A look down the road into the valley of Helix 6 and the hills beyond
12 May 2005--There comes a point in every project where you can finally see over the hill you've been climbing and get a sense of what's on the other side. It's at this point that you know you're going into that territory and soon the storms that have been raging ahead of you for so long become the wind at your back.
The path to Helix 6 began, innocently enough, with a plan to deliver an OS X version of Helix that had state-of-the-art networking, could sustain a potentially much greater file size than 2 gigabytes and would not preclude enabling Helix to reach out into the worlds of Windows and Linux, which, at the time, were features slated for a Helix 7 yet to come.
There's no easy way to say it: the deeper we got into trying to bring Helix to OS X, the easier it was to see why no serious effort to get there--or to Windows or Linux--had been attempted before. It was a big, big job, and a thankless one too. Thankless because of the sheer volume of work that had to be done with no clearly perceptible benefit to the user base.
Three-pronged effort
Getting Helix to OS X was essentially a project with three main thrusts. The first was recreating the TCP/IP networking, to extend Helix's reach beyond the local network to encircle the globe. The second was expanding the Helix file structure, enabling Helix's new world-class networks to park their data in a world-class garage. Finally, the last front would be where Helix itself would transition its main functions into OS X.
As each of these projects evolved to a functional level, it had to be brought into the product in the smoothest possible way. TCP/IP finished first. This became Helix 5.3, 5.3.1, and finally 5.3.2. This transition did not go nearly as smoothly or as quickly as we had hoped. In fact, it took nearly twice as long as we'd planned to get it ready for release. While it has met with a lot of success so far, there are still ways we can--and will--improve it.
The large file structure project, code named "Bloatware," gradually neared completion as well. At one point, not long ago, our plan was for this product to be delivered to you as Helix 5.3.2. Then we had a change of heart.
Course corrections
For better or for worse, we made some hard decisions in order to get to OS X with all deliberate speed. The first was not to support two operating systems with Helix 6. We decided that if people wanted to use Helix Server in OS X, they would use Helix 6. If not, they would stay in Helix 5.X. Supporting both platforms on the Helix 6 server ultimately would have taken much too long and with the TCP/IP code now working the way it always should have, we already had a perfectly fine server in 5.3.x for that purpose. It no longer made sense.
Second, we decided that if your Helix collection was approaching 2 gigabytes and you needed the version with more room in it, you'd have to go to Helix 6. From a practical standpoint, it only makes sense that a collection that large would need to run on the latest hardware, which is OS X only. Besides, testing this functionality apart from OS X would have meant testing, debugging and eventually releasing yet another OS 9 Helix product and doing that would have added months to what was already taking far too long to accomplish. So, there will be no support for files larger than 2 GB in Helix 5. That's that. Onward and upward.
Finally, as we prepared to move Chaski and Bloatware in together and move everything forward, we took a brief look at the past and a long hard look at the future. Looking back, we found a precedent with which we were well familiar that serves to illustrate our final dilemma.
When Apple shipped System 7, some applications were known as System 7-compatible and others were known as System 7-savvy. The System 7 compatible applications were able to launch under System 7, but did not necessarily take advantage of all of System 7's functionality, such as Publish and Subscribe, TrueType fonts, Balloon Help and cooperative multitasking. Over time, such applications gradually implemented support for some or all of those features, eventually becoming more "savvy" than "compatible." Helix was such a program.
Since we have been in the business of delivering technology as it becomes available, we saw no reason to make you wait for our OS X products until every little piece of OS X was totally supported by Helix. Our primary objective thus became making it unnecessary to ever use the Classic OS again. That begins on the Helix Server. The rest will come along as it begins to function. Although it is tempting (and relatively easy) to add support for some of the new OS X specific eye candy, we realize the importance of simply delivering a product that runs natively in OS X now, not after we've incorporated WebKit, Spotlight, etc. and have forced ourselves to stay the course and 'just get to OS X' without the bells and whistles.
But when we looked ahead to putting the rest of the pieces out there, we came to the realization that barring some major breakthrough, having a native Windows RADE or Linux RADE might still take years to accomplish. So we came up with a plan, and we think it makes a lot of sense.
And that plan is to essentially roll out the entire Helix 6 family in stages. The initial products, Helix 6 Server and the Helix Maintenance Manager, Helix Utility and Helix Update Collection will each be introduced as OS X applications. The remaining three products will initially be called Helix Client 6.0 Classic, Helix RADE 6.0 Classic and Helix Engine 6.0 Classic. While essentially the same from a functional standpoint as their Helix 5.3.2 counterpoints, these products have been modified to work with collections that can be deployed under Helix Server 6.
It is important that you understand that when Helix 6 Server ships, it will run in OS X and OS X only. The utility programs will run in OS 9 and OS X. But the Helix 6 Client will initially still require the Classic environment (or OS 9). Our intent is to use the funds we generate from Helix 6 Server sales to fuel development so we can deliver the native OS X Client as quickly as possible. We have been alpha testing for several weeks and while a few hurdles remain, our strategy appears sound.
Over the next several months and years, the Helix 6 family will be fleshed out. As each new product becomes available in OS X, the word "Classic" will disappear from its name and by the time all the products ship native, they will all share more and more ways they take advantage of what OS X has to offer. As we move forward, we promise to keep our eye on that "cross-platform" prize, but for now, our focus is on delivering OS X capable products that you won't have to make apologies for.