A big concern always is the employment status of the core developers. It is necessary to get some developers from more than one company. That can be done during incubation, but it is helpful if it can be shown during the application.
One of my concerns is:
Is this a product that makes up the significant fraction of the revenue of the sponsoring organization? I don't really expect that you would share that kind of information, but it will be at the back of my mind when evualating your application.
It is hard for a open source project to succeed, if most the developers are meeting face to face and especially if they have outside interests (not part of the oss community) making strategic decisions that affect the ability of the project to evolve. This could happen with Derby, but it is my experience that the possibility is even higher when a small company is dependent on the project for survival.
John McNally
Uday Parmar wrote:
Hi everyone,
We have a Java RDBMS (Daffodil DB) that is a fully functional and feature-rich small/compact database. The evaluation version of Daffodil DB has been downloaded by over 2500 developers and we also have a substantial user base.
We are now evaluating the benefits of making Daffodil DB Open Source on the Apache Software Foundation. Our alumni list of over 400 developers and a conscious desire to better the product will ensure participation in the project if it is duly selected.
However, the issue that come into my mind is that ASF already has a similar project running under the Derby banner. We understand that ASF is not averse to adopting projects in which there is some functionality overlap with an existing project. However, I still wanted to understand members thoughts on how Derby would affect our chances of being selected by ASF.
Members can have a look at www.daffodildb.com <http://www.daffodildb.com> to learn about Daffodil DB or click http://daffodildb.com:8080/eval/filldetails.jsp to download a free 90-day evaluation version. I hope to hear from (some of) you soon.
Warm Regards,
Uday Parmar
