Re: OpenDarwin shutting down

On Jul 25, 2006, at 9:42 PM, Rob Braun wrote:

> OpenDarwin was originally created with the goal of providing a
> development environment for building and developing Mac OS X  
> sources as
> well as developing a standalone Darwin OS derivative.  OpenDarwin was
> meant to be a development community and a proving ground for fixes and
> features for Mac OS X and Darwin, which could be picked up by Apple  
> for
> inclusion in the canonical sources.
> OpenDarwin has failed to achieve its goals in 4 years of operation,  
> and
> moves further from achieving these goals as time goes on.  For this
> reason, OpenDarwin will be shutting down.

This is a real shame. I understand the reasons, though.

However, I am slightly confused by the timing. After all, Apple's  
World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), where the next version of Mac  
OS X (10.5, 'Leopard') will be previewed, is just around the corner -  
it will take place less than two weeks from now. That might have been  
a forum for some direct feedback into, and back out of, Apple, which  
might have led to perhaps improved communication between Apple and  
OpenDarwin (yes, unlikely but possible), or might indeed have further  
clarified the issues; either way, I would have thought that with WWDC  
so close by, it could have made sense to see if anything, positive or  
negative, might be derived from WWDC. Who knows, Apple might even  
have some Darwin-related announcements planned for WWDC, which might  
affect this decision. Likewise, even if any information gotten from  
WWDC were to only further support the decision to shut down  
OpenDarwin, that would have been useful extra recent background for  
the decision.

Or, for that matter, an announcement about now, in advance of WWDC,  
that OpenDarwin was _considering_ closing down, might have prompted  
some form of response from Apple, such that at WWDC itself, a renewed  
commitment could be publicised - or alternatively, after WWCD, there  
would be a follow-up announcement that because Apple _didn't_ address  
the issues, the shutdown that had been considered would now take place.

Now, I am aware that I am not even a contributor to OpenDarwin nor  
any of its related projects, just an interested bystander, and that  
my comments must be seen in that context. Nevertheless, any reply  
would be much appreciated.

Best wishes,

// Christian Brunschen