TBJ : The BeOSJournal welcomes Joseph "looncraz" Groover, Jr. to the latest interview roundup. Joseph is responsible for creating the highly-criticized/aclaimed (take it how you will) distribution known as PhOS, which is based on DANO and has too many additions to name here. Joseph also spent a fair amount of time working with the YellowTab crew on their Zeta project, but recently left citing differences of artistic and management positions. Welcome Joseph, and thanks for sharing with us your insights into the BeOS Community and everything related lately.

Joseph : Ah, thank you for inviting me here. PhOS was mostly criticized, until release, then praised.

First up.. what is with the nickname "looncraz"? How did that come about and on a related note, do you think nicknames are important in the ever growing presence of the Internet?
looncraz is actually an acronym of something I can't remember. I believe nicknames are vital, it allows some protection and a more safe feeling when your on the internet. Also makes it a little more difficult at times for people to harrass you. Of course, the best nicknames are all taken.

Do you believe "anonymous cowards", as they're known on Slashdot, have any say online?
Sure. I might not like it, but they had their say, and may not be sure enough about the information to reveal any contact info. A nickname alone can be used to contact the person in most cases. If I had some really bad info about someone or some company to release, I would defintely do it anonymously, and at a library a hundred miles away

How long have you been a user of BeOS, and member of the BeOS Community?
Well, I guess I should explain first how I found BeOS. I was in OS/2 3 something and I had finally got internet working, so I started trying to find web-sites.
First I tried yahoo. It worked, so I got a little crazy. www.a.com I told the browser, not found it yelled at me.

So I said browser, take me to www.b.com

It again replied with nothing found, getting ever more annoyed. So I asked, as politely as I could if perhaps the word be was a website (www.be.com). And it said, JACKPOT!

I ordered a DemoCD right off the bat. R3.2 I loved it, but it wasn't up to the task of much of anything at that point, but I was able to do most of what I wanted, surprisingly.

My hardware was 100% supported. So I kept up to date, buying each full version release (R4, but not R4.5, then R5). I bought the R5 Pro from GoBe, and have never used another OS as my primary until Dano. I was a latecomer to BeShare, and many thought I was a newBe, but pretty quickly discovered that I wasn't. And now everyone seems to know me... WTH happened??

Are you a user of GoBE Productive as well? Were you disappointed when you find out there would be no GP3 for BeOS?
Yes, I use GP for all my office needs. I was not just disappointed, I was furious. By that time I had finally learned some C/++ and I offered to assemble a team and port it for free. I don't think I received a response, if I did it was obviously a 'NO!, Go AWAY loon!"

How much programming do you do these days, in terms of C++, and other?
Oodles. Mostly C++ now. I wake up and code, and usually fall asleep thinking about coding (or codeine (prescribed))

What is your primary objective behind programming, and have there been any projects you couldn't complete because of lack of time?
I make programs as I need them, and I sometimes handle requests. I am currently creating a unified control panel, and tons of custom GUI components. My goal was once only to destroy Microshaft..err...soft.. now it has become a goal of destroying them, and now yellowTAB as well.

Being self-employeed helps me manage my time for whatever I need or want to do rather easily. No projects are ever not completed due to lack of time, just when I get bored of one, I move to the next.

What would you say to Bill Gates if you could get him alone in a room for an hour?
SAY??? I wouldn't say a thing, but my knuckles sure would be bloody.

How much would you pay to eliminate Bill Gates, hypothetically?
I would spend every last dime I had.. Be it a million, a billion, or a trillion.

Can you tell us why you feel this way?
Of course! My first OS was Mac OS 6 or 7, when I was in like second grade.. My first computer was an *OLD* IBM running I think M$ DOS or CP/M 80 or something like that, then I moved on to a real computer. I had $50 so I went and bought everything I needed from a good friend named Al. He set me up, and I went home and setup Microsoft DOS, and Windows 3.1, and kinda liked it.

I then moved up to Windows 95 when a school teacher gave me a copy, and still liked it. Then, well, I became wise. I found OS/2 on Al's shelf. Installed it (which was hard, BTW) and fell in love. It just worked. I didn't have crashes like I did with Windows.

