Taran Rampersad wrote:
Claude Almansi wrote:
Burrokeet (? http://www.burrokeet.org/ a kind of FOSS Office suite?
Burrokeet I know something about, though the main people behind Burrokeet are on the list (or so I believe). Ross Gardler is one of them, and can talk about the project better. But I'll take the opportunity to wax poetic on the way *I* see it.
Thanks Tarran, here is a little more:
In a way, one could say it is a kind of FOSS Office suite
It's not really an Office suite.It is more of a content creation tool (and will eventually migrate into a content management tool) that leverages the power of Office Suites.
The idea is that you have a GUI into which you drop content developed in (theoretically) any tool/format, such as MS Office, Open Office, FrontPage, Dreamwearver, Docbook, Latex etc. The system handles the creation of a Content Package that brings all this content together into a uniform whole. That is, regardless of what format documents were put in you get a single format out.
Furthermore, we can generate a wide range of output formats. So from multiple input formats you can get HTML, XML, Text, PDF, RTF, S5 slides etc. Further still, multiple styles for each of these formats can be created.
Content can be shared between content packages. So, for example, Mr A. could create some materials on how to apply for grants for open source development, whilst Mrs. B may write a document on how to manage an open source project. Miss C can now create a content package that contains both the funding document and the management document. Each version of the document would be presented to suit the individual purpose (e.g. would carry the appropriate organisational identity).
Content Packages can be packaged as Learning Objects and imported into standards compliant learning object repositories, so this makes a great tool for developing Learning Content. But we also use it in many other ways, if you need to create uniform content from multiple input formats then Burrokeet is for you.
Having said that, it is important to realise that it is an early stage project. It does work, but it has some sever limitations, mostly in the area of user interface, this is the area development focuses on now.
You can see demonstrations of many of these features on the website at http://www.burrokeet.org
Another thing of note - this was developed in Trinidad and Tobago, and is the first standalone application developed in this country
This is only partially correct. The project has developers, either directly or indirectly, in many different countries. In fact we have people in every one of the major continents (I don't believe we have anyone in Antarctica ;-)). However, it is true that the project was started in Trinidad, and continues to have developers based there, for my part I have now returned to the UK, but was in Trinidad when I started the project.
and people got *paid* to do it. I believe that IBM funded the first part of this
Yes, this is important to understand - people do get paid to work on Open Source projects. It is a "proper job" for many of us. And we must recognise IBM for their initial funding and lack of restriction on our licensing model.
The name itself is derived from a traditional Trinidad and Tobago Carnival character (and arnival got done yesterday). It's a success story.
For those who care, the Burrokeet represents the "Beast of Burden freed to frolic in the fields". In this context it is intended to symbolise the fact that content authors are freed from the need to learn new tools, whilst maintainers of content collections no longer need to worry about creating a consistent look and feel to their collections.
Burrokeet will hopefully continue evolving.
It will. We have very big plans for it and welcome any technically minded people to examine it and help out (we not really ready for the non-techie people - it just isn't friendly enough yet).
More info is at http://www.burrokeet.org
Ross
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