Re: [Fresco-devel] cache graphics

Hey Nick,

nice to see you again !

Nick Lewycky wrote:

> If this is a full waterfall designed project then I'm asking to see us 

Fresco has been a research project from its very beginning ('InterViews'),
and as such has been designed iteratively. And dangerously, even the
requirements have evolved in important ways. (As you notice, in the beginning
it wasn't a client - server architecture at all)

> back in the requirements phase. What is Fresco supposed to achieve? What 
> do we require from it? And please, please, can we learn from what we got 
> wrong the first time? (the whole "fresco separates device from look 
> rather that separating presentation from content" problem still rings in 
> my ears.)

Hear, hear !
There is a lot going on in the development of hardware and alternative
software solutions in 'our' domain. The answers that looked right fifteen
years ago may not be appropriate any more.

The central issue you are addressing is still the hardest part I believe:
how to provide good hardware abstraction while still striving for high
quality rendering.

I think the undelaying goals are still very valid (encapsulation of rendering
strategies into the server, say), but it's very hard to come up with a 'good'
interface that makes it possible to get the most out of all kinds of rendering
devices (just think of openGL rendering as opposed to postscript based printing).

Yes, I believe it's high time to assess the requirements that were set out
as the justification for the basic design decisions. Me, too, I would be
very happy to see us get out of the current impasse.

With that, happy new year to everyone :-)

Stefan