And I could run all my 16-bit programs too, which was really awesome. I started using alternative OSes more and more and figured out that Windows was junk, and this guy was getting rich off it. I started hating him before Windows 95B. Now, I can't stand Microsoft or their products. I have watched as they took over my email (hotmail) and everything else I was doing, and forcing me more and more to use Windows, which I didn't like.

Where do you think open source is headed now that its so entrenched in the server market?
Hmm, toughy. Open source has its place, and its uses. But I really fail to see how it will be the future.

Consumers don't care AT ALL if source code is open or not, only developers really do. Though, open source will make the government more likely to move away from M$, and some major business may as well, so it is all good. The Desktop in the future will most likely be my stuff, if I have anything to say about it. And my stuff is not always open source (most is not now).

What is your personal philosophy on life, the universe, and everything?
Like a real Texan.. live, drink, be happy, and shoot anything that tries to prevent you from doing any of those.

Were you fulfilled when you worked with YellowTab? What exactly did you do for them?
Fulfilled???????? HAH! I came on board with more experience in OS distribution creation than anyone there, and yT decided not to listen to me on way too many things to be fullfilled. I created a really nice stable base installation and it was thrown out by Bernd T. Korz because he couldn't understand how to make it himself (very manual process, so no insult).

I created an awesome Updater, and he didn't keep up to date with the changes and didn't see that everything he requested was done, so he decided, without talking to me, that he wasn't going to use. I figured out how to modify the zbeos, kernel (only changed the kernel date and time for him in honor of his son's birth), About Box (never used my changes), media kit, libraries for compatibility, and much more for them.

They now use only the decor creation process I figured out for them. My actual job function?? Who knows?

You sound bitter. ;) Was it related to anything Bernd Korz could have done differently, in hindsight?
I am certainly bitter, I wasted over a year of my time for nothing. Bernd could have been a little wiser and listened to my suggestions. I mean, if you have a Volvo expert at a car garage, and someone brings a Volvo in, you don't have the Ford mechanic work on the Volvo do you?

At yT I was the Dano expert. And they didn't use my stuff to fix Dano's problems (except maybe the fonts). How dumb is that?

What are your current plans now?
I have agreed to help on a certain OpenBeOS based project that cannot yet be named or discussed in any length. I also will be trying to secure information as to the legality of yellowTAB's Zeta and see if I can create new version of PhOS for public consumption, legally. If I can, I will.

Speaking of legalities... What legal issues are you at liberty to discuss about Zeta, YellowTab, and the supposed deal between YellowTab and Be Inc., now honored by PalmSource?
Well, I am at liberty to say only what I know to be true. And I know nothing of the alleged agreements, or even to their actual existence. I have been trying to get this information from Bernd for a long time with no luck, though he gave me the person he was in touch with at both Be and PalmSource (same person, btw).

So all I can say is that Zeta may be legal, and it may not. It can be legal if Be as a whole released Dano to the public via the 'leak', in which case I will continue PhOS, or by PalmSource allowing them to use Dano. If Be as a whole purposely leaked Dano, then my SuperDANO and PhOS distrobutions are completely legal as well.

How much work has gone into Zeta over and above the addition of numerous BeBits applications?
Well, there is the PersonalSettings app, which now looks very bare without my additions, the locale kit (which is very nice), the Fax App that I never used, a new Text editor which I like and use, a ton of decors, a more up to date SVG Tracker, which works fairly decently but still needs work, and some other custom apps, and the use of some OpenBeOS drivers over the older Be ones.

On the system side of things, nothing has really changed. It is still just Dano with a bunch of stuff added. PhOS was a modification of Dano, not Dano plus stuff. Zeta should have been the same.

But these aren't changes to the core of the operating system, are they? How will people in the future be able to install, let alone use this on new systems they puchase?
Workarounds, workarounds, workarounds.

Zeta is just a tekmporary product until OpenBeOS is ready. And I am already on board ( and in charge of development ) for the first major OpenBeOS distrobution. I plan on being on board for many more such projects.

Zeta is not the future, and cannot be, unless yellowTAB makes a *LOT* of money selling Zeta RC1 and R1 if it gets that far.

What would you say to Bernd Korz if you could get him alone in a room for an hour?
I would actually talk this time :-) I would tell him to give me the rights to make my own distrobution of Zeta, I'll send him my results before I publish any information, and if he likes it I'll license it to him for $2 a copy sold.

