[Data-modeling] from software releases to operating systems...

[Robert Cook]

I may be missing some of the subtleties in this model, but I'd like to  
double check.  If I say a piece of software runs on a particular  
operating system, am I able to say something general like "Windows",  
something more specific like "Windows NT" or something highly precise  
like "Windows 2000 Server Edition SP1"?  That is, are all of these the  
same expected type in your model and if so what is that type?

R

On May 6, 2008, at 5:44 PM, brendan wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'd like to broach the discussion of operating systems and their
> releases/versions. To recap my proposal for software and its versions/
> releases (from last week):
>
> "Software" has "Software Releases" which are unique and identifiable
> by a version label and a release date and one or more Operating
> Systems (more on this last part, later).
>
> e.g. the software "Mozilla Firefox" has
>
> "Firefox 2.0.0.14 for Mac OS X"  * 2.0.0.14 * April 16, 2008 * Mac  
> OS X
>
> "Software" also has "Software Release Series" which are more flexible
> in use. This is any series of software releases that are deemed to be
> related in some significant way.
>
> e.g. the software "Mozilla Firefox" has
>
> "Firefox 2"
>
> which would, like software, have a list of all the software versions/
> releases; the versions associated with the series.  Yes, it falls a
> little short on the normalization front but I think it's quite a bit
> more practical than trying to do some kind of hierarchical thing here.
>
> So, on to operating systems and their version/releases. How it's
> modeled now:
>
> type: /computers/operating_system
>
> property: parent_os                      expected_type:  
> operating_system
> property: includes_os_versions expected_type: operating_system
> property: version_number           expected_type: Text
>
> I'm not fond of this schema.  I'd like to deprecate it and model
> operating systems similar to the way I modeled software.
>
> "Operating System" (e.g. "Mac OS X")
> "Operating System Release/Version" (e.g. "Mac OS 10.5.2")
> "Operating System Release Series" (e.g. "Mac OS X Leopard")
>
> The main difference is os release versions don't have a supported OS/
> Platform like software but, rather, a supported "Computer
> Architecture" which refers to, well, I'm not sure. Should it be a list
> of CPU series supported? I don't think that's such a good idea.  I'm
> afraid we may need another type here: "Computing Architecture"  e.g.
> x86, x86-64, PowerPC, XScale, StrongARM.  I think this would cover
> most use cases.
>
> Now back to Software Releases.  I said they are characterized by a
> version, a release date and an operating system.  That last property
> is a little fuzzy.  I mean, some software releases are compatible with
> an operating system but only a minimum version of an operating
> system.  Worse, some software releases are only compatible with a
> particular operating system for a particular computing architecture
> (e.g. stuff that only worked on powerpc macs running OS X)
>
> Before I dive into this last problem I'd like to get some feedback on
> the general direction I'm heading....
>
> thanks,
>
> Brendan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Data-modeling mailing list
> Data-modeling at freebase.com
> http://lists.freebase.com/mailman/listinfo/data-modeling