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Applications / Revision Control
« on: September 12, 2007, 12:09:49 am »
Can anyone tell me what capabilities for revision control these OS word processors and spreadsheets have? Maybe, what is the file format?
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Architecture / Suggestion: Project-Open
« on: September 11, 2007, 02:18:08 pm »
I really like what you're trying to do. I'm kind of starting from scratch here, so forgive me if what I'm about to say is a little naive...
Here's what happened when I first got to your site: I noticed that you "integrated all the features of ActiveCollab" with your first alpha release. Not knowing anything about activecollab, I clicked on the link and went to the site. First thing I noticed is that there is no information typically associated with an open source project on the activecollab page. No current release, no friendly "download" tab, no mailing lists, no bug tracker, not even a link to a comprehensive list of features. Instead, there's information on how to buy a license.
If I arrived there from a google search instead of from your site, I wouldn't even know it was an open source project and I still don't know how to download it.
Fast forward through the next hour or so spent on the forum. No particular goal in mind other than to get a feel for what features the project has, what kind of support the development team offers, etc. Enter the realization that it's a one-man show. This, combined with the 0.7.1 version number that you mention, combined with the fact that a "summer 2007" release has been promised for a good long while and it's not here in spite of the fact that it's now Sep 2007....Well, my impression is that the one-man is either burning out or other priorities are asserting themselves. This is fine and it happens to everyone. It's just that when it happens to one individual on a large development team, the whole project doesn't suffer. (I was recently reading about the Apache Incubator and the reasons for not promoting "some code" to a full fledged project until a viable community had developed around it. Activecollab would seem to be a case study of why that is necessary.)
In any case, I did some more googling and I found this "project-open" project. (http://www.project-open.org/) This website comforts me with the .org extension, the "download" link on the front page, the conspicuously advertised version of 3.2 indicating maturity and stability, the comprehensive array of modules which can be strung together however one would like.
At first blush, project open would seem to be a more secure foundation on which to build. I'm totally inexperienced with this "mashup" concept, having wasted my youth programming in C/C++/Java/python and avoiding both GUIs and the web. I suppose that it is possible that project open is somehow technically incompatible with this mashup concept.
Now I want to leave you with this other thing I found while googling for PM solutions. It's a good read and a really good, very lengthy, summary of open-source offerings. But the page, found at http://linas.org/linux/pm.html contains the following plea:
With this in mind, (and please realize that I am just trying to provoke thoughtful consideration and not to belittle your efforts): Have you considered the potential benefits of joining a project like "project-open" to integrate text and spreadsheet editors and craft the document repository to your liking? You're desparately going to need a community, and they come with one pre-installed.
Here's what happened when I first got to your site: I noticed that you "integrated all the features of ActiveCollab" with your first alpha release. Not knowing anything about activecollab, I clicked on the link and went to the site. First thing I noticed is that there is no information typically associated with an open source project on the activecollab page. No current release, no friendly "download" tab, no mailing lists, no bug tracker, not even a link to a comprehensive list of features. Instead, there's information on how to buy a license.
If I arrived there from a google search instead of from your site, I wouldn't even know it was an open source project and I still don't know how to download it.Fast forward through the next hour or so spent on the forum. No particular goal in mind other than to get a feel for what features the project has, what kind of support the development team offers, etc. Enter the realization that it's a one-man show. This, combined with the 0.7.1 version number that you mention, combined with the fact that a "summer 2007" release has been promised for a good long while and it's not here in spite of the fact that it's now Sep 2007....Well, my impression is that the one-man is either burning out or other priorities are asserting themselves. This is fine and it happens to everyone. It's just that when it happens to one individual on a large development team, the whole project doesn't suffer. (I was recently reading about the Apache Incubator and the reasons for not promoting "some code" to a full fledged project until a viable community had developed around it. Activecollab would seem to be a case study of why that is necessary.)
In any case, I did some more googling and I found this "project-open" project. (http://www.project-open.org/) This website comforts me with the .org extension, the "download" link on the front page, the conspicuously advertised version of 3.2 indicating maturity and stability, the comprehensive array of modules which can be strung together however one would like.
At first blush, project open would seem to be a more secure foundation on which to build. I'm totally inexperienced with this "mashup" concept, having wasted my youth programming in C/C++/Java/python and avoiding both GUIs and the web. I suppose that it is possible that project open is somehow technically incompatible with this mashup concept.
Now I want to leave you with this other thing I found while googling for PM solutions. It's a good read and a really good, very lengthy, summary of open-source offerings. But the page, found at http://linas.org/linux/pm.html contains the following plea:
Quote
Note to Free Software Programmers: Please DO NOT create yet another project to implement some system! There are too many half-finished, half-functional systems already! Do some research, find a system that is appealing, and volunteer to carry it further! At first, this may seem less rewarding, because you won't be Mr. Super-Duper I-am-Head-of-the-Project Big-Shot Might-Be-Linus-Torvalds-Soul-Brother. But in the long run, you will find much more satisfaction from working on a project that everyone knows and respects, than being the sole author of and world-wide expert on some poopoo-kaka that no one has heard of. I speak from experience!
With this in mind, (and please realize that I am just trying to provoke thoughtful consideration and not to belittle your efforts): Have you considered the potential benefits of joining a project like "project-open" to integrate text and spreadsheet editors and craft the document repository to your liking? You're desparately going to need a community, and they come with one pre-installed.
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