2017-01-23, 08:06
Dated: January 22, 2017
The Road Forward...
From Ashes Community,
It is with great pride and esteem that I can begin announcing the road forward as From Ashes Danvers moves into its tenth Beta release. It's been a long road since the humble beginnings of From Ashes, taking the place of Arctic Zephyr: Exploded as its successor and soon Arctic Zephyr: For Another Age will supersede not only Arctic Zephyr: Exploded but Arctic Zephyr: Braz as well. We've stumbled, we've made mistakes, but we've always gotten back up, brushed ourselves off, and got back to work because the work is never done as some skin developers would say. So let's take a look at what the road forward is going to look like for the From Ashes Project.
To absent friends...
I've known about this for about a week but I had not yet told anyone here. Our Co-Author, Minus0 who brought a lot of enthusiasm to the table and creative ideas has stepped down from his position of Co-Author. As I have always said: real life takes priority over anything we do here; this is a volunteer project and his plate is really full right now. I do not know if he'll return as a Co-Author someday but for now, he has asked to be placed back into the Executive Contributor position - a title given to those who have contributed so much although for Minus0 it doesn't do him justice.
So please thank Minus0 for his hard work and wish him well on his new endeavours!
The Search for New Co-Authors
With the departure of Minus0 the hunt has begun for new Co-Authors. The only requirements: come up with your own creative ideas to help influence the directions of From Ashes and know how to code (or be learning how to) Kodi skins. And we're not limited to just one spot - if there are a few interested that's even better because the From Ashes Project just keeps getting bigger. Simply send me a PM or pop a message down below.
Habitual_Sinner and the Music Section
Do not fret, Habitual_Sinner, the most recent person to join the team is still with us although his contributions won't be occurring until after the From Ashes Project restructure. Someone proposed a fix to the Music section which I like and it will make its way into the next release of From Ashes Danvers. Other changes to music will be up to Habitual_Sinner and any interested co-authors.
Building the Foundation
As many have noticed or noted, From Ashes has outgrown out ability to keep track of the project, requests, and bugs from forum posts alone. In about two weeks time the official From Ashes Project site will launch featuring the ability to track the project, see the roadmap of where we're headed, report bugs, request features, contribute, and even an easy to use quick start wizard to get you started in using From Ashes (or developing for From Ashes). More on this closer to launch but I am really excited for it as it will make our lives and yours a lot easier.
Reaching Out
As part of the continuing effort to grow the already astonishing awareness of the From Ashes Project, we want to reach out to the very talented Kodi skinning community and find those modders who improve upon others work and unify the place to find them. A post about what this mean will be coming in later days but for now I just wanted to iterate our intention to reach out further into the community in more than just one way - we want to offer the same powerful options that the From Ashes Project enjoys or will enjoy to authors of notable skin modifications.
For Another Age
In the end, it seems Danvers will be a stepping stone to what's next: Arctic Zephyr: For Another Age. For Another Age will unify AZ:E and AZ:B into one skin under one umbrella and add new unique features, support Kodi 18 and later, and feature an all new design which may or may not already exist in some form somewhere on this forum if everything goes well. For Another Age will be a major paradigm shift: a native 4K skin that can switch between its classic current look and its modern For Another Age look at the tap of a button; likely pushing the abilities of Kodi's skinning engine to its complete limit.
For Another Age will not be for the feint of heart. From Ashes Danvers has already demanding requirements but For Another Age is going to make it look like a Floppy Disk next to a Blu-Ray when it is complete. Next stop: 4K UHD and whole bunch of new features.
And for Danvers...
We're going to examine Danvers carefully and learn what we want and what we don't want. We will focus on Danvers even as we move forward with For Another Age. I make this promise now for all to see: Danvers will be fully supported until the full general release of Kodi 18.
