Hi there [ Let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for those who -- unlike me -- have actually done something for the OGP. I realize it's easy to criticize the state of an understaffed project. Timothy asked me to post my comments to the list, so here goes... ]
I've been following the open-graphics project since early on, and I am still excited about it -- in principle, at least. My impression is that the project is mostly lacking in reaching out to anyone outside a small core group. The website is pretty useful for many (mostly those who are well informed already), but it does a poor job at explaining why anyone should care, why recent developments (e.g. Documentation released by AMD) have not made it obsolete, what the current roadmap is etc. The recent story on Slashdot (or better, how it was handled) was a disaster IMO. Harsh comments were to be expected, but the project seemed ill-prepared. Few (if any) contributors were present to chime in, there's no prominently placed FAQ on the project home page that would address common complaints, and the discussion on the OGP mailing list demonstrated a substantial confusion even among those active on the list (e.g. is OGD1 a cheap FPGA developent board, and if not, how do we have to qualify the statement to make it true?). Right now, the only product on sale (pre-order, that is) seems to be interesting only to people with the rights skills, a sufficient money _and_ time budget and an interest in that very kind of project. That can't be many. You can't do much about the product right now, but you could lower other barriers. I, for instance, would be willing to donate money because I believe it's an important project. Many others may (_may_, I have no way of knowing) feel the same but may have a lower limit (I doubt the blender3d project could have collected 100'000 Euro if the lower limit for supporters had been at hundreds of dollars). But donating to the OGP is tricky. Rather than having a prominently placed button, the OGP home page contains a note way down the page (you can donate to the Open Hardware Foundation), and it's not even a link. The OHF homepage, too, has neither a donation button nor a link. It takes 3 clicks (FAQs->Donations->How can I donate to the OHF?) to find out that all I can do is pledge via a web form. The text telling me about that has apparently been posted in late 2006(!) and says "At this time, we are not yet donations because we are still finalizing banking arrangements." (how long does it take to finalize that, and where's the verb in that sentence?) I don't think you need more press releases. You need to get your act together first -- especially the web site(s). Make it easy for people with a casual interest to find reasons to support the project, and make it easy for them to support the project -- even if a small donation is all they can give. Roger _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
