Hi guys, It's unfortunate to hear that Tracks project doesn't get so much attention from developers.
I'm not a developer, but just a user. I'm using Tracks because it's the best GTD tool I found. It gives me full control over my stuff and provides access from any place and device. It implements GTD in the way I like and it is Free Software. I want to thank you guys for all the time and efforts you put into making this great piece of software. Unfortunately, as Reiner said, Tracks is getting behind technology and if there will be no changes made (which means more developers involved) in a year or two from now Tracks would be dead. At least, it won't attract new users, who by that time will get used to shiny GTD applications on their smartphones. Yes, I think Tracks really needs good, fully functional mobile apps for major platforms to survive. The problem of finding new developers is that we are looking for GTD enthusiasts with programming skills. Time shows though, that most people who try to follow GTD, don't have time for hobbies like this one :) I don't know if someone have already mentioned anything like that, but I believe it will make sense if we find someone who would like to build a *paid* service around Tracks. Something like gtdify.com (who's behind it, btw?), but with extra features available for premium users (mobile apps, improved statistics, notifications, backups, etc). The company behind that service will help with the development of Tracks (we won't loose it since it's GPL). I think you got my idea. I don't like this "business model" personally (nor anyone does) and it is very dependent on the kind of company that would run the service, but that's a way to keep project going. That's how other Free/OpenSource projects survive in this proprietary world. As an idea of promoting and call for developers, I think it would be great to see the Tracks project on FLOSS Weekly podcast: http://twit.tv/FLOSS Also, I will help to spread the word by getting attention to the project of the people I know. I hope we find a way for the Tracks project to keep going. -- Kind regards, Alexandr On Wed, 2011-07-13 at 08:00 +0200, Reinier Balt wrote: > Hi all, > > For the last couple of years I have been maintaining Tracks. This has been a > lot of fun. I am using Tracks daily, so I have a personal stake in this. > Unfortunately my family and a full time day job takes priority over Tracks. > Sometimes it makes you feel guilty not investing as much time in Tracks that > I like. Since there are not a lot of developers working on Tracks, I think > this is the biggest reason Tracks is behind feature-wise and technology-wise > as it is right now. There are a lot of nice directions we could take Tracks, > but I am afraid I cannot do this with my available time. I also notice that I > postpone other projects to work on bugs in Tracks which takes out the fun. > And last but not least, I thing interest in Tracks is less these days, given > the response to the email of BSAG and my pervious email about features for > Tracks 2.1. > > As BSAG explained, I will not be putting in a lot of my time in Tracks in the > future. I'd like to do a 2.1 and probably 2.2 and then take a step back. > This probably means I'll support Tracks for about a year or so with > diminishing effort. > > As for Tracks resources. I'm all for migrating the wikiS and website to > github. I do not have an alternative for the forum. I think they are very > valuable to keep around, maybe in read-only state. Perhaps continue the > forums on google code? This mailing list could then also be migrated to > google. > > Reinier > > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > > Van: BSAG [mailto:[email protected]] > > Verzonden: zondag 10 juli 2011 13:25 > > Aan: [email protected] > > CC: Reinier Balt > > Onderwerp: The future of the Tracks project - a call for volunteers > > > > Dear Tracks Users, > > > > I'm sorry for the rather portentious-sounding subject, but I'd like to > > discuss > > the future of the project. First, let me start at the beginning... > > > > Back in 2004 (I think), I started reading about the GTD technique, and > > realised > > it would be a great help in getting myself organised. At the time, there > > were > > really no applications for GTD: no native applications for my own platform > > of > > choice (Mac), and really nothing in the way of web applications either. I > > was > > getting interested in Ruby on Rails at the time, and since I learn > > programming > > languages more easily when I have a practical project to get my teeth into, > > I > > decided to see if I could build a simple GTD web application using Rails. I > > did > > that, and since other people expressed an interest in it, decided to Open > > Source it so that anyone could use it and/or improve it. > > > > I was really happy that Tracks attracted lots of very talented developers > > over > > the years, and they (those of you reading this know who you are!) have > > done a terrific job of improving and extending Tracks. What started as my > > rather simple and scruffy application has gained immeasurably from the time, > > talent, expertise and effort that many people have kindly put into it. I > > would > > like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all you have done for > > the > > project > > - not just the people who have contributed to development, but to > > everyone who has helped answer questions in the forum, solved problems, > > evangelised or otherwise helped to make Tracks such a great community. > > > > Now we come to the present. For several years, my job has got more and > > more demanding and stressful, and I have had less time to devote to Tracks. > > Also in the years since I first developed it, lots of excellent GTD > > applications > > have been developed. It's a difficult admission to make, but I no longer use > > Tracks day-to-day, because these other applications happen to fit my > > particular style of working better. Since I no longer 'eat my own dog > > food', I > > feel hypocritical about being involved with Tracks, and it is difficult for > > me to > > even provide support for Tracks users, since I'm not involved with the nitty > > gritty day to day any more. Even though I am only involved in maintaining > > the > > site and fielding email enquiries now, the guilt about not doing more is > > getting to me. I'm the kind of person who has to avoid even *looking* at the > > unread count in my work mail account while on holiday, because otherwise I > > would instantly feel guilty about not responding. So continuing at this > > level of > > involvement isn't really an option for me. > > > > I had hoped that as I stepped back, a team of volunteers would naturally > > develop who could take over the project. For the past several years, Reinier > > Balt has done an absolutely brilliant job of taking on the vast majority of > > the > > development and supporting users on the forum, but one person does not > > make a team! I have talked to Reinier about this, and as his free time is > > also > > diminishing, he is understandably not willing to take over the project on > > his > > own. > > > > So this email/forum post is really to canvas opinion to see if there is a > > group > > of users out there who might be willing to curate the project, and if not, > > how > > we can best set things up to ensure that Tracks and the related resources > > continue to be available to users. > > > > One option would be to create an 'Organisation' for Tracks on GitHub and > > move over the web pages and wiki. One reason for doing this is that the > > biggest sink for my time at the moment is having to remove spammy users > > from the forum and wiki. GitHub seems to fare better in that respect, so it > > would mean less work for anyone taking over. The biggest stumbling block to > > this plan is the forum: there is a lot of very valuable information in the > > forum, > > so it would be good to preserve what we already have as some kind of static > > site if possible. > > However, GitHub doesn't really have a drop-in replacement for the forum > > (unless we used 'Issues' for that purpose), so it is not clear how we would > > replace it. > > > > I am happy to transfer ownership of the getontracks.org domain to a team > > taking over, and also the balance of the money donated to the project (after > > subtracting what I have spent on domain registration/renewal for the > > project, ExpressionEngine licences etc.). > > > > So, it's down to you now: how do you see the future of Tracks? > > > > Many thanks, > > > > bsag > > > > -- > > but she's a girl - the weblog of a female geek http://www.rousette.org.uk > > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Tracks-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.rousette.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/tracks-discuss _______________________________________________ Tracks-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.rousette.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/tracks-discuss
