In addition to a press release at the ready, we also ought to have a set of "talking points," ready. If anyone does a blog or talks to press, we ought to have a coherent message to talk about the project and the software.
Note that this is strictly for the graduation to TLP and not so much about 4.1.0 even though that's on the front burner too. Suggested talking points and such below. Revisions, etc. welcome! What we need to be able to articulate: - Why this matters: Graduation is about the community's readiness to operate as an open source project, it's not about the state of the code - which was already mature when CloudStack entered the incubator. What it means is that the project is self-governing and has sufficient participation from a diverse community that it has demonstrated to the Apache board that it's ready to act as a TLP. >From here, Apache CloudStack can operate more autonomously and that will make it easier for the project to do things like releases and promote itself. - What it doesn't mean: It's deeply important to emphasize that this has nothing to do with code maturity. One of the common misconceptions about incubating projects - and CloudStack - is that it is a "new" project and/or that the code is immature. We need to emphasize that CloudStack is mature software and has been since it entered the incubator. Graduation is about community readiness, not code readiness. - What Apache CloudStack is: Apache CloudStack is open source Infrastructure-as-a-Service software, and the community that produces the software. CloudStack is a turnkey product that supplies integrated components for many of the functions that organizations expect from an IaaS platform: the UI, API, accounting, networking, management, etc. - and works with a wide range of hypervisors, storage, and networking appliances. - Why Should an Organization Try CloudStack? Maturity, stability, scalability, and community. * Maturity: Apache CloudStack is in use in many production deployments for private, public, and hybrid clouds. * Stability: It's been proven as a stable platform with a number of long-term deployments that have seen little or no downtime. * Scalability: CloudStack has been used in environments with more than 30,000 physical nodes and is also used in geo-distributed environments with data centers all over the globe. * Community: As part of the Apache Software Foundation, CloudStack's community is diverse, friendly, and one that puts all contributors on equal footing. The Apache governance model is well-understood and open. ### What else do we need here, folks? Best, jzb -- Joe Brockmeier j...@zonker.net Twitter: @jzb http://www.dissociatedpress.net/
