On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Kay Schenk <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 6:07 AM, Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Ariel Constenla-Haile >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hi Jürgen, *, >> > >> > On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 07:47:42AM +0200, Jürgen Schmidt wrote: >> >> On 7/17/12 6:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote: >> >> > I'd like to see if we can agree on a statement along these lines. I >> >> > think it is important that we show how our project aligns with >> >> > Apache's overall mission, which the apache.org home page phrases as: >> >> > "provides support for the Apache community of open-source software >> >> > projects, which provide software products for the public good." >> >> > >> >> > I think we do and always have been strongly aligned with this goal. >> >> > But still, sometimes, we're questioned about our emphasis on >> >> > distributing binaries, or seeking support for items related to >> >> > distributing binaries. In some ways we're the oddball at Apache, >> >> > being the only prominent end-user facing project. So I think it will >> >> > help if we can express in clear terms how what we are doing is in fact >> >> > for the public good, and our aims and achievements are at least as >> >> > noble as what any other Apache project can claim. >> > > Well I am still getting caught up from a while back and reviewing this > post. I think the wiki page is very good as it stands and this this > information should be incorporated on the "project" web page at least, may > be directly under the What is OpenOffice section, a new section "The Public > Service Mission", or, if we want to remain flexible, make it into a page > that we can use to link from other areas -- the main www.openoffice.org. We > have this old about.html page, http://www.openoffice.org/about/ > > that is currently linked from the project web site. I think this mission > information should be included on that. > > Yes/no? to any of these suggestions. >
I have it here, on this page, but it is not linked to from anything yet: http://incubator.apache.org/openofficeorg/mission.html It might work well to publicize this once we graduate. But no objections to using it earlier. -Rob > > >> >> >> >> I totally agree and that is of course the most annoying point here at >> >> Apache for me. But that is another topic and not for this thread. >> > >> > I guess it is because in Apache, so far, the idea was to provide >> > software for the public good in form of source, for others to build >> > their solutions upon. In OpenOffice's case, distributing binaries is >> > also for the public good, not only for the reason mentioned by Rob, but >> > mainly because OpenOffice provides a way to build your solution on top >> > of its binary distribution with extensions, without needing to compile >> > the source yourself, nor learn/modify a single line of code. >> > >> >> This is a good point. I remember reading, years ago, in a magazine >> called "Computer Languages" (now defunct) about a survey they did of >> corporate programmers, seeing what the most popular programming >> language was. This was 1992 or so. The answer was not C, not COBOL, >> but the 1-2-3 Macro language. Today maybe such a survey would say >> Javascript? >> >> But the meaning is clear;: there are more application developers than >> system developers. And more script developers than application >> developers. The closer you get to "end user programming" the larger >> your audience is and the more people you are helping. You could think >> of the spreadsheet itself as support end-user programming. >> >> > So it would be nice to have some numbers about extensions in Rob's paper >> > (of course, we can only measure extensions on the extension's site; this >> > will not include all the people builder their solutions in a commercial >> > way). >> > >> > >> > Regards >> > -- >> > Ariel Constenla-Haile >> > La Plata, Argentina >> > > > > -- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > MzK > > "Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think." > -- > Niels Bohr
