Responses inline... On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Bechauf, Michael <[email protected]> wrote: > Ethan, > > the issue of ESME/E2.0 integration with SAP/ERP that I raised was meant > exactly for that reason: Is there something worth investing for both SAP as > well as the ESME team ? The answer, as I see right now, is "no", so I agree > with you that it is a fact of life that nobody will bring forth any time, > money or resources if there is neither a personal or business > return-of-investment.
Ethan: Maybe I've lost the history of this discussion, or perhaps there is another parallel discussion going on, but what is the driver behind all of this discussion about how best to integrate with SAP ERP? If SAP wants it, then SAP should work on it. SAP doesn't need our permission. If ESME wants it (I haven't seen this desire expressed on this list for ages), then we should figure out how to work on it (and sorry, but I see evaluating SAP's IP restrictions and partner agreements as part of this discussion). If a mutual customer or SAP partner wants it, then they should be talking to us. > Regarding statements that I perceive as provocative: Well, to say that "the > SAP partner program kills innovation" is provocative in my book. We've > already done a lot in a year, such as like totally relaxing our policies > regarding contributing to open source as well as providing the SAP developer > license and Code Exchange which are all meant for individual developers. I > know there is so much more work that needs to be done, but rather than just > saying how bad things are, please help us figure out appropriate ways to > present a business case for individual developers based on areas of > innovation that individuals can pursue, and that makes sense for EcoHub, > which is mostly a tool for SAP customers to discover value-add products and > services that works with their ERP system. Ethan: I think we appreciate what you and your group have accomplished. But as I'm sure you're well aware, one year of good work doesn't not erase a couple of decades of history. I know SAP changes slowly and I can see that it's changing, but that doesn't make the current state of it's programs any different. In my view, one of the reasons SAP is changing is because of the pointed statements by mentors and other community members. It annoys me to see you imply that these statements are somehow inappropriate. > As I said, I'm happy to continue this discussion in a place such as the SAP > Mentor Forum that is more approrpiate than the ESME dev list. I don't think > we should be discussing legal agreements and fee structure for SAP programs > here. I would be happy to participate ... if I had access to that forum! :-) Ethan
