On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 08:52:04AM -0500, Elaine -HFB- Ashton wrote:
> Selena Sol [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth:
> *>
> *>> Again, I am not convinced that advocacy is something mere money can solve.
> *>> It might help but people who use it, have a good experience and then talk
> *>> about it or write about are is worth more than an ad in the Standard.
> *>
> *>I think you need both. Money won't solve any problems, but sadly, I think
> *>that without money all the advocacy in the world may not get perl much
> *>further than it already is. Money allows you to build critical mass. The
> *>building though, is done through 'real' things like proving yourself,
> *>projects, eferences,articles, and everything else.
>
> Well, what can money really do here. Everyone is saying pretty much the
> same thing only slightly differently and, for the most part, agreeing yet
> it's not really clear what it is. What could money buy for Perl that it
> doesn't have now and, at the same time, not sell its soul?
>
> So, a whole lot of people use Perl but it's not as well known as Java.
> This happens with people too where the people who do the work go unnoticed
> while the flashy talking head takes all the credit. Perl is just there
> like running water...you only notice it when it's gone. Why is this seen
> as a failure in advocacy?
>
> If you had $500,000 what would you do with it? Be specific.
An observation...
At the perl conference W. Phillip Moore of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
talked in his keynote speech about one way. He observed how effective
they had found funding the developers of existing open source components
to enhance them further.
I'm sure I speak for many authors of modules when I say that I've a
whole pile of ehnacements I'd like to make to the DBI, DBD::Oracle etc
but I'm constrained by the need to pay the mortgage (etc).
DBD::Oracle has benefited from two sponsored developments in the past
(the use of the Oracle 8 OCI API, funded by Critical Path, and support
for LOBs, funded by Excite). Countless thousands of people have
benefited from those enhancements.
I'm sure there are many businesses using perl who have itches to scratch
and one efficient way for them to scratch is to fund relevant developers
who can fix the itch in a way that moves perl forward for everyone.
Tim.
