>I think I should probably define (on that page) what a parser,
>distiller, etc. are for new users.

That would help a lot.

>Nobody's been able to locate or contact Dirk in over a year,
>including via snail mail. We're not even sure he's still alive anymore..

Does this mean you need someone to build the pieces he used to build?  I
can probably volunteer to build it if we have the sources lying around.

>My only concern with that approach is that Plucker isn't just
>Plucker Desktop, so what I've tried to do is "build up" from the viewer on
>up, and also, encourage people to test and use Plucker, without having to
>install anything. Grab the viewer (no parser/distiller) zipfile, then head
...
>I automatically assume that Windows users know what they're doing in most
>cases, and that tends to NOT be the case 90% of the time.

I see a disconnect here.  Since Windows has such a huge share of the market
there is a much larger number of "clueless" users than other OS's.  I think
if one of your goals is to reach a broader market, the Windows part needs
to be simplified.  I think it's great to have different options for people,
but for regular Windows users, a single download that installs everything
they need is going to be best. I'm basing my thoughts of your goals on this
statement from the web site "anyone else who will give us a helping hand
maturing Plucker into a more useful and popular project."

Could you add something to the Plucker Desktop section in the left column
that says it includes the "distiller/parser".  Something like, if you want
to prepare your own content (as opposed to the sample ones you have), the
Plucker Desktop contains everything you need?  And maybe something to the
viewer section that says that if you only want to read already prepared
material, the viewer is all you need?

>The only issue with that is that users assume that when/if they find
>bugs, they are _guaranteed_ to have them fixed, and that isn't always the
>case with OSS software. Plucker isn't "Plucker, Inc." so bugs may exist or
>linger for a long time, based on our own priorities to fix them.

Do you really have users writing demanding that their bug/problem be fixed
immediately?  I've not seen such mail on this list in the past 6 months or
so.  I dare say Plucker stuff seems to get fixed faster than most of the
commercial software I use.  It just seems like the wording makes it out to
be beta software instead of a real product.

Also, should I just send these kinds of comments to you alone instead of
the list?

Bill

PS your signature is 9 lines long! ;-)




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