Creating the Contributor Community
In the end, I picture the From Ashes Project as a healthy project where contributors drive the course forward and Co-Authors and myself oversee the large changes and overall stability of From Ashes. We will begin working towards that goal with the release of the From Ashes Official Site in the coming two weeks but I want to go on record now in saying that it really begins today: no longer will From Ashes add the feature for 'just one person;' if you want a particular feature and we aren't really interested in adding it, code it in (or find someone who will) and share your contribution. We'll note all contributions on the From Ashes Project Contributors page including what you have contributed.
Just remember, From Ashes is licensed under AGPLv3 with a non-commercial clause. We prefer that all contributions are done under the same license and that contributors understand the NOSSCA at https://cla-assistant.io/NortheBridge/sk....fromashes which will be edited and made more pronounced but no one has raised concerns with it. However, if you want to license your contribution under something else just make sure it doesn't contradict AGPLv3. Open source can drive creativity and we believe this creativity is the way forward.
The relationship we're trying to create is one similar to Canonical and the Ubuntu community. It's made Ubuntu the most popular Linux Desktop OS there's no reason a modified framework can't propel the From Ashes Project.
Retiring NBD Repo v1 ("Victorious") for NBD Repo v2 ("NatalieDormer"
On February 1, 2017, the NortheBridge by Design v1 Repository, "Victorious," will be officially retired in favor of the NortheBridge by Design v2 Repository, "NatalieDormer." If you haven't already updated to the latest repository, simply download and install it from here: https://embycdn.northebridge.com/Natalie...2.0.00.zip
The Greatest Things are to Come
Believe me when I say the greatest things are to come. There are so many ideas, so many creative people, and so many things we can do. As I end this post I want to thank everyone for supporting and continuing to support the From Ashes Project. Without you: our users, our contributors, our followers, and even our dissenters this project would not be possible. To symbolize the gratefulness we have for our community, From Ashes will be getting a new logo for Danvers and For Another Age. We're also going to be updating the NortheBridge by Design Repository logo as well.
So thank you and we hope for and look forward to your continued support as we move forward.
Guardian Hope
The Road Forward...
From Ashes Community,
It is with great pride and esteem that I can begin announcing the road forward as From Ashes Danvers moves into its tenth Beta release. It's been a long road since the humble beginnings of From Ashes, taking the place of Arctic Zephyr: Exploded as its successor and soon Arctic Zephyr: For Another Age will supersede not only Arctic Zephyr: Exploded but Arctic Zephyr: Braz as well. We've stumbled, we've made mistakes, but we've always gotten back up, brushed ourselves off, and got back to work because the work is never done as some skin developers would say. So let's take a look at what the road forward is going to look like for the From Ashes Project.
To absent friends...
I've known about this for about a week but I had not yet told anyone here. Our Co-Author, Minus0 who brought a lot of enthusiasm to the table and creative ideas has stepped down from his position of Co-Author. As I have always said: real life takes priority over anything we do here; this is a volunteer project and his plate is really full right now. I do not know if he'll return as a Co-Author someday but for now, he has asked to be placed back into the Executive Contributor position - a title given to those who have contributed so much although for Minus0 it doesn't do him justice.
So please thank Minus0 for his hard work and wish him well on his new endeavours!
The Search for New Co-Authors
With the departure of Minus0 the hunt has begun for new Co-Authors. The only requirements: come up with your own creative ideas to help influence the directions of From Ashes and know how to code (or be learning how to) Kodi skins. And we're not limited to just one spot - if there are a few interested that's even better because the From Ashes Project just keeps getting bigger. Simply send me a PM or pop a message down below.
Habitual_Sinner and the Music Section
Do not fret, Habitual_Sinner, the most recent person to join the team is still with us although his contributions won't be occurring until after the From Ashes Project restructure. Someone proposed a fix to the Music section which I like and it will make its way into the next release of From Ashes Danvers. Other changes to music will be up to Habitual_Sinner and any interested co-authors.
