On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 8:18 AM, Marvin Humphrey <[email protected]> wrote: >> Maybe write the cookbook recipe for upgrading KS to Lucy, and then we can >> see if it needs to be formalized into a part of the core? > > OK, sounds like the cookbook approach is feasible and prudent. We don't > technically *need* the modernizer until we decide to drop support for an old > format, though.
Since I'm catching up on this list today: Even without the italics, you don't need the modernizer *at all*. No one has to make the transition, they can keep using the software they've been using, so you're not hurting them by not making it automatic. It feels like generous severance pay for fired executives. In theory, it helps you hire the next person if they see how well you treated the outgoing one. In practice, it tends to look like wasted money that could be better spent. Yes, you want to treat your existing users well, but be careful about spending to much effort on them and not enough on improving the product. Concentrate most of your efforts on the 10x as many new users you hope to have and provide them with the best experience you can. It's open source software. Perhaps the automated solution could be provided to the community by someone who needs it, rather than by the main developer? At least you could wait for their plaintive wailing. Unless of course you need it internally, in which case it would be a great thing for you to be working on. But if you were to make it automatic and easy, I'd concentrate more on automatic imports from Lucene than from KS. :) --nate
