On 17 Dec 2004, at 13:32, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I just wonder if it is possible that those of you with in-depth knowledge of
Cocoon and the way open source communities work, can investigate other major
open source projects like Apache server, Mozilla/FireFox, Tomcat, JBoss for
that matter and see what makes them different, "better" if you like.
I'm not talking about documentation here. There are already steps taken in
the right direction.
More like: the rate of new releases, deprecation of older techniques, the
number of ways to solve a problem, user support.
I've seen you guys discussing this for Cocoon and coming up with rules of
thumb that most of you stick too. So where are you in this when you compare
this to the other major open source projects?
Easy (IMHO): Cocoon is blessed and cursed by the fact that it's one of the very few factual bazaar projects I know, the Apache HTTPD server being another one. HTTPD is lucky that they "only" have to implement the HTTP spec (quite an understatement), where as Cocoon must (a) set its course, and (b) isn't driven by the energy of a single visionary (anymore, and for quite some time now). If Cocoon would be "owned" by a smaller set of contributors, it might be easier to establish a clear vision and set of goals, a directed drive for the project, but also the danger that other contributors are alienated.
As of currently, I think what worries me most is alienation of the user community. I must say I don't know many projects where the ratio of developers vs users is comparable to Cocoon's - which means (IMHO) that you almost need to be a Cocoon dev before you can actually use the product. That's asking too much patience from a user who isn't interested in framework, but wants to build business applications instead.
</Steven> -- Steven Noels http://outerthought.org/ Outerthought - Open Source Java & XML An Orixo Member Read my weblog at http://blogs.cocoondev.org/stevenn/ stevenn at outerthought.org stevenn at apache.org