Building the Foundation
As many have noticed or noted, From Ashes has outgrown out ability to keep track of the project, requests, and bugs from forum posts alone. In about two weeks time the official From Ashes Project site will launch featuring the ability to track the project, see the roadmap of where we're headed, report bugs, request features, contribute, and even an easy to use quick start wizard to get you started in using From Ashes (or developing for From Ashes). More on this closer to launch but I am really excited for it as it will make our lives and yours a lot easier.
Reaching Out
As part of the continuing effort to grow the already astonishing awareness of the From Ashes Project, we want to reach out to the very talented Kodi skinning community and find those modders who improve upon others work and unify the place to find them. A post about what this mean will be coming in later days but for now I just wanted to iterate our intention to reach out further into the community in more than just one way - we want to offer the same powerful options that the From Ashes Project enjoys or will enjoy to authors of notable skin modifications.
For Another Age
In the end, it seems Danvers will be a stepping stone to what's next: Arctic Zephyr: For Another Age. For Another Age will unify AZ:E and AZ:B into one skin under one umbrella and add new unique features, support Kodi 18 and later, and feature an all new design which may or may not already exist in some form somewhere on this forum if everything goes well. For Another Age will be a major paradigm shift: a native 4K skin that can switch between its classic current look and its modern For Another Age look at the tap of a button; likely pushing the abilities of Kodi's skinning engine to its complete limit.
For Another Age will not be for the feint of heart. From Ashes Danvers has already demanding requirements but For Another Age is going to make it look like a Floppy Disk next to a Blu-Ray when it is complete. Next stop: 4K UHD and whole bunch of new features.
And for Danvers...
We're going to examine Danvers carefully and learn what we want and what we don't want. We will focus on Danvers even as we move forward with For Another Age. I make this promise now for all to see: Danvers will be fully supported until the full general release of Kodi 18.
Creating the Contributor Community
In the end, I picture the From Ashes Project as a healthy project where contributors drive the course forward and Co-Authors and myself oversee the large changes and overall stability of From Ashes. We will begin working towards that goal with the release of the From Ashes Official Site in the coming two weeks but I want to go on record now in saying that it really begins today: no longer will From Ashes add the feature for 'just one person;' if you want a particular feature and we aren't really interested in adding it, code it in (or find someone who will) and share your contribution. We'll note all contributions on the From Ashes Project Contributors page including what you have contributed.
Just remember, From Ashes is licensed under AGPLv3 with a non-commercial clause. We prefer that all contributions are done under the same license and that contributors understand the NOSSCA at https://cla-assistant.io/NortheBridge/sk....fromashes which will be edited and made more pronounced but no one has raised concerns with it. However, if you want to license your contribution under something else just make sure it doesn't contradict AGPLv3. Open source can drive creativity and we believe this creativity is the way forward.
The relationship we're trying to create is one similar to Canonical and the Ubuntu community. It's made Ubuntu the most popular Linux Desktop OS there's no reason a modified framework can't propel the From Ashes Project.
Retiring NBD Repo v1 ("Victorious") for NBD Repo v2 ("NatalieDormer"
On February 1, 2017, the NortheBridge by Design v1 Repository, "Victorious," will be officially retired in favor of the NortheBridge by Design v2 Repository, "NatalieDormer." If you haven't already updated to the latest repository, simply download and install it from here: https://embycdn.northebridge.com/Natalie...2.0.00.zip
The Greatest Things are to Come
Believe me when I say the greatest things are to come. There are so many ideas, so many creative people, and so many things we can do. As I end this post I want to thank everyone for supporting and continuing to support the From Ashes Project. Without you: our users, our contributors, our followers, and even our dissenters this project would not be possible. To symbolize the gratefulness we have for our community, From Ashes will be getting a new logo for Danvers and For Another Age. We're also going to be updating the NortheBridge by Design Repository logo as well.
So thank you and we hope for and look forward to your continued support as we move forward.
Guardian Hope
