Re: FYI: Lessons from Kai Wu at ArsDigita

On Tuesday, Feb 11, 2003, at 10:52 Europe/Paris, seb bacon wrote:

>> If you started on
>> a given system (ACS 3, ACS 4, or ACS 5 Java) you usually stayed
>> on it - translating software plumbing is a nauseating task for
>> smart programmers, nor is it an appealing expense for clients.
>
> I would add that it is a low priority for any business with deployed 
> applications.  At Jamkit, we are still using DTML, because we reuse as 
> much code as possible, and the business benefits of rewriting all our 
> existing code libraries are not compelling enough.  For the same 
> reason, we are very unlikely to port *existing* apps to Zope 3 for a 
> very long time.
>
>> Back to the past: Of course, our open-source external community
>> ... took ... a long time to translate
>> and begin improving ACS 4 Tcl ... in some ways, that learning
> > curve sucked up such critical amounts of time and energy that their
> > whole community suffered; growth in ACS adopters slowed greatly.
>
> Yes - this is the first time I've seen this particular risk clearly 
> articulated.
>
>>     If you have the luxury of time and a slow transition, use it.
>
>>     And always, always have something to show people
>
>> I think even a period of 6 months where you're promising The Next
>> Great Thing while reluctantly showing your old software with
>> downcast eyes and shuffling feet will do you serious harm.
>
> All of Kai Wu's observations suggest this route to me:
>
>  - make some crystal clear, highly visible statements that Zope3
>    is an R&D effort, without a release date, from the front page
>    of zope.org
>  - get Zope 3 to beta quality without any fanfares
>  - write developer and user manuals
>  - set up a new mailing list for the more casual users as soon as
>    possible ([email protected])
>  - release perhaps 10 really useful products / plugins / whatever we're
>    going to call them
>  - get installers working smoothly (windows, rpms, debs, etc)
>  - *ONLY THEN* do we set a release date for the full Zope3 beta, make
>    press releases, spam mailing lists

How would you handle the release of Zope 3x in that sequence?

--Paul