From e0269f14c765abdc212f464d480fc3361fd7815b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rob Landley <rob@landley.net>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2015 20:00:33 -0500
Subject: Announce switch to git.

---
 www/about.html | 132 +++++----------------------------------------------------
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 122 deletions(-)

(limited to 'www/about.html')

diff --git a/www/about.html b/www/about.html
index 1426221b..887a8dfc 100755
--- a/www/about.html
+++ b/www/about.html
@@ -73,133 +73,21 @@ kind of nice to have.</p>
 
 <b><h2><a name="downloads" />Download</h2></b>
 
-<p>This project is maintained as a mercurial archive.  To get a copy of the
-current development version, either use mercurial (hg clone
-http://landley.net/hg/toybox) or click on one of the zip/gz/bz2 links
-at the top of the <a href=/hg/toybox>mercurial archive browser</a> page to get
-an archive of the appropriate version.  Click
-<a href="/hg/toybox?cmd=tags">tags</a> to see all the tagged release
-versions ("tip" is the current development version).</p>
+<p>This project is maintained as a <a href=https://github.com/landley/toybox>git
+archive</a>, and also offers <a href=http://landley.net/toybox/downloads>source
+tarballs</a> and <a href=http://landley.net/toybox/bin>static binaries</a>
+of the release versions.</p>
 
 <p>The maintainer's <a href=/notes.html>development log</a> and the project's
 <a href=http://lists.landley.net/listinfo.cgi/toybox-landley.net>mailing
 list</a> are also good ways to track what's going on with the project.</p>
 
-<!--
-<b><h2><a name="why">Why do toybox?</h2></b>
-
-<p>Because smart phones are replacing the PC, and Android must become
-self-hosting to beat the iPhone in establishing the new standard.</p>
-
-<p>This is the third such major transition in computer history:
-(mainframe-&gt;minicomputer-&gt;microcomputer-&gt;smartphone).
-The mainframe was replaced by the minicomputer, which was replaced by
-the microcomputer (renamed the "personal" computer to make clear you could
-access porn through it), which is being replaced by the smartphone. Nobody
-needed to wait for printouts from a big computer in another building when they
-could use a little one down the hall.  Then nobody needed the big computer
-down the hall when they had a little one on their desk.  Now nobody needs the
-big computer on their desk when they have a little one in their pocket.</p>
-
-<p>The new platform displaces the old when it becomes natively self hosting.
-Often they leverage existing technology: just as early microcmputers used
-teletypes and televisions for output, phones can use
-<a href=http://us.toshiba.com/accessory/PA3575U-1PRP>USB docking stations</a>
-to access a bigger screen, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc. Plugging a phone into
-USB even charges the battery. But to use the phone as a development
-workstation, it needs more software, such as a Posix command line, a native
-compiler, and drivers for the USB peripherals.</p>
-
-<p>The new platform also eventually weans itself off of its dominant language.
-Dalvik is to Android what ROM Basic was to the PC: something it must
-eventually outgrow. Thus toybox is native C code, not Java.</p>
-
-<b><h3>So why aren't self-hosting smartphones attracting more attention?</h3></b>
-
-<p>Because most people are focusing on the legacy platforms, not on the new
-stuff. Existing multi-billion dollar industries are getting evicted from their
-decades-old established niche, and are trying to spin the transition as an
-opportunity instead of a forced march onto reservations. When elephants run
-from mice, it's easier to notice the elephants.</p>
-
-<p>History's our guide here: the previous technology always gets kicked up into
-the "server space", moving from "the thing you stood in front of waiting for
-your printout" to "that thing you sometimes accessed remotely via the new
-computer". This time around they're calling it "the cloud" and pretending it's
-a big deal; it's really just a beowulf cluster with a layer of
-virtualization/containerization software implementing hotplug hardware and
-live migration to provide cheap
-commodity processing power that dominant players (like amazon) literally
-give away for free. These old machines become secondary, only
-accessed through the new machines users now directly interact with.</p>
-
-<p>Since there's only one server space, the mainframe ate the minicomputer in
-the 1980's (when DEC went under), and this time around "the cloud" seems to be
-eating the mainframe (IBM ain't happy). The inevitable consolidation leads
-to drama, but doesn't mean much in the long run.</p>
-
-<p><a href=http://landley.net/notes-2012.html#12-07-2012>For more
-on this topic...</a></p>
-
-<b><h3><a name="why_android">Why is Android important?</h2></b>
-
-<p>Major hardware transitions introduce
-<a href=http://landley.net/notes-2011.html#26-06-2011>new software
-standards</a> which are extremely sticky once
-established, due to network effects.</p>
-
-<p>Last time around, the PC was stuck with
-a proprietary operating system (DOS/Windows) which is still dominant on that
-hardware platform's descendants 30 years later. This time around, the choice
-is between Android (a Linux derivative) and iPhone (a closed BSD fork ala
-SunOS, put out by a company already engaged in multiple aggressive IP lawsuits).
-The main difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple is competent.</p>
-
-<p>And yes, it has to be Android, it won't be vanilla Linux any time soon,
-for three reasons. 1) <a href=http://landley.net/notes-2010.html#13-08-2010>Open
-Source can't do user interfaces</a> for about the same reason wikipedia can't
-write a novel, 2) it's too late to the
-party (a 5 year headstart is forever in computers), 3) preinstalls matter
-(GPLv3 spooked all the hardware vendors, Android has a "no GPL in
-userspace" policy which is rigidly enforced).</p>
-
-<p>And "any time soon" is important: attempting to displace an existing
-entrenched de-facto standard is what linux has spent the last 20
-years trying (and failing) to do on the desktop. Spending another 20
-years fighting for less than 1% of the phone market would just be sad.</p>
-
-<b><h3><a name="how_google">How is Google less evil than Apple?</h3></b>
-
-<p>Because Android isn't Google's core business, attaching advertising to large
-scale data searches is. Android and Chrome and such are Google's way of
-"commoditizing their co-factors" to drive down the price of ingredients
-to their core business.</p>
-
-<p>Thus Google is pursuing a commodity market and encouring as many vendors as
-possible to participate, not to control the new space but to hold it open,
-so that its search products are widely available without requiring the
-permission of some other monopoly gatekeeper. Apple is attemping to corner the
-smartphone market and extract monopoly rents, excluding all
-vendors except itself.</p>
-
-<p>So if Google wins we get a commodity market in smartphone/tablet software,
-and may be able to open it further in future. If Apple wins we get a proprietary
-smartphone/tablet OS with a single monopoly vendor, which is likely to close it
-further.</p>
-
-<b><h3>Why not just use BusyBox?</h3></b>
-
-<p>Android can't. Busybox predates android
-by many years; if they were ever going to ship it they'd have done so by
-now. Android has had a "No GPL in Userspace" policy ever since GPLv3
-came out (before the first Android phone shipped), and they mean it.</p>
-
-<p>Toybox also has a better design and simpler code. I did both
-and this is the one I enjoy banging on; I tried to contribute a few things
-to busybox and it was like crawling through a thornbush of #ifdefs. Busybox
-development is just no fun anymore.</p>
-
--->
+<b><h2><a name="why" />Why is toybox?</h2></b>
+
+<p>The <a href=http://landley.net/talks/celf-2015.txt>2015 toybox talk</a>
+starts with links to three previous talks on the history and motivation of
+the project: "Why Toybox", "Why Public Domain", and "Why did I do
+Aboriginal LInux (which led me here)?".</p>
 
 <b><h2><a name="toycans" />What's the toybox logo image?</h2></b>
 
-- 
cgit v1.2.3