CHANGES from previous RFD:
The RFD that was initially sent was a copy of an archived one from
a few years ago. The proponent piped entirely the wrong file into
inews, and apologizes profusely. This RFD differs so significantly
from that one as to make a full list of differences here impractical.
Newsgroup lines:
comp.os.geos.misc The GEOS operating system by Geoworks.
comp.os.geos.programmer Programming for the GEOS operating system.
This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of a
world-wide unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.os.geos.programmer.
This is not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time.
Procedural details are below.
RATIONALE: comp.os.geos.programmer
Discussion of the GEOS operating system has taken place on the
group comp.os.geos (and to a lesser extent on the long-obsolete
group comp.os.msdos.pcgeos) for more than three years.
In that time, PC's running GEOS-based environments such as Geoworks
Ensemble and IBM SchoolView have been joined by word processors from
Brother and Canon, palmtop pen computers from AST, Casio,
Hewlett-Packard, Sharp and Tandy, and recently introduced smart phones
from Nokia. Numerous small software development firms and hobbyists
have acquired GEOS software development tools, which are used to
create all manner of cross-platform third-party software. Many
third-party shareware programs have been distributed via the
comp.binaries.geos newsgroup.
Increased interest of GEOS development is reflected in the traffic on
comp.os.geos and comp.os.msdos.pcgeos: A recent snapshot of
comp.os.geos showed that of 280 posts, 140 made reference to code,
drivers, GOC, ESP, the SDK, programming, or development. Ongoing
threads on programming have thrived for months, and numerous users
have expressed a desire for a distinct newsgroup dedicated to GEOS
programming.
RATIONALE: comp.os.geos.misc
Usenet protocol dictates that when a new subgroup is created within
an existing hierarchy, the parent group is to be replaced with a
.misc subgroup. This group would replace comp.os.geos, and serve
much the same purpose as that group currently serves, with the
obvious exception of topics covered by comp.os.geos.programmer. A
minor change is also suggested to the newsgroups line, as the "PC
clones" mentioned in the comp.os.geos line now make up only a small
percentage of the total installed base of GEOS systems.
RATIONALE: REMOVE comp.os.msdos.pcgeos
This group was actually obsoleted by comp.os.geos, and had it not
been for an oversight by an inexperienced proponent, it would have
been removed long ago.
CHARTER: comp.os.geos.programmer
The newsgroup comp.os.geos.programmer will be dedicated to the
discussion of software development for the GEOS operating system
from Geoworks. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the
structure of the GEOS operating system itself; the use of
development tools for GEOS, including the Geoworks SDK (Software
Development Kit), Geoworks Bindery, IZL (Interpreted Zoomer Language)
from Feras Technologies, and additional tools which may be created
by Geoworks or third-party programmers in the future; and the
marketing and distribution of third-party software for GEOS as
appropriate among software developers.
This group is intended for developers, programmers, content authors,
and others who create, or intend to create, software to run with the
GEOS operating system to assist each other and share their knowledge
and expertise. Prospective developers and other interested
individuals are welcome to participate here. End-user discussion
about GEOS software, products, and devices should appropriately take
place in comp.os.geos.misc.
END CHARTER.
CHARTER: comp.os.geos.misc
comp.os.geos.misc is an unmoderated forum for general discussion of
the GEOS operating system and related products from GeoWorks
(Berkeley, CA), their associated third-party development partners, and
independent software vendors.
GEOS is a pre-emptive multitasking, multithreading, object-oriented
graphical operating system which runs on PC-compatibles.
All topics related to GEOS are welcome on comp.os.geos.misc, except
those which have a more specific group (such as programming issues,
which would use comp.os.geos.programmer). These include - but are not
by any means limited to - GeoWorks Ensemble 1.0, 1.2, and 2.0,
GeoWorks Pro, the GeoWorks Personal Office Series, GeoWorks Escape,
Certified Software's utilities and games, America Online, the
forthcoming Tandy/Casio Zoomer palmtop and the applications being
developed for it by Palm, Intuit, and others, configuration and
performance-tuning of GEOS systems, bugs and "undocumented features,"
and announcement and discussion of new hardware and software products.
END CHARTER.
PROCEDURE:
This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase
of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue
for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For
Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion
warrants it. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.
All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.
This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "How
to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal". Please refer to these
documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have any
questions about the process.
DISTRIBUTION:
This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups, news.groups,
comp.os.geos,comp.os.msdos.pcgeos
and will be posted to the following mailing list:
geos-dev@lifelike.com (GEOS development)
Subcribe via: majordomo@lifelike.com
Proponent: Dan Birchall <birchall@pilot.njin.net>
- --
___________________________________________________________________________
Dan "Shag" Birchall, Internet Consultant http://bc.emanon.net/dan/
Member of the HTML Writers Guild and Internet Developers Association