What do you do in your spare time when you are not sleeping, programming, or eating? ;)
Breath.

How do you feel about iTunes?
I have actually had a chance to use it on Windows at a customer's house, and I really like it. I would love to see it here on my system. Of course, I'd still use SoundPlay over it.

Do you encode divx movies? What do you think about HandBrake, and the ffgui application coming with Zeta?
I love HandBrake, I never used the FFGUI for anything, though I have seen it and ran it, and it just seems a little crowded and Linux-like for my tastes. I just use HandBrake here.

What was it about BeOS that urged you to purchase a copy of R3.2 back then? Do these same ideas carry weight today in the BeOS we know and love?
I loved the speed, the simplicity, and relative stability of the system. It was also the first time I had ever used a boot CD, and I was very impressed. Today, our current BeOS, is still fast, and even more stable, but the simplicity has been suffering mostly due to porting of too many linux programs and such.

My goal is to bring back the simplicity and cleanliness BeOS once had. The way things are going, we are gonna go to the Linux model very quickly. I hate that. So I *WILL* change it, and bring us back on the straight and narrow. Ever moving into the future, forsaking binary compatibility if need be. If I had the money I'd buy every single peice of code ever written for BeOS and compile every application to make use of the latest changes.

A man in a long black trench coat just handed you 200 million billion gazllion bucks worth of credit in a triple platinum American Express credit card. What is the first thing you do, related to computing, and how will your actions benefit the world?
Wow, that is a lot of credit. First thing I'd do is contact a lawyer and make sure somethign isn't wrong. IF all is good, then I would is buy all the Be IP stuff from PalmSource. A few hundred million should do it :-) I'd hire all the old Be engineers back at double whatever they are making now, and tell them to continue what they were doing, and ask me if they need money.

I would then do a hostile takeover of Microsoft, and then dissolve the company into about 200 little companies. I would take all the source code and burn it. And then merge everyone onto the newest system created by the re-created Be, INC. Then I'd have Be build me a car :-)

Its late at night. You've been coding for HOURS and need a small mental refresher to complete an important assignment due in only 6 hours. What music do you crank up, and how does it make you feel?
Eminem, Godsmack, and Metallica. Right now I am listening to Godsmack's Serenity, it keeps me focused and full of energy. Also, listen to the creativeness of the songs makes me become more creative. And when I say.. right now I am listening to that song, I mean I have it playing only.. over and over and over. Rock music peps me up, keeps me awake, and makes me just feel better.

Do you think the RIAA has gone too far in sending subpoenas out to hundreds of mp3 downloaders?
No. I think they could have done a few other things first, such as following Apple's 99c/song setup, or anything else. But the music is their responsibility, and they have all rights to do sue if they feel they need to. Of course, it is only costing them a few million or so a month, junk change really.

What websites do you check daily, and do you use peer to peer apps like Gnutella, Kazaa, Napster, etc?
I check BeBits, OSNews, and overclockers.com daily. Actually, about ten times a a day. I don't know if I can even go to other sites.

Of course I visit some of the other news sites often, but not necessarily daily. The BeOS Journal, ABCNews.com, ZetaNews, yellowTAB.com at times, and various others are always top choices for me when something is going on and I don't have the low down yet.

Do you feel music is growing less important in the world, with corporate control growing over what the artist puts out?
Thanks to Eminem, corperate control will be held at bay. The creative juices are being allowed to flow, and there are many other people and even corperations out their that realize that they cannot control too much of the artists' freedoms of creative control. Some labels obviously try to control too much, which is sad. But the performer's have choices, so the competitive market should be allowed to stabilize and control itself.

You mentioned earlier you were self-employed. Was this a concious decision?
Yes. I had started helping people repair their computers for extra cash during High School, and I just kept it going as the money was decent enough for me to survive. Now I am much more interested in system software and its development than repairing Windows, but it is bread and butter (and fun), so I keep it up as a neccessity.

Do you do any html programming, website design and the like?
I have done a great deal of HTML in my time. I hate WYSIWYG editors, I prefer getting down and dirty, making me slow at developing web-sites. I have toyed with CGI but never really got into it (never had anything to do with it). For a while I became very interested in JavaScript and spent hours every day doing something new with it. Now I don't even think I can remember JavaScript.

