'm focused on an Open Source OS/2 because we need to grow the community and keep the continuity of the platform. I think that one of the stoppers to make an OS/2 clone is that OS/2 is still working fine today, so nobody wants to touch the things that keep working.
Open source is not that important. I agree that any new work should be open source, but I don't see a problem with using closed source parts, as long as they work. You are partly right, that nobody wants to touch the parts that are working, but another part of that is that there are a number of areas that nobody knows anything about. It would be very difficult to build a TV set, if you don't know anything but carpentry. You would end up with a great cabinet, but could you watch TV shows on it? Today, it is difficult to get anybody to work on something that might require some knowledge of assembler, simply because nobody does that any more. I also don't see much hope that anybody who is taking a course in computer programming will ever hear that there is a language called assembler, never mind learn how to use it.
That why we need a long term strategy, we need to make OS/2 accessible to everyone and ensure its life beyond IBM
I think the main problem with that is, that OS/2 has already survived for the "long term". Many good programmers have moved on, simply because they have lost interest. Many users have also moved on, simply because OS/2 (as eCS) simply cannot do what needs to be done. If you start to pull the programmers that are left, off of the life support projects, it will be all over, before the first beta of whatever they decide to work on, becomes available for testing. So, I guess there is a choice to be made. Continue, more or less, as we have been doing, and hope for the best, or start to port the WPS to another platform (some sort of Linux base, I would assume). As you acknowledge, it would be a long term project, but OS/2 is already gasping for breath because there are not enough people working on it, and those who are working on it don't have the time to do anything else. If the WPS is not ported to another platform, there will be nothing left to run it on, by the time it exists. A lot of time, and effort, has already been expended, to make the desktop look better. From what I have seen, so far, it was a wasted effort, with little value. Meanwhile, we can't even connect to the internet, using modern WiFi devices. There will be very few people attracted to eCS without WiFi support. Bluetooth, and WLAN (among other things), are not far behind.
Don't get me wrong, I like your idea, but one must look at reality, and say "good thought", but it isn't going to happen, unless more than one person wins the BIG jackpot, and donates it all to the cause. The only other possibilities would be that IBM would wake up, and take it back, or that Microsoft would wade in and do the job (yeah, okay...). Believing in any of those possibilities would be considered to be delusional, and could get you locked away, in a padded room, for your own protection. Then, there is the migration to portable devices. We can't even get drivers for a lot of the new I/O. In another few years, <speculation> the boxes that we call "desktops", will house the new super computers, and people will be wearing watches that do ten times what today's desktops, cell phones, etc. can do </speculation>. I suspect that the WPS will be just as obsolete as video tape has become. What is left will still work, but nobody will actually want to use it any more. Meanwhile, with careful allocation of resources, we can keep what we have going, for a while. OS/2 has already had a remarkable run, but all good things come to an end, eventually, and the usual cause of their demise, is something better. From what I have seen, I think that Linux has finally matured enough to be usable. In a few more years, it will probably take over, and surpass OS/2 (it has already gone past windows, IMO). It is also the ultimate example of open source, which seems to be something that you want to see.
Meanwhile, I think that Mensys has been doing a reasonable job of continuing the life of the product, even if they don't seem to have much of an idea about quality control, or project management. They have been making the tough decisions (right or wrong), and they seem to be making enough money to cover the costs, even if it isn't enough to do the "big push forward". Most users are along for the ride, and continue to use eCS because it does what they need to have done. When eCS fails to do what is necessary, or when something better comes along, they will be off the train.
