Hi Dave. Even though I have stopped my companies, I still have many other things to do than working on AOO, and when I had my companies I had limited time, so I can for sure follow you. Today I am just trying to help open source as such, because it has helped me a lot in my career.
And to answer your question, yes I do have some ideas (but they might be wrong), I have listed some of the important ones below: - We need to focus more on people who want to help, instead of using all the legal stuff (which are necessary) as a buffer not to move things. (e.g. I got 2 volunteers working on a danish translation, highly motivated, now we are discussing details about how to release the stuff). I think Rob is having a lead here with his new web pages. - We do NOT want a war of religions between AOO and others, ASF is well known, upper end of free software, so we should be publicly asking for collaboration. - I think events like ApacheCon is nice, but events like FOSDEM is quite a lot more important for the "ordinary" openSource developer. - I would like to see more "marketing" for developers, instead of businesses...I think we need to get back to roots where a developers think its fun, and pride to develop AOO. We could easily e.g. make challenges like "who can solve this problem". I am new to AOO (so I am either interfering or bringing in new views), but I have quite some years of experience with openSource and I am a strong believer of ASF. The "apache way" is in many ways a limitation, but at the end it is the guarantee for a better end-user product. Please accept my apologies, if I have broken n-policies, but I think the question from Dave was well placed, and well formulated so it deserved a straight answer. Jan. On 1 November 2012 20:51, Dave Fisher <dave2w...@comcast.net> wrote: > Hi Jan, > > We are all here as individuals with various and different amounts of time > and energy. Many are employed to work on OpenOffice, but many like me are > volunteers who have demanding day jobs. The key part of the Apache Way is > that leadership comes from DOING and COMMUNICATING. > > You are new here with lots of admirable energy and work! This is what > acquires merit in an Apache project! > > Since we ultimately can only control ourselves, do you have any > suggestions about how we can more actively encourage participation? > > Best Regards, > Dave > > On Nov 1, 2012, at 9:38 AM, jan iversen wrote: > > > Please excuse me, I think I know the difference between hooligans and > > people who are just blowing hot air. > > > > To be honest, at the moment AOO does NOT have a great deal of momentum, > and > > have (I think) lost a quite a lot of reputation among developers. That is > > something we have to remedy, not by glittering folders, or smart > marketing, > > but by showing the developers, that we really care about their > > contributions. > > > > If I may say so, some developers might see "the apache way" as a > > limitation, which my experience during the last month somewhat confirms, > I > > think we really need to focus on "the community" instead of telling > people > > about legal issues, but about getting a product that still can out beat > the > > big (costly) products out there. Do NOT forget some state institutions in > > EU choose OpenOffice against other, but today I would not be so sure !!! > > > > Sorry for the outburst, but I am used to say what I think, and I really > > really want AOO to be the opensource project, as it was in the past. Lets > > not forget why we are all here..... > > > > Jan > > > > On 1 November 2012 17:20, RGB ES <rgb.m...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> 2012/11/1 Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> > >> > >>> I'm hearing that some project volunteers, especially new ones, are > >>> being contacted by certain external parties, who then try to > >>> discourage them from contributing to the Apache OpenOffice project. > >>> I'm hearing that similar notes have been sent out to those who > >>> submitted listings to our new Consultants Directory, also discouraging > >>> them from involvement in the project. > >>> > >>> This is my personal view on this matter, for what it is worth. > >>> > >>> I think we all would agree that such techniques are deplorable and > >>> bring disrepute to the individuals involved, and to the project that > >>> sanctions such techniques. If you recall we had a similar wave of > >>> such unprofessional behavior a few months ago, when certain external > >>> parties were contacting journalists who mentioned OpenOffice and > >>> telling them that it was no longer being developed and to link to a > >>> different product instead. > >>> > >>> I any case, if you are receiving such FUD yourself, I'd encourage you > >>> to simply post it to this mailing list, or to your blog, or some other > >>> public website. "Daylight is the best antiseptic" as they say. I am > >>> not a medical doctor, but I do believe that FUD exposed to public > >>> scrutiny loses its potency. But FUD ignored is FUD that spreads. > >>> > >> > >> There is and always will be people who do not understand what an > opensource > >> project is and behave like hooligans "defending" their soccer team. I > hope > >> they are just individuals and nothing more, but I fully agree to put > each > >> case under daylight. > >> > >> Regards > >> Ricardo > >> > >> > >> > >>> > >>> > >>> Regards, > >>> > >>> -Rob > >>> > >> > >