My systems are always able and ready to server my web creations. I love the ability to see results every step of the way, no compiling or anything. Which may explain why I focus so hard-core on GUI programming, even though I can do much more, I always focus on the GUI.

How did you get started working with YellowTab in the first place? Did you approach them, or did they approach you?
Bernd was on BeShare and was asking all kinds of BASH questions. I had all the answers, so I talked in private with him. He loved my energy and my seemingly endless knowledge fo what he wanted to do. I created the base script that UpToDateWithCVS was created with. He invited me to join yT, and I did. I never thought it would have been such a waste of my time.

Are you artistic, in any sense of the word?
I am extremely artisitic. I have been drawing, writing poetry, writing songs, and creating music since I can last remember. My intelligence profile determines that I use both sides of my brain equally well, explaining why I can code y artistic creation in the form of GUIs now so easily.

Was this one of the things the BeOS called out to you for, insomuch as its potential as a media OS? How do you feel about the upcoming Refraction?
I love Refraction. I even posted one of my graphics there in the gallery, shot of the Updater, shot of my pic in the Xentronix Gallery.

How often do you listen to BeOS Radio?
I don't listen all that often because the music isn't of my tastes, but I do listen if I hear there is an interview that I am interested in playing. I have in the past also acted as a relay for BeOS Radio so more could listen.

Since you are living in the United States, are you planning to attend the upcoming WalterCon, if its held close?
If it were to be held in Texas, I would show up. Of course, I could drive for hours and hours in any direction and still be in Texas, so I'd say if I could drive there in under ten hours, I would strongly consider it.

Getting back to the topic of Zeta. Can you list for us exactly the things you worked on, and do you plan on releasing these to the community at large any time soon?
I have no idea any more what is left of mine in Zeta. If you get RC1 and don't apply SP1, you will see more of my work. Such as an older Updater. And some of my proof of concept decors. When I was at yT, I was given little direction as to what they wanted, so I just worked on my private programs for the most part.

I created a Customer Management program that has its own database system, and about fifteen or so other full fledged programs that will likely find their way into the public view in the coming months to a year. My understanding of my 'job' function at yT and yellowTAB's never seemed to remain steady. Their organization leaves a lot to be desired, and being obsessive compulsive makes that very difficult for me to function.

What would you have been doing instead, during the past year, if you had chosen not to work with YellowTab?
I would have released four or so more versions of PhOS in all likelihood. I most likely would have had more than a few lines contributed to OpenBeOS, and I would feel much better.

What do you think of BeOS R5 PE Max Edition?
I never used it.

What kit in OpenBeOS most excites you and why?
app_server I just love GUI :-) I really want real transparency, and non-square windows, and much much more.. Sadly I doubt if my current coding abilities would allow me to do such compilcated tasks.

I have an awesome idea for the debug_server as well, and many ideas for the media kit, that I would love to see added. But as OpenBeOS is essentially a rewrite of R5, I figured it be best if I perform my ideas on a seperate distrobution. Which is what has been chosen.

Would you consider aiding Darkwrym in developing the app_server?
I really would. I have the source code on my system, but haven't found the time to go and see what I can do with it. I may eventually get the energy to look at the complexity and coding style

Do you think the BeOS Community is growing larger day by day now, given the recent news of some serious developments such as Michael Phipps assertion that OpenBeOS is over halfway done, Java on BeOS is at 99% complete, and progress is speeding along on several fronts such as Refraction, contributions in the Japanese Be Community, and so forth?
The community has been steadily growing for a long while now. Developers are just now realizing it. I realized it when PhOS had reached in excess of 10,000 confimred users (the system checked in with me).

When OpenBeOS is ready for general consumption, I believe we will see a massive influx of users, mostly old BeOS users, and perhaps many new ones as well. I am just happy to be here in the mist of it all.

And do you think BeShare will have to be updated to handle the influx at that time? ;)
I'm hoping so! That would be a great sign of progress. I would love to wait for thirty seconds or more watching all these users info flowing past on the screen when I connect!! haha... It'll be a good sign, though maybe a little less enjoyable for all of us old-timers who stuck through it all.

What is your favorite food?
Cheese... I know it isn't exactly a food, but you put cheese on something, I will very likely be more willing to test it.... Cheesesticks..yummy.... I love coconut as well, but am very allergic to it.

