[Phpgroupware-developers] .net, mono, dotgnu, phpgw

[/Angles/ Puglisi]

I case you've been living under a rock recently (and we aren't know for that)
there's been a monsterous debate over these issues on all the usual places 
recently.

Well, guess what, if people don't like mono at some point in the future, what's 
the
parallel initiative - DotGNU, and who's part of that, phpGW, and what do we 
provide,
distributes services via (currently) XML-RPC and/or SOAP.

One of the reasons I do not care to leave this project is the enormous 
potential it
has. Another is that "crapping on" is actually SOP for major OS projects, as my
research has shown, in, for example, kernel hacking land and the current Gnome -
Mono debate, so I guess the positive spin on that is that we're becoming a 
major OS
project.

We *may* need to "grow up" pretty soon. My definition of that is not 
pejoritive, it
means that such problems as me breaking the api for 6 months straight and not 
being
told about it, is inexcusable for a project that is begining to take on some
credible level importance in the community. That's an example I recall reading
recently :)

We need better collaboration, hence the word "group", amoung the developers. 
Fact is
when I get a bug report I want to fix it ASAP, if I got an API bug report from
Skeeter, it would be attended to before my hands could finish typing a response 
to
the email.

When I took over the "aeromail" module it was headed to the trash heap, to be
replaced by some kind of integrated SM v2 cross pollenation that eventually 
never
happened. Anyway, I was asked to maintain the email app, I know it was a sucker 
move
on my part because no one else wanted it, but I thought it would be fun. 
Initially,
I just templated everything and sought a graphics specialist to skin this
"email-lite" app, but I couldn't find anyone and I don't have visual talents.

Then I actually got interested in email. I discovered all this RFC info on 
email yet
it still took an "expert" (non-trivial code) to make an email app? This seemed
pathetic. Email is at the heart of how we communicate electronically and yet the
average hacker can't automatically deal with MIME message parts, for example.

Totally unexcusable. I them aimed to write an open library, LGPL no less, that 
would
answer these questions for the average developer so email could be integrated 
into
their took kit with minumal effort. Even if no one wanted to use the library, 
the
code was there to see how to do it and it was as open as could be.

Then came n-tier and I had the unusual position of possibly providing 
"middleware",
a service to a service (IMAP, POP, SMTP), via what I hope will be a high level 
api
for developers, and now even distributed.

Another reason is, regardless of getting crapped on, I appreciate to no end the 
work
the other guys (and girls?) have done on the api, all of it, and especially the 
RPC
code they developed. This s*** is REALLY cool and I just want to be a part of 
it,
it's exciting.

Since I calmed down it seems all sides have reasonable arguements, none of 
which can
not be solved by more communication amoung the team. We're going to need more
developers in the future and perhaps they do not have my background. I'm a 
musician
(not famous, not even in my own mind - don;t worry) but the work "SUCKS!" is 
thrown
around all the time in this business, it's how people express their like or 
dislike
about your product. I've has small time music-zines blast my playing hard-core, 
I
don't really think I suck, and over time I just learned to filter out that kind 
of
stuff as best as possible, it's just part of the game. Other people may or may 
not
be sensitive to that stuff, I can't read minds so I can't say.

ok, < / finish > my recent 0.02 US.