asterisk users - May 2005 - Re: Digium Website Update: Asterisk Business Edition

Browsing through the new website...


* Q - Does Asterisk Business Edition contain any additional features, fixes,
      or enhancements not found in the open source versions of Asterisk?

* A - Digium remains committed to the open source model, and has based
      Asterisk Business Edition entirely on the open source tree.
      However, no single release of the Open Source version corresponds
      to Asterisk Business Edition, since its features and bug fixes
      have been carefully chosen to increase reliability and decrease
      risk. 

Hmm, so Asterisk Business edition is:

1) Simply CVS head (as of some point in time) with certain features or
   bug fixes "backed out"

2) In addition to CVS head, some important features and bug fixes.

In either case, since they are committed to the open source model, are
they willing to tell us what features/bug fixes in CVS are considered an
increased liability and risk, or what important features and bug fixes
they've applied on top of CVS?  This could help those of us trying to
build stable, robust, asterisk-based solutions promote asterisk as a
stable, robust, low-risk platform.

Seems to be a bit of double-talk going on here...

a.

-- 
Aidan Van Dyk                                             Create like a god,
aidan@highrise.ca                                       command like a king,
http://www.highrise.ca/                                   work like a slave.
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On Sunday 29 May 2005 20:59, Aidan Van Dyk wrote:
> 1) Simply CVS head (as of some point in time) with certain features or
>    bug fixes "backed out"
>
> 2) In addition to CVS head, some important features and bug fixes.
I think it's simply #2.  They are taking HEAD and maintaining a version
where
they are extraordinarily careful about what goes in.  Similar to what 
"stable" was supposed to be.  
> In either case, since they are committed to the open source model, are
> they willing to tell us what features/bug fixes in CVS are considered an
> increased liability and risk, or what important features and bug fixes
> they've applied on top of CVS?  This could help those of us trying to
> build stable, robust, asterisk-based solutions promote asterisk as a
> stable, robust, low-risk platform.
I fail to see why that's necessary.  They're simply doing what anyone
deciding
not to run HEAD or "stable" should be doing.
> Seems to be a bit of double-talk going on here...
Howso?

-A.

BTW I am *not* trashing drumkilla (the stable maintainer) -- it's just that 
stable is feature-stable, not necessarily bugfree.

Aidan Van Dyk wrote:
> Browsing through the new website...
> 
> 
> * Q - Does Asterisk Business Edition contain any additional features,
fixes,
>       or enhancements not found in the open source versions of Asterisk?
> 
> * A - Digium remains committed to the open source model, and has based
>       Asterisk Business Edition entirely on the open source tree.
>       However, no single release of the Open Source version corresponds
>       to Asterisk Business Edition, since its features and bug fixes
>       have been carefully chosen to increase reliability and decrease
>       risk. 
> 
> Hmm, so Asterisk Business edition is:
> 
> 1) Simply CVS head (as of some point in time) with certain features or
>    bug fixes "backed out"
> 
> 2) In addition to CVS head, some important features and bug fixes.
> 
> In either case, since they are committed to the open source model, are
> they willing to tell us what features/bug fixes in CVS are considered an
> increased liability and risk, or what important features and bug fixes
> they've applied on top of CVS?  This could help those of us trying to
> build stable, robust, asterisk-based solutions promote asterisk as a
> stable, robust, low-risk platform.
> 
> Seems to be a bit of double-talk going on here...
> 
> a.
Just coming back from ISPCon, I can tell you that the hardest questions 
to answer were those related to ABE:

Random Questioner: So what is this Asterisk Business Edition?

My Answer: ABE is a stable, supported version of Asterisk for use in 
commercial environments.

DOH!  By saying that ABE is stable, you are automatically implying that 
the normal Asterisk tree is in fact, unstable.  I know Asterisk is 
stable (even HEAD is most of the time), and we all know that Asterisk is 
stable, but CTO from some-random-company does not know that.  Time for 
another try:

Q: So what is this Asterisk Business Edition?

A: ABE is an official, supported version of Asterisk provided with 
documentation in a more traditional format (i.e. boxed).

It sounds better, but I don't know how accurate it is.  Either way, that 
was the question that I liked the least...

-- 
Kristian Kielhofner

Aidan Van Dyk wrote:
> In either case, since they are committed to the open source model, are
> they willing to tell us what features/bug fixes in CVS are considered an
> increased liability and risk, or what important features and bug fixes
> they've applied on top of CVS?  This could help those of us trying to
> build stable, robust, asterisk-based solutions promote asterisk as a
> stable, robust, low-risk platform.
There is absolutely _no_ code in ABE that is not in CVS HEAD, except for 
the code related to license control required for the commercial product 
and an installer (since it's a binary distribution). We have not, and 
will not, put any bug fixes or new features into ABE that do not go into 
CVS HEAD as well (and in fact I don't think there's any situation where 
a feature would go into ABE first).

Simply stated, ABE is a supported, documented, tested and commercially 
packaged/licensed version of Asterisk, designed for companies who want 
such a package. It is missing quite a number of features from CVS HEAD 
that were deemed unnecessary and/or difficult to support, and it will 
not be updated as often as CVS HEAD itself is (or even as often as the 
stable releases are made), from what I understand. It does not come with 
source code, nor is the exact source code available to anyone outside of 
Digium, which is done purely for support reasons. ABE users can call 
Digium support and the support staff will know _exactly_ what they are 
running, since it is a packaged release.

On Mon, Jun 13, 2005 at 12:48:46PM -0700, Robert Hajime Lanning
wrote:
> 
> <quote who="trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com">
> > Protecting freedoms by putting limits on (thus restricting freedoms).
> > Interesting concept.
> 
> It maybe an interesting concept, but it is absolutely true.
> True anarchy (no rules what so ever) cannot exist.
Actually, anarchy means absence of hierarchy. It does not mean no rules. The
"no rules" was a slag by the monarchists who called the capitalist
merchant
class dangerous anarchists because they were causing all kinds of worry with 
their "no rules" free market ideas. Anarchist societies, where and
when they
exist, actually tend to be quite organized.

-w