Why did you choose the name Cosmoe? Is Cosmoe an acronym?

I like the name Cosmoe all by itself, but yes, Cosmoe is an acronym as well. It stands for Compatible Open Source Multi Operating-system Environment. In what it surely a sign of the times, the fact that cosmoe.com was available played no small part in the naming decision.

Why did you do this? Why not just use MacOS/Windows/Linux/*BSD?

Mainly, I started writing Cosmoe just for fun. That's still the main reason. I don't have any aspiration of taking over the world with it. The design and coding of operating systems is very interesting to me, and it's been a great learning experience. Hopefully you can find some fun and usefulness in Cosmoe as well. Having said that, I should add that I do take Cosmoe very seriously and plan on devoting as much time as I have to developing it into a top-notch OS.

Secondly, MacOS and Windows are closed-source, which severely limits the ability of the "community" to shape their future. Existing Linux and BSD distributions are primarily geared toward the server arena, a task which they perform admirably. However, there does not currently exist a viable open-source desktop operating system that meets the needs of users and developers alike. Cosmoe will fill that void.

Lastly, I have a bit of graphic-designer blood in me, and frankly I think the existing Linux desktop efforts look amateurish compared to the luxuriousness of MacOS or the crispness of BeOS or QNX. (no offense to the KDE/Gnome folks, who have obviously put many thousands of hours of work into their respective products) I believe that there should be an open source desktop operating system that doesn't skimp on behaving correctly and looking good while doing it. Granted, Cosmoe is a long way from achieving that goal, but I do intend to address that as time permits.

Another reason for this project is my loathing of X11. I tried to like it -- I really did. However, after trying to make sense of this decades-old monstrosity, I came to the conclusion that it should taken out behind the barn and shot. Cosmoe is my gun.

Many people have read the above and then pointed out that Cosmoe currently looks terrible. They are correct. I just don't want it to stay that way, and core code changes must come before pretty pictures.

Why did you use the Linux kernel? Why not Darwin/*BSD/NewOS?

Actually I would have liked to use a BSD-based system such as FreeBSD or Darwin, but for various reasons they did not suit the requirements of the project. Darwin currently lacks drivers (and writing Darwin drivers is difficult since it uses a non-standard method of doing so), and has insufficient support for pthreads. BSD, to the best of my knowledge, does not have in-kernel framebuffer support, which would have placed a big hurdle on getting this project started. It's not out of the question to have Cosmoe sit on top of BSD at some point. NewOS is too far away from being a realistic option to pursue at this point, even without getting into issue of drivers. If a viable, working system is going to happen this year as opposed to many years down the road, basing Cosmoe on the Linux kernel is not just a good option, it's the only option. I think you will find me to be much more of a pragmatist than an idealist compared with most open-source developers.

Which features familiar to BeOS users are not supported on Cosmoe?

Cosmoe is still in the early development stages. Currently many entire subsystems such as archiving, replicants, printing, MIDI support, and perhaps others are not currently available. Some of these issues can be rectified with your development help and/or financial support.

Is Cosmoe a BeOS clone?

No, Cosmoe is a unique OS which happens to use an API which is largely similar to that of BeOS. Programs written for BeOS should generally compile on Cosmoe. If they don't, report it as a bug!

Do you use any BeOS code in Cosmoe? I heard some leaked out.

Certainly not. While there have been rumors of code leaks, we have neither seen nor do we use any Be proprietary code. Nor would we want to, since it could jeapardize the legality of the entire project.

I'd like to use Cosmoe in an important project, can I get dedicated support for it?

Yes, we can and do provide those types of services. Contact hayden@haydentech.com for more information.

What license does Cosmoe use?

Three distinct licenses are used by parts of Cosmoe. The appserver is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The libcosmoe API library is released under the GNU Lesser Public License (LGPL), and can therefore be freely linked into either free or proprietary applications without license tainting. Other Cosmoe supporting applications, such as Deskbar and Tracker are distributed under a BSD-style license known as Be Source Code License.

Do you allow source code changes to be submitted for inclusion into Cosmoe?

Certainly -- in fact it is highly encouraged. This question gets asked a lot simply because Kurt Skauen, the author of Atheos (on which Cosmoe was largely based) did not allow changes to be submitted. As with most open source projects, code submission must be in compliance with the appropriate license, free of patented algorithms, and the author must disclaim copyright on the work.

Cosmoe doesn't compile! I get internal compiler errors! What can I do?

You need gcc 3 or newer, though I would higly recommend using the latest release available. Cosmoe is developed using gcc 3.4.2/x86 and gcc 3.1/ppc, and I do not regularly go and test compilation on older versions of gcc or on other compilers. At one time, Cosmoe compiled under gcc 2.96, but that is probably no longer the case.

Will binary compatibility ever break between releases of Cosmoe?

Until the first "stable" release, yes, binary compatibility will almost certainly break due to changes in the Cosmoe API.

Is Cosmoe binary-compatible with existing BeOS executables? with MacOS executables?

There are no plans to support binary compatibility with existing BeOS or MacOS executables, even in the long term.

Is Cosmoe source-code-compatible with existing BeOS code? with MacOS code? with Windows code? with GTK code?

Cosmoe strives to be source-code compatible with BeOS and (pending release of the relevant code) MacOS Carbon code. Windows source-compatibility would be nice, but that's a long way off if we ever even go there at all. Cosmoe should be able to use the Be back-end to gtk+, allowing gtk+ apps to be compiled and run.

Is Cosmoe binary compatible with Windows executables?

No... at least not yet. Integrating WINE or PEACE is certainly a possibility for the future.

What is a code bounty?

A code bounty, simply put, is a payment to someone in the developer community for producing the source code for a needed component of Cosmoe. In the majority of cases this benefits the open-source community in general. Code bounties are funded by donations to Cosmoe and purchases of Cosmoe CDs and merchandise. You may use donations to "vote" for a feature or component that you would like to see developed (or even a bug that you would like to see fixed), and the top vote-getting projects will have code bounties posted. You can donate to the Code Bounty Fund by clicking the Paypal Donate button on the upper left corner of this web page.

How is a code bounty paid?

Code bounties are paid through online funds (via Paypal) if possible. If that payment method is not accessible to the person claiming a bounty, a check will be issued instead.

What are the rules for claiming a bounty?

A bounty is claimed when the claimant has done the following:

• Previously announced that they intent to work on the project
• Submitted a product (usually code) which meets the final design requirements
• Disclaimed copyright interest in the product