Re: [dba-users] New OpenOffice specifc site and project announcement

[Andrew Jensen]

Andrew Douglas Pitonyak wrote: This sounds a wee bit like this: http://ooextras.sourceforge.net/ Notice, however, that they do NOT have a tab for database solutions. It may seem a bit presumptuous to go off and start another site when ooextras is already in existence. It is not that they do not have a database tab that prompted me to look at this, I hope a database tab is added there. If a person wanted to donate a library of useful routines for Base I would think that is the right site. The project and site that I have envisioned would NOT be the place for this library, nor for single template files (most likely not, but perhaps someone could make a case for such a contribution). In fact, in a manner of speaking, what I have in mind isn't really about OpenOffice, it is about applications that are implemented on top of OpenOffice. The application (solution) itself is what this site would be interested in. Each of these applications would be distributed as a whole unit, this unit including everything needed to get it up and running, short of third party runtime environments. In this context OO.o is a runtime environment, JRE is another. The application may require yet more, but the file distributed here would be all the artifacts specific to this application - StarBasic, Java, _javascript_, Python libraries needed, required templates, help files perhaps – whatever. I am thinking of would not always mean supplying a database. For example there are a number of things that come to mind that would be require a collection of Calc and Writer templates and some library code to tie them into a process. One example might be a package used to generate a business plan – This would include Writer templates for the executive summary, Calc sheets for financial projections and the like. What would be nice is an integration piece that would take a person through the necessary steps. OK – that seems a bit broad. Well, yes it is – but it doesn't have to happen all at once. What I am thinking is not just creating a place on the net to distribute all these items – but rather a place to help people produce them. My idea would be to start an organization that would be available to take an idea and see it through to a conclusion. I realize at first it will be an organization of one, but hopefully I can recruit others to help.. ;-) An analogy is very much that of a commercial software job shop. In this world a client contracts with the shop to have some product produced, takes ownership of the resulting code and pays a fee. Well, the difference here would be that a person or organization would make a request for a particular program and a team (everyone on the project or a self-selecting sub set of individuals) would agree to work on it – instead of monetary reimbursement however the 'client' would agree to have the final product, and any intermediate products (tools, templates, etc) produced, placed into the public sphere using the same license as OpenOffice itself. Yes, this means that it could be someone with a desire to produce a commercial package, but if they want this team to work on the initial implementation then it will be Open Sourced and available for all to do with as they see fit. I very much see this as a way of not only producing freely available solutions to end users, but also as an incubator for commercial implementations. I would quite simply state that it is an idea of applying the principle of 'Enlightened Self Interest' to the Open Source model of software development. I do not believe, nor would want, this to be the only type of project. For example there are some that really would have no commercial viability and should be just for the benefit of the community at large. This simply puts the emphasis on the ' Enlightened ' part of the principle. My initial idea for this type of project would be to produce the following simple, database centric, applications: I have in mind producing these as a first project to contribute: Personal Accounts & Investment Tracker Addresses List Manager CD-Collection DietLog DVD-Collection ExerciseLog HouseholdInventory Personal Library Photographs Cataloger Plants Log Recipe Collection If this list looks familiar it should. It is simply taken from the list of table definitions one finds in the Table Wizard under Base. Each would be a very lightweight application, using the table structures as supplied. Take the CD-Collection for instance. What I plan on doing is creating the Base database file, a data entry form, perhaps a separate search form, a report to list the collection. That's it for a start. But later perhaps, there could be more – on OOExtras are a couple of template files for producing CD cover sheets – what if we then created an application that could be used by someone distributing CD's – data or music or whatever. You get the idea. Anyway, that is my thinking at the moment – and why I don't believe it fits well with the current sites. Perhaps I am wrong on this, and certainly would be interested to hear from anyone that thinks the idea fits in with an existing project. Speaking of which I was going to post the initial email on one of the BizDev lists, but they don't seem to be very active, save for consultant listings. Andrew 'Drew' Jensen