[squeak-dev] Re: [Squeak 4.0] Welcome text (work in progress)

Ronald Spengler ron.spengler at gmail.com
Fri Feb 26 18:29:51 UTC 2010


Right! It's a very small release of earth shattering importance
because it's about freedom.

Subbu: I agree that we could have a more exciting welcome screen, but
I think that effort would be better directed at the 4.1 (Trunk)
release.

On Friday, February 26, 2010, Andreas Raab <andreas.raab at gmx.de> wrote:
> On 2/26/2010 8:55 AM, Ronald Spengler wrote:
>
> We need a new welcome screen for the 4.0 release artifact. I started
> playing with that. Here's what I have so far. I'd love suggestions for
> changes. Also, I didn't touch the copyright stuff, and I don't know
> that it's still correct. Randal?
>
> I'd also like to suggest that we also have a History of 4.0 window
> which (since there aren't a lot of changes) gives some credit to the
> people who busted their butts to make the relicense possible.
>
>
> This sounds excellent. As for the introduction, THE main change is the license, so it should be front and center. I would do something like here:
>
> --------------
> Squeak 4.0
>
> Squeak 4.0 is the pinnacle of several years of relicensing work. Even though this version is functionally equivalent to Squeak 3.10.2, it is the first Squeak version to be licensed to 100% under FOSS terms <link>. Squeak 4.0 is licensed under MIT, with some original Apple parts remaining under Apache 2.0 license.
>
> The licensing effort was a major task, we'd like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations for their support and tireless work:
>         ....
>
> --------------
>
> Then maybe just include the original 3.10.2 welcome. In any case, my recommendation would be to make the license change the center piece of the announcement. We're not trying to create excitement about the re-release of 3.10.2, we're trying to create excitement around the fact that it's now fully under FOSS licenses.
>
> Cheers,
>   - Andreas
>
>
>
> =============================>
>
> Squeak 4.0
>
> Welcome to Squeak - a free, open Smalltalk system.
>
> Squeak is an open source implementation of Smalltalk that includes an
> expansive and rapidly developing world of objects.
>
> Squeak includes a fully integrated development environment,
> networking, sound synthesis and sampling, speech synthesis, 2&  3D
> graphics, arithmetic and data structure libraries.
>
> Squeak even includes the tools to produce its own virtual machine (VM)
> so you can build your own - and most of the VM is written in
> Smalltalk. Not only is all the Smalltalk source code included and
> changeable, it is also completely open and free. The Squeak system
> image runs bit-identically across all platforms, and VMs are available
> for just about every computer and operating system available.
>
> To find out exactly which version of Squeak this is, go the Squeak
> flap on left,  and push "about this system" button
>
> Morphic
> This release of Squeak uses the Morphic graphics architecture.  Squeak
> also includes an MVC architecture available inside MVC projects (see
> the world menu 'open...' options).  Most of the standard system
> windows can be opened in either framework, but media support is much
> more highly developed in Morphic.
>
> Projects
> Projects are separate worlds within Squeak, similar to pages on the
> Internet.  In fact active projects can be shared over the internet
> just like web pages.  Projects may be found by selecting the 'FIND'
> button under the Navigator tab at the bottom of the screen.
>
> To 'Go Back' from a project you have entered, choose 'previous
> project' from the world menu, or '<  PREV' from the navigator tab.
>
> Color graphics
> Squeak's BitBlt has been retrofitted with support for variable-depth
> color and many performance enhancements.  It has several added
> functions including a paint mode that supports transparency, and an
> alpha-blend mode for 32-bit color.  It also has a "warp-drive" variant
> that will scale, rotate, and otherwise deform bitmaps in a single
> pass.  Interested users will want to try
>         Display restoreAfter: [WarpBlt test1]
> and
>         Display restoreAfter: [WarpBlt test3].
>
> Sound
> Squeak includes base classes and some simple primitives that support
> real-time background generation of sound and music.  Interested users
> may want to try
>         AbstractSound stereoBachFugue play.
> to stop this composition before it is over
>       SoundPlayer stopPlayingAll
>
> Further Documentation
> The primary website for Squeak is
>
> http://www.squeak.org/
>
> and it links to a large amount of online information, including a
> wiki. There are many active mailing lists; Squeak-beginners is
> especially good for those new to Smalltalk, while squeak-dev is the
> main list. Please join a list!
>
> License
> Squeak is distributed for use and modification subject to a pair of
> liberal open source licenses, Apache and MIT. See the main Squeak
> website for details. Unless stated to the contrary, works submitted
> for incorporation into or for distribution with Squeak shall be
> presumed subject to the MIT license.
>
> To see the license agreement at any time, double click just past the
> open square-brace below, yellow/secondary-click, and choose 'print it'
> from the menu that appears.
>
> [ Smalltalk license ]
>
> Portions of Squeak are:
>
> Copyright (c) 1996 Apple Computer, Inc.
> Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Walt Disney Company, and/or
> Copyrighted works of many other contributors.
> All rights reserved
>
> 4dot0 Release Team
> Ronald Spengler
> etc (your names here)
>
> And a long list of people you could see in "history of 4.0" window.
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Ron



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