Aciqra

After another month (and a week) of development, Fairweather Milestone 4 is complete. For a full list of changes, see the release statement on Caglow Central. As always, downloads are available through the Aciqra downloads archive and source code is ... [More] available through Subversion.Why Is It Slower?Milestone 4 includes the long-awaited runtime time control feature. A copy of the star database has to be stored in memory to recalculate star positions (for proper motion and precession) after changing the time by many years. This means it will take up a lot more memory which may result in severe runtime slowdowns for those using 1GB of RAM or less. For everyone else, the slowdown will appear at startup due to the need to create that copy of the star database.Who Should Download This?Milestone 4 is a substantial improvement over Milestone 3 and should be usable by the average user. Therefore, it is now recommended as a viable alternative for Snowy despite having major gaps in features which are not yet implemented. Those looking for completeness should stick with Snowy. Those who are fine with not having certain features such as grids may find Fairweather to be a better option.What's Next?After four come five, six and seven (and final release). Each should have its own share of great new features as the push for Fairweather 1.0 continues. Milestone 5 is expected in early September with 6 and 7 being 1 and 2 months after that respectively. The final release is still predicted to be in late December. Keep up to date with the Fairweather Milestones. [Less]

After another month (and a week) of development, Fairweather Milestone 4 is complete. For a full list of changes, see the release statement on Caglow Central. As always, downloads are available through the Aciqra downloads archive and source code is ... [More] available through Subversion.Why Is It Slower?Milestone 4 includes the long-awaited runtime time control feature. A copy of the star database has to be stored in memory to recalculate star positions (for proper motion and precession) after changing the time by many years. This means it will take up a lot more memory which may result in severe runtime slowdowns for those using 1GB of RAM or less. For everyone else, the slowdown will appear at startup due to the need to create that copy of the star database.Who Should Download This?Milestone 4 is a substantial improvement over Milestone 3 and should be usable by the average user. Therefore, it is now recommended as a viable alternative for Snowy despite having major gaps in features which are not yet implemented. Those looking for completeness should stick with Snowy. Those who are fine with not having certain features such as grids may find Fairweather to be a better option.What's Next?After four come five, six and seven (and final release). Each should have its own share of great new features as the push for Fairweather 1.0 continues. Milestone 5 is expected in early September with 6 and 7 being 1 and 2 months after that respectively. The final release is still predicted to be in late December. Keep up to date with the Aciqra 2 Milestones. [Less]

Originally, the Aciqra versioning system was rather arbitrary. There was no set guidelines on how to do things so versions were named by what how big the changes appeared to be. Because of this, the version numbers did not mean much. The change from ... [More] version 1.2.2 to 1.3.0 was no bigger than the change from 1.3.1 to 1.3.2.That started changing with the Fairweather series beginning to take hold. The milestone releases were clearly defined in print as to what constitutes a milestone. Now, the definitive nature of the milestone system is spreading throughout the project. A new set of rules defining what the versions mean has been completed. This system will take over from the original arbitrary naming process.Another change relating to the version system is the renaming of the Aciqra I branch. To match the "Fairweather" name of Aciqra II, Aciqra I is now known as "Snowy", named after Snowy Mountain in Katmai National Park on the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the terms Aciqra I and Aciqra II will no longer be used. The proper names of each series will be used instead. This is meant to avoid the idea that Fairweather is designed to completely replace Snowy when in fact, each series has a different set of goals. [Less]

Originally, the Aciqra versioning system was rather arbitrary. There was no set guidelines on how to do things so versions were named by what how big the changes appeared to be. Because of this, the version numbers did not mean much. The change from ... [More] version 1.2.2 to 1.3.0 was no bigger than the change from 1.3.1 to 1.3.2.That started changing with the Fairweather series beginning to take hold. The milestone releases were clearly defined in print as to what constitutes a milestone. Now, the definitive nature of the milestone system is spreading throughout the project. A new set of rules defining what the versions mean has been completed. This system will take over from the original arbitrary naming process.Another change relating to the version system is the renaming of the Aciqra I branch. To match the "Fairweather" name of Aciqra II, Aciqra I is now known as "Snowy", named after Snowy Mountain in Katmai National Park on the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the terms Aciqra I and Aciqra II will no longer be used. The proper names of each series will be used instead. This is meant to avoid the idea that Fairweather is designed to completely replace Snowy when in fact, each series has a different set of goals. [Less]

