Ok, there was a lot happening in the last few days, and we have been thrown for a loop. There are a few things to remind ourselves of at this time:
1) This is open source software. That means that any investment you may have had in using the project is not completely lost or wasted. Even if this project changes and morphs into something else, you always have the version of Merlin that is current.
2) This is Apache open source software. That means that the community is more important than the technology. That means if this community is going to survive it must band together and pick up the slack. Stephen volunteered to play less of a major role in Merlin development so that the community can come in to understand and maintain the code better.
3) There is still a code base that needs test cases. The process of writing these test cases is the best tool available to understand the inner workings of Merlin. In all fairness, it is my opinion that this is where the immediate future of Merlin development should go. It isn't until we have an understanding of what we have that we can add more features.
4) Stefano raised some poignant points to consider regarding the Avalon project as the charter and current roadmap is concerned. It is no-one's intention that the investments that companies have made in using Avalon should be wasted. It is a possibility that the Merlin project will be given a new name and home within the ASF. However, that does not mean that work and support cannot continue until we have a clear direction.
Here is the opportunity to learn from our mistakes. We *all* have made plenty, and the old adage that "those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them" is very true. Collectively we could probably right volumes on the subject. The important thing here is that we don't get depressed about making the mistake.
There is risk in every action that any entity (person or company) makes. from a corporate perspective that means that we mitigate risk as best possible given the factors at hand. What I would encourage the companies that depend on this project to do is to mitigate risk in a way that does not completely abandon the source code.
As an open source project, you cannot look at this project as free labor, just as you cannot look at any one resource here as free labor. You get what you pay for. This project can live as long as there is a community that supports and grows this project in a healthy manner.
The ASF has many projects that have been healthy for a long time, and the general pattern that is consistant is that there a number of people doing small things that add up to big things. As a company looking to mitigate the risk of the perception of a bad decision, I would suggest that you pay for some time with your developers to ensure your needs are continued to be met.
The bottom line is that we cannot do all the work for you. That is what you pay contractors for. Each of us has pieces that are of particular interest to us. Those pieces hopefully fit together for the overall good of the community. Sometimes you can convince someone to adopt your vision and they will work toward that common good--but in the end if you really need a feature, bug fix, etc. you need to put some resources toward the project (while money is nice, most of the time developer resources are most welcomed).
We are not miracle workers, and if we are overworked and underappreciated, we become less than friendly. This is true of any
person (as long as they are human I have found this to be true).
--
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
- Rich Cook
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