So you MUST visit Holland then. ;) Its the land of cheese, I swear.
Been there, and, yes it is.

Do you have plans to travel elsewhere?
I have been to South America, England and the European Continent, Mexico, and all over the United States. I plan on going back to some of these places again, but for now I am here in the best place.. Texas.

Did you vote for "Dubya" Bush?
Absolutely.

How do you feel about the United States foreign policy?
I think we should build a huge wall around ourselves and shutup. If it doesn't affect us, or our friends around the world, we should keep out of it. Now, the thign with Iraq, I am stongly in favor of. Iraq attacked our ally, and we stood for them, as we should have. They did not live up to the terms of the peace agreement, and therefore should be held responsible.

Will you vote for "Dubya" Bush again come next election?
If and only if Colin Powell isn't an option He drives Volvos, so I will vote for him :-) That and he would make a great president.

How do you feel about the medias "spin" on hot topics such as 9/11, Iraq, Arnold Swarzennegar running and winning in California, and other issues? Does the media affect what you think of these topics?
I don't watch TV, I hate the media for the most part. I hate all the "spin" makes me dizzy. And furthermore, my fiancée can't handle those motions, makes her physically ill. So I avoid it.

You plan to get married soon?
Yes. To the most wonderful girl in the world, of course.

I mean, she is supporting me while I do all this stuff (not financially I mean, but spiritually and emotionally), how many women do you know that will tolerate and even help when they can on such a time consuming task?

Are you a traditionalist? Do you want to raise a family, and live happily ever after, or is that a fairy tale in this day and age?
We plan having at least one child, in eight years. We are not very much into all that traditionalism... That isn't all fairy tell stuff, but it sure isn't logical in this new age.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Still living in Texas, or elsewhere?
In ten years, hmm.. I may still be in Texas, who knows. I am hoping to actually move out of the United States and probably to Bavaria, where things makes sense and the police don't run your life. I see myself in charge of the largest Software company in the world, or at least working there as an executive. Then going home at night to my wonderful wife and wonderful child and relaxing till the next day's bout of coding.

Do you think the United States is becoming a police state? Is it heading for an Orwellian future?
It has almost become a police state already. And it is in a downward spiral ever since 9/11. The biggest problem is our judicial system, and the amount of money prosecutors have at their disposal to fight cases. And even our right to a jury trial doesn't help. Jurors are too much from the basic fabirc of our country, meaning they are dumber than boxes of rocks and have little to no sense of what the person is going through. They should put me in charge of all that, but I am too busy coding to care. I don't believe I could tell you how to fix the system, but there has got to be a better way.

I'll ask a less flammable question then. ;) What is your favorite color?
Blue

What do you think of the upcoming "Longhorn"?
It is finally almost a right direction for Windows to take. Sadly I think they are doing the wrong thing with all the backwards compatibility stuff. Though, it will help many people, it is more silt on the OS. Microsoft needs to create a new OS from scratch in order to create a 'perfect' product.

Their file system is probably a bit overkill. Be did the same thing with a true databasing file system, and discovered it wasn't worth it, and moved to our current BFS, which has almost nothing less than what WinFS is aiming for. Sure, WinFS may be able to find a file 0.00000002 ns faster, but who cares ? Though, as an artistic type, I really enjoy all the GUI stuff they are doing, which is why I am doing the same :-) Hopefully we will be able to match or beat Longhorn when it comes out. And with the time we have, we should be able to.

Are they truly breaking new ground with their new "command line" environment?
Heh, I thought the point of a graphical operating system was to alleviate us from the mundane command line. I thought that Microsoft had been consistenly removing more and more of the command line. Oh wait, they have been! SO what are they doing now? Making a new one? Plain stupidity I'd say.

What programming tool do you most want to use in BeOS and why?
I use BeIDE, solely because it is there, flexible, reliable, It does what I want and when I want. It organizes the errors and warnings, and gives me easy access to bdb so I can pinpoint program problems when they are exist. It is a very well laid out and thought out program that makes it nice and simple to organize and modify my applications. Also makes it very simple to create libraries :-) And of course, syntax highlighting rules!

I think its time to finish this interview, Joseph... ;) In closing, do you have any final pieces of advice for the BeOS Community?
Absolutely! If your interested in Zeta, try to get an ISO somewhere and test it first. If you think it will work for what you want, then get i