First-up I have not followed all of this thread - not particularly user friendly web interface to do so.
I wish to comment as someone that attended the conference where Ken spoke, and as someone that has contributed in his own way to OOo functionality, and as someone that has attempted to understand the OOo code base to be able to make some contribution. One of Ken's role, as I understand it, has been to make sure that the OOo code builds. I interpreted his comments about the relative numbers of developers employed by Sun, other employed developers, and non paid community volunteers in the following way: * A lot of community volunters are put off by the size of the code base before they even start. Don't be. Choose an area that is important to you and work on that. Ask for support in that particular area and you will probably get the help you need. * We need more community developers. * A valid alternative to changing the OOo code base is to start with writing some macros. He gave the example of Andrew Brown's Word Count macro. The devlopers just didn't take Word count of a selection seriously. When Andrew's word count macro became so popular it changed their view - now the functionality is in OOo 1.9.x (personal note, Andrews macro may still be the better option). * Having mastered macros, then writing OOo components is the next logical step. * Having developed credibility and experience then changing the code base was more realistic. The OOo mini conference was a fore runner to a Linux conference, the audience was predominantly a linux audience. Therefore recommending the Ximian build was not unrealistic as being the easiest option for the target audience. Ximian sends all its patches to the official build so it will improve the "official" OpenOffice.org. I am not in a position to state about the number of developers, past and present, but we may need to be careful about our definition of terms. To me Ken was specifically talking about people that change the core code base. He was not talking about porters, the NL groups, the documentation, the help files, and all the other things that make OOo what it is. Again to me, this was not because he didn't value these contributions, in other comments he made it very clear that he did, but that there was a mind set about how to go about contributing to OOo that would make it easier. The original reference to "100 developers" may have been referring to the number of people working on OOo in some way. His advice was relevant to me. I have looked at the code base and thrown up my hands - this is too big I don't know how to get started. But, the process that I have followed turns out to be roughly the process that he recommends. If you are wanting to get started on contributing to OOo functionality, then you might like to try writing a macro to solve your particular problem. To help get you started you might like to check out http://ext.openoffice.org.nz. I have put togther this wiki as an attempt to get people started and will be extending it over time. I hope that you will join me in writing macros, and updating the wiki. There is a collaboration section of the wiki. I will try to help people to get started writing macros. Most people can write macros, only a comparatively few people are going to be able to change the core OOo code. Thanks, Ian Laurenson Currently in Canberra. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
