On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:16 AM, Erik Engbrecht <[email protected]>wrote:
> > > > I catch myself equating the desire to *contribute* to ESME as a > > function of the desire to *use* ESME. In order for more people to use > > ESME, it's necessary (but not sufficient) more people to know about > > it. > > > Yes, absolutely. > > > > Another thing we should avoid is branding ESME as strictly for the > > Enterprise. It might have been beneficial before the preparation for > > the SAP Demo Jams, but now there's a much wider user base. There might > > be users who could be put off if they feel anyone not in the > > enterprise category cannot benefit fully from what ESME has to offer. > > > As a potential enterprise customer, this sentiment worries me greatly. In > my mind the singular killer feature of ESME is the enterprise focus. > Things > that detract from that, like emphasizing OpenId for authentication rather > than more enterprisey methods like Kerberos or (**shudder**) NTLM. > > I say stick to your roots and make sure you do it well. Right now the > business case for microblogging in the enterprise is clear as mud. I think > it could be made if it was effectively blended into existing infrastructure > in a way that's likely to produce value added communication rather than the > sometimes amusing line noise produced by services like Twitter. Focus is good. Focusing on Enterprise is of high value. I'm with Erik on his comments. > > > On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Vassil Dichev <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Still more thoughts coming up, but first the response to Bertrand. > > > > > Note that I know very little about the overall ESME context, feel free > > > to slap me with a trout if there's too much sillyness below ;-) > > > > Actually these are very valid points. We would benefit enormously from > > this type of input, so feel free to add more, noone could slap you > > with anything :) > > > > > You mentioned http://laconi.ca/trac/ - If I go there I immediately see > > > a boilerplate description of what that is and does: > > > > Also a very apt comparison, since I think laconi.ca is the most > > similar project to what ESME does. > > > > > What's the scope of ESME? Server, client, RESTful API? How does ESME > > > compare with and play with other microblogging platforms? Can you say > > > that in 100 words on the ESME website? > > > > If we can't explain something in simple terms, we don't understand it > > ourselves either :) > > > > > That's problem 1 I think: making it easy for potential users and > > > contributors to decide whether ESME is for them. That should not take > > > more than 10 minutes, people are lazy. > > > > I would even strive for 2 minutes. It's an easy enough concept. > > > > I catch myself equating the desire to *contribute* to ESME as a > > function of the desire to *use* ESME. In order for more people to use > > ESME, it's necessary (but not sufficient) more people to know about > > it. > > > > I think one of the best steps for ESME to catch on was to become > > open-source, and also becoming part of Apache. I also knew it wouldn't > > be an easy transition as it loses its umbilical cord to SAP. > > > > Once we have a functional release, we should announce it- but not any > > earlier. If people don't like what we see, they might not look back. I > > intend to notify e.g. the folks from the Java Posse podcast so they > > can announce the release of ESME in their next podcast, but if they do > > it now, it would probably do more harm than good. > > > > Another thing we should avoid is branding ESME as strictly for the > > Enterprise. It might have been beneficial before the preparation for > > the SAP Demo Jams, but now there's a much wider user base. There might > > be users who could be put off if they feel anyone not in the > > enterprise category cannot benefit fully from what ESME has to offer. > > > > I think ESME is different than laconi.ca, in that it focuses on > > scalability in a way few other microblogging platforms have (Twitter > > is using Scala to solve their performance problems). Using actions > > currently it is also much easier for the power user to reroute and > > process messages, which would otherwise need setup of additional tools > > (if they exist at all). > > > > ESME needs a killer feature. There are a couple of scenarios where > > ESME could be seen as superior. Example: there was a case in my > > current job where our distributed team was having daily instant > > messaging sessions. The problem was anyone who wasn't there couldn't > > see what the others have been discussing, so we had to save the chat > > sessions, and it wasn't very straightforward to make them available > > publically. This was a good case for me to propose Yammer. We tried > > it, and when the team lead noticed the message shows in the others' > > timeline in more than 10-15 seconds, he rejected Yammer as not fast > > enough. This was a perfect opportunity to promote ESME! Due to comet, > > it updates instantly. > > > > Another thing ESME is better in, is notifications for different > > server-side events. For instance, Darren has contributed code to send > > a status to ESME when an exception comes to the SAP log viewer > > service. It could easily send messages when a build finishes. It would > > also be ideal for a front end of different system event notifications > > a-la Nagios. > > > > There are a lot of use cases which capitalize on ESME's real-time > > responsiveness: problem solving when supporting a technical issue, > > development discussions, or just plain chat. > > > > Finally, I'm certainly not worried about Scala being popular or not. > > If Twitter has an interest in Scala, then we aren't likely to be on > > the wrong track. If anything, it lets us be more productive with less > > developers ;-) For instance, once I knew how I wanted to implement the > > Twitter-compatible RESTful API, I managed to put a new feature by > > coding for half an hour every couple of days. Also, remember the speed > > with which David managed to assemble a working ESME for the Demo Jam > > (though I must attribute this to David's experience and great vision > > as well). > > > > Vassil > > > > > > -- > http://erikengbrecht.blogspot.com/ > -- Lift, the simply functional web framework http://liftweb.net Beginning Scala http://www.apress.com/book/view/1430219890 Follow me: http://twitter.com/dpp Git some: http://github.com/dpp
