Since I've contributed a bunch of windows-y stuff in recent days, I just wanted to share my opinion briefly.
I agree with Jim, we should make Xindice the best Open Source Native XML database. And, in my opinion, we need as many users as possible to help improve our product. Whether our users are windows folks or unix folks, they are Xindice users. To me, that's the important point. We are fostering a Xindice user community. That doesn't speak one iota about their prefered operating system. And in fact, I think that our community will be stronger if there are more operating systems. So I think our documentation should appeal to as many operating system users as possible, within reason. To me, this means that we should have complete documentation for windows and unix users. I have used a few open source projects whose docs were completely unix oriented. For me, this is a big problem since most of my prototyping is on windows. However, I also think we should present information in a consistent way. Consistency in documentation helps users find what they are looking for more quickly. And it reflects a level of professionalism in the product that helps to mollify concerned employers. I've seen technical managers reject several open source products simply because the documentation was disorganized, incomplete, and extremely sloppy. I'm not suggesting that those decisions were correct, but I am suggesting that we can all help Xindice avoid those types of problems by producing clear, concise, and helpful documentation that reflects the level of professionalism evident in the product's core code. Anyway, those are just my thoughts. I hope to continue contributing more documentation and refining the parts I've added so far! Hopefully at some point in the future, we can all raise a pint to celebrate our contributions that will have made the best open source xml database out there ! dave -----Original Message----- From: Joan M Carroll [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 8:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Documentation: target audience [long] > I agree - certainly there's no reason to have it biased towards > windows. My thought was to try to make it "bias-free" to the extent possible. my 2 cents: first let me shamelessly say that i am bi-platform. whew. glad to come clean with *that:-> can't say i'm bias-free though. tho i have resisted win1.0 and every subsequent win version (still preferring dos, university *nix, or just about anything else), my desktop has always been and probably will always be windoze. can't help it - i have to make a living in fin svcs. HOWEVER, my service platform will NEVER be windoze. imho anyone running substantial OSS-serviceware on win - for public consumption - is in denial. i believe there are 12 step programs for this. xindice is a net-based service. even thought it is very nice and convenient for those of us who can play with it on our windoze boxes, or use it for a *nix sanity check, i wouldn't spend equivalent efforts promoting win usage. where OSS is concerned, win is a better client than server. yeah yeah i hear all the microshaft grumblers in the background.... it's just my opinion. the software will be where u left it in the A.M... truly i think that any extra effort s.b. channelled into supporting current OS standards and models. i for 1 can live w/out perfect win versions of OSS service modules. the heart-breaking thing is an OSS apps/service that doesn't support vert/horiz OSS stds (you all know the X*'s of which i speak). thorough & rigorous standards support is a big draw my nice-to-have list would include more i18n/L10n awareness. just by way of example, i think the forrest tool should *design-in* resourcing of text ... e.g. multi-lingual site gen is just tranlating a file. i know, this is a different project. but this is an example of how sometimes the really significant product design objectives can get lost in the shuffle. the avg non-native-english speaking person wanting to help globalise the site will have a 23+Mb download to use the forrest tool. then the fun will start. i view the standards-respectors and the int'l community as the really key end-users. As Vladimir noted, the performance archetype is not Oracle (yet:-). i think the high-impact indiv contributors in the global, stds-focused talent pool have the tools to help Xindice transition to that level though. the contributors on this list are a good example to sum up: i think bias is ok. the platforms are not the same, the performance is not the same, plus many - great - OSS projects have inherent "win drag" such as requiring cgywin, or feature forks (eg php), or just plain poor win performance/support (java apps like netbeans, even expensive commercial solutions like togethersoft very easily nail a win box). same can be said if you wanted to grind down into *nix'es (alpha, solaris, os/x etc). if you check out the php manual, it is the indiv contributors who usually document the win "features" (bugs/workarounds). the doc makes relatively little mention of code forks/impl differences. > No, I don't think so at all. As I said, I just think it makes sense to > leave unsaid what needn't be said. By providing great linux docs, along > with good windows docs as well, you've covered your bases without saying agreed. everything in scope s.b. as high-quality as resources permit. vladimir has asked for win contributors, and it is up to all of us to make win quality happen. > But hey - you are putting in the hours working on all this - that gives you > right. It's those of us who just come in to voice our opinions who need to > be more careful how we word things! :) word! > Yep - agreed - the main thing is to not do it in an alienating or > condescending way (especially since there's no reason to). And I'm not don't worry, we win users have been paying $$$ to be alienated for DECADES i think the earlier point (from Ahmed?) is well-taken: if you're offering code & a working app for the cost of a download, you will really have to use harsh language like 'deny host' to get rid of us > when it would fit on two floppies! :) I love linux. And some will say, agreed - & 1 tomsrtbt floppy can still bootstrap just about anything > As for screenshots: why not have different platforms? Many great projects agreed - shell cmd screenshots for admin etc s.b. platform-indep ultimately xindice is storing documents, and sooner or later this means browser: Snapshots of browsers - how about compliant browsers with standard DOM? s.b. same browser(s) used for core testing of doc, demo, etc... mozilla, galeon, etc come to mind (& could probably use the exposure). Konqueror? Opera? at this moment i just say no. but that's just me i know what i have read and experienced w different browsers, but i can't say that i know where the best stds-compliance may be found. Demo - A browser-based demo should support relevant web stds, but probably has to be tested to support - egads - MSIE4+ based upon sheer mkt penetration. I think we have all had potential clients go away & never return when the demo breaks the browser. again, the 'any browser' model is a good goal ... though 'any browser' may not give a @#$ about XML derived formats ... it still should be possible to use server-side logic to force 'thunking down' to std html for any browser
