on linux is a joke
RealAudio is a joke anyway, so the player being a pile of clinker is no great loss. The real lingua-franca for audio on the web, MP3, is very well supported under Linux.
As for IE5, I have to admit it is a pleasant experience using it ... Mozilla has a lot to catch up with in this department, but I'm confident that it will. At that point it will be MicroSoft who will be playing catch up, as I'm sure IE is going to be held up by it's origins in the pre-HTML 4.0 era.
Chris Wareham
Hello, Nat! (Score:3)
OK, so that this doesn't get moderated to
Helix Code was originally known as "International GNOME Support."
Hey, that counts as content, right?
-Waldo
Spidermonkey *IS* the Helix GNOME Desktop! (Score:3)
--
GroundAndPound.com [groundandpound.com] News and info for martial artists of all styles.
The need for standards (Score:3)
Also I see that the site has been Slashdotted. Will Helixcode look exactly the same as GNOME? Or has the interface radically changed?
Making Money (Score:3)
Do they plan to sell a shrink wrapped box on the shelves of Fry's? Why in the world should I buy it when it already comes with (insert distro here)? Even if it didn't come with my distro, I can still download it. Are they only counting on the ignorant for sales? And if it seriously becomes so bloated that people won't download it, why not just get a $2 CD from Cheapbytes instead?
Or do they plan to go IPO and rake in cash from ignorant investors instead?
Or do they plan to make money through support? I don't think so, unless they're truly machiavellian. Consider that the better they make their product the less support it will need. If this is to be the easiest to use desktop, simple enough even for your grandmother, who's going to need support?
Or are they going to create closed source addons for GNOME and sell those instead? This would be highly unusual (and hypocritical) since the founder of Helix is a member of GNU.
The only thing I can think of is so they can sell manuals. So why then are they a software company instead of a publishing house?
Let Hemos take a whack at it (Score:3)
Seriously, I read the whole thing about three times and I can't figure out what "Helic Code" is. Here are some quotes:
"Helix GNOME is a service..."
"Helix GNOME is an add-on..."
"Helix GNOME will be available on CD..."
As far as I can tell, it's an automatic package updater for GNOME only...? Yeah, that sounds useful.
--
Here is the result of your Slashdot Purity Test.
mirror of the distribution (Score:3)
but there is a mirror of the distribution
at RPMfind:
ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/helix/distributions/
Whats with all the negetive vibes? (Score:3)
A) They are improving GNOME.
B) They are polishing it so it doesn't look like some hacker project that's still in development. That may be the case, but face it, in the real world, polish counts for a lot.
C) They're making it easy to install. You click on the exe, it runs the installer, you choose your options and you install the damn thing. It may not be the best way to distribute a system to hundreds of users over a network, but is the best way for the average user to install it. Say what you will, but clicking on the setup program is a lot easier than opening up an xterm and compiling it, or gathering all the dependencies, putting them into a directory, typing rmp -U *.rpm, then fucking with GDM to get the thing working. While we are on the topic of dependencies, PEOPLE HATE DEPENDENCIES. Sure the sysadmin might appreciate the flexiblity, but the average user with only a 56K connection to the internet is going to hate having to hunt for all the packages and dependencies and install them individually. Whats wrong with putting them all in one rpm? Its harder to hunt for all the dependencies, then sit there and click on each one to download it, than it is to hit download on one big rpm, and have it just not install duplicate stuff when setup is run. You might save a few megs of dl on the first way, but most people will want to just leave the thing on overnight. (15 meg on a 56 K modem takes HOURS) They're doing all these good things, so whats your (collective) problem?
gnome-core 1.1.15 (Score:3)
-nulity-
I am nothing.
Spidermonkey (Score:4)
At linuxworld in NYC last Feb, I hung out at the Helix Code booth. I was chatting with some of the dudes from there and asked him what he did. He said he works on Spidermonkey. Whats that? I asked. Well he wouldn't tell me for anything. nadda info.
So I took the rest of the conference to ask them whenever I saw someone new at their booth. They really clam up when you mention spidermonkey, start mumbling about NDA's and asking where I heard that name.
So now everyone knows the name, can anyone find out anything more about this secret project? Whatever it is they have a few developers working full time on it.
kfort
GNOME is a security risk! (Score:5)
Linux users need to insist on secure binaries which cannot be tampered with by rogue government agencies!
Without the obscurity that binaries provide, how can linux hope to become a trusted server platform when facing competition from products such as Windows 2000 ? It cant!
Insist on binary only releases today!
Yaaahh!! Security? (Score:5)
The simplest way to install the Helix GNOME Desktop is to use the Helix GNOME
Installer. You can automatically download and start the installer in three easy steps:
1.Open a terminal window.
2.Using the su command, become superuser:
$ su
Password: [Enter your root password here]
3.Start go-gnome by typing the following command or cutting and pasting it
into your terminal:
lynx -source http://spidermonkey.helixcode.com/go-gnome |sh
In other words: Become root, download some file from an insecure web address, and pipe it through 'sh'. I'm no security guru, but this is THE WORST LINUX SECURITY ADVICE I'VE EVER HEARD. You should NEVER, EVER run untrusted code as root without examining it first. What if some malicious cracker breaks into one of the mirrors and adds the line 'cd
They need to use a secure certificate to transmit the first part of the script, which should then download the packages AND test their MD5 checksums. Average users can be excused from testing MD5's for every package, but this is an automatic script that is backed by Helix Code's reputation, so they should go the extra mile (it's more like a tenth of a mile in this case). If the user doesn't have MD5 or support for secure certificates, then you can fall back to something simpler, with a warning message.
--JRZ