Aciqra II Fairweather is now well on its way to its first real release. In just a few months, developmental focus will move from version 2.1 (Grand) over to version 2.2. Then of course, come 2.3, 2.4, etc. So what exactly will the Aciqra project be ... [More] like five months from now? A lot is still uncertain but there is plenty that will change.If Aciqra I remains active, it will be offered as an alternative option for new users. To complement Aciqra II Fairweather, Aciqra I will renamed to "Cloudy" after Cloudy Mountain in Kenai Fjords National Park in south-central Alaska. In addition, the major revision numbers will no longer be used publicly. Aciqra 1.3.3 will become Cloudy 3.3 and Aciqra 2.1.0 will become Fairweather 1.0.If Aciqra I is abandoned (if no one is willing to take it over), then all Aciqra I users will be asked to migrate over to Fairweather which will become the only release of the Aciqra project. This option is best avoided because Fairweather does not have the same goals as Aciqra I and will lose numerous features which will not be replaced. These features are those that focus on education, one goal that is purposely absent for Fairweather. Aciqra I will still be renamed as "Cloudy" and will see a final release in the event that someone decides to take over development afterwards.Also, there will NOT be a release of Aciqra III for at least ten years after the initial release of Aciqra II. Why such a strict demand? If there is to be an Aciqra III, it would have a completely different focus — enough so for a separate project as was the case with the switch in versioning from Aciqra I to Aciqra II. Minor changes to the goals would still be acceptable. However, stability cannot be maintained if this goal is changed every few years. This requirement can be overridden by an officially conducted poll where a 2/3 majority favor a fork (which would be Aciqra III).Note that nothing is official as of yet, including the "Aciqra III requirement" until the actual release of Aciqra II. Plenty is still yet to come. [Less]

Aciqra II Fairweather is now well on its way to its first real release. In just a few months, developmental focus will move from version 2.1 (Grand) over to version 2.2. Then of course, come 2.3, 2.4, etc. So what exactly will the Aciqra project be ... [More] like five months from now? A lot is still uncertain but there is plenty that will change.If Aciqra I remains active, it will be offered as an alternative option for new users. To complement Aciqra II Fairweather, Aciqra I will renamed to "Cloudy" after Cloudy Mountain in Kenai Fjords National Park in south-central Alaska. In addition, the major revision numbers will no longer be used publicly. Aciqra 1.3.3 will become Cloudy 3.3 and Aciqra 2.1.0 will become Fairweather 1.0.If Aciqra I is abandoned (if no one is willing to take it over), then all Aciqra I users will be asked to migrate over to Fairweather which will become the only release of the Aciqra project. This option is best avoided because Fairweather does not have the same goals as Aciqra I and will lose numerous features which will not be replaced. These features are those that focus on education, one goal that is purposely absent for Fairweather. Aciqra I will still be renamed as "Cloudy" and will see a final release in the event that someone decides to take over development afterwards.Also, there will NOT be a release of Aciqra III for at least ten years after the initial release of Aciqra II. Why such a strict demand? If there is to be an Aciqra III, it would have a completely different focus — enough so for a separate project as was the case with the switch in versioning from Aciqra I to Aciqra II. Minor changes to the goals would still be acceptable. However, stability cannot be maintained if this goal is changed every few years. This requirement can be overridden by an officially conducted poll where a 2/3 majority favor a fork (which would be Aciqra III).Note that nothing is official as of yet, including the "Aciqra III requirement" until the actual release of Aciqra II. Plenty is still yet to come. [Less]

The current system of milestones was started at the end of last year with the release of Milestone 1. Back then, only three milestones (plus and alpha) were planned. Under that system, releases took forever. On July 4th, this was restructured into ... [More] five milestones (plus a final release). That allowed Milestone 3 to be released in just 2.5 months of development rather than the original four months. However, that came at the cost of nearly half the features that were originally planned for that milestone. That left the rest to release with the upcoming Milestone 4 in September..If Milestone 4 releases in September, it will almost certainly include boatloads of new features in addition to what was intended for Milestone 3. There really is absolutely no reason to wait for those extra features to be implemented for the completed features to be released. Sure, there's Subversion, but how many people are actually going to get something off of Subversion that possibly won't work and spend time setting it up (especially if they don't have an SVN client) just to try out a couple of new features?As a result, the milestone system has been restructured again. Instead of five milestones, we now have seven milestones in all. Each milestone will only contain two or three new features instead of the five or six originally planned. This will speed up the release cycle from over two months per release to 1-1.5 months. That means Milestone 4 has been pushed up and may be released in as little as two weeks. The new goal is for a release the last week of this month.Keep up with the latest developments on the milestones page. [Less]

The current system of milestones was started at the end of last year with the release of Milestone 1. Back then, only three milestones (plus and alpha) were planned. Under that system, releases took forever. On July 4th, this was restructured into ... [More] five milestones (plus a final release). That allowed Milestone 3 to be released in just 2.5 months of development rather than the original four months. However, that came at the cost of nearly half the features that were originally planned for that milestone. That left the rest to release with the upcoming Milestone 4 in September..If Milestone 4 releases in September, it will almost certainly include boatloads of new features in addition to what was intended for Milestone 3. There really is absolutely no reason to wait for those extra features to be implemented for the completed features to be released. Sure, there's Subversion, but how many people are actually going to get something off of Subversion that possibly won't work and spend time setting it up (especially if they don't have an SVN client) just to try out a couple of new features?As a result, the milestone system has been restructured again. Instead of five milestones, we now have seven milestones in all. Each milestone will only contain two or three new features instead of the five or six originally planned. This will speed up the release cycle from over two months per release to 1-1.5 months. That means Milestone 4 has been pushed up and may be released in as little as two weeks. The new goal is for a release the last week of this month.Keep up with the latest developments on the milestones page. [Less]

The current system of milestones was started at the end of last year with the release of Milestone 1. Back then, only three milestones (plus and alpha) were planned. Under that system, releases took forever. On July 4th, this was restructured into ... [More] five milestones (plus a final release). That allowed Milestone 3 to be released in just 2.5 months of development rather than the original four months. However, that came at the cost of nearly half the features that were originally planned for that milestone. That left the rest to release with the upcoming Milestone 4 in September..If Milestone 4 releases in September, it will almost certainly include boatloads of new features in addition to what was intended for Milestone 3. There really is absolutely no reason to wait for those extra features to be implemented for the completed features to be released. Sure, there's Subversion, but how many people are actually going to get something off of Subversion that possibly won't work and spend time setting it up (especially if they don't have an SVN client) just to try out a couple of new features?As a result, the milestone system has been restructured again. Instead of five milestones, we now have seven milestones in all. Each milestone will only contain two or three new features instead of the five or six originally planned. This will speed up the release cycle from over two months per release to 1-1.5 months. That means Milestone 4 has been pushed up and may be released in as little as two weeks. The new goal is for a release the last week of this month.Keep up with the latest developments on the milestones page. [Less]

The current system of milestones was started at the end of last year with the release of Milestone 1. Back then, only three milestones (plus and alpha) were planned. Under that system, releases took forever. On July 4th, this was restructured into ... [More] five milestones (plus a final release). That allowed Milestone 3 to be released in just 2.5 months of development rather than the original four months. However, that came at the cost of nearly half the features that were originally planned for that milestone. That left the rest to release with the upcoming Milestone 4 in September..If Milestone 4 releases in September, it will almost certainly include boatloads of new features in addition to what was intended for Milestone 3. There really is absolutely no reason to wait for those extra features to be implemented for the completed features to be released. Sure, there's Subversion, but how many people are actually going to get something off of Subversion that possibly won't work and spend time setting it up (especially if they don't have an SVN client) just to try out a couple of new features?As a result, the milestone system has been restructured again. Instead of five milestones, we now have seven milestones in all. Each milestone will only contain two or three new features instead of the five or six originally planned. This will speed up the release cycle from over two months per release to 1-1.5 months. That means Milestone 4 has been pushed up and may be released in as little as two weeks. The new goal is for a release the last week of this month.Keep up with the latest developments on the milestones page. [Less]