Re: [Proposal] Revamp OSAF Website

Yay! The mockup is so much better.

+1 overall

+1 to the changes to the mission statement, though I'd want to be sure 
that Mitch is ok with this (I'll follow up)

+1 to moving what we can to the wiki, a handful of pages likely need to 
remain static, in particular:
   - jobs
   - donors
   - people (list of osaf staff)
   - osaf contact info

(less sure that the last two should be static)

Cheers,
Katie

Mimi Yin wrote:
> Katie delegated her bug to update the OSAF Website to me. 
> https://bugzilla.osafoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8408 After taking a 
> look at the content currently at www.osafoundation.org 
> <http://www.osafoundation.org>, I've come up with the following proposal.
> *
> *
> *Proposal*
>    * Since we no longer post announcements to the OSAF website, fill the 
> 'body' of the OSAF homepage with 'About OSAF' copy.
>    * Move sub-pages that need to be updated to the wiki for ease of 
> maintenance.
>    * Bring visual look and feel more in-line with other Chandler Project 
> / OSAF web properties.
> 
> See http://chandlerproject.org/Notes/OsafHomepage#MockUp - I'm currently 
> working on an HTML layout.
> 
> *Objective of the OSAF website / About OSAF Area?*
> 1. Prove our existence and legitimize Chandler Project's open source / 
> non-profit credentials. This includes:
>    * Contact information
>    * People
>    * Corporate FAQ
>    * OSAF Mission
>    * OSAF History
>    * How to give donations. Who's given donations.
>    * *Add link to OSAF Community?*
> 
> 2. For many people, osafoundation.org is just a pit stop in their search 
> for Chandler Project. 
>    * Funnel people to chandlerproject.org
>    * Make it easy to download Chandler Desktop, sign up for a Chandler 
> Hub account and download Chandler Server
>    * Make it easy to get involved and subscribe to our blog and mailing 
> lists
>    * Funnel people who want to find documentation to the project wiki
> 
> *OSAF Mission  + Corporate History = About OSAF*
> I think we should combine OSAF Mission and Corporate History into a 
> single About OSAF page. Much of OSAF Mission is out of date and overlaps 
> in spirit with the Vision Document.
>    * Move everything  up to 'Build the product' 
> on http://www.osafoundation.org/mission_statement.htm to 'About OSAF'
>    * Move everything on http://www.osafoundation.org/OSAF_history.htm to 
> 'About OSAF'
> 
> Proposed tweaks to copy below:
> 
> *ABOUT OSAF*
> 
> *Original '**Our Mission'*
> 
> Create and gain wide adoption of open source application software of 
> uncompromising quality. 
> 
> /Build an innovative, sustainable alternative application despite market 
> inertia./
>    * I think we should remove this. This was written before the flood of 
> web-based PIM apps.
> 
> Carry forward the vision of Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, and Ted 
> Nelson of the computer as a medium for communication, collaboration, and 
> coordination.
> 
> /Design a new application to manage personal information including 
> email, appointments, contacts and tasks./
>    * Change to: Design a new application to manage personal information 
> including notes, mail, tasks, appointments and events, contacts, 
> documents and other personal resources.
> 
> /Enable information to be shared easily with colleagues, friends, and 
> family/
>    * Change to: Enable sharing with colleagues, friends and family. In 
> particular, meet the unique and under-served needs of small group 
> collaboration.
> 
> /Serve a broad base of users, from casual to technologically advanced/
>    * Change to: Demonstrate that open source software *can* serve a 
> general audience in the consumer market.
> 
> /Eliminate the requirement for a dedicated server or complex administration/
>    * Remove
> 
> Offer a choice of platforms and full interoperability amongst Windows, 
> Macintosh, and Linux versions.
> 
> Leverage our resources by using an open source model of development.
> 
> /Pay fanatical attention to the quality of the user experience./
>    * Remove. I wonder if this is necessary after all the changes above.  
> 
> *Proposed 'Our Mission'*
> Create and gain wide adoption of open source application software of 
> uncompromising quality. 
> 
> Carry forward the vision of Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, and Ted 
> Nelson of the computer as a medium for communication, collaboration, and 
> coordination.
> 
> Design a new application to manage personal information including notes, 
> mail, tasks, appointments and events, contacts, documents and other 
> personal resources.
> 
> Enable sharing with colleagues, friends and family. In particular, meet 
> the unique and under-served needs of small group collaboration.
> 
> Demonstrate that open source software *can* serve a general audience in 
> the consumer market.
> 
> Offer a choice of platforms and full interoperability amongst Windows, 
> Macintosh, and Linux versions.
> 
> Leverage our resources by using an open source model of development.
> 
> *How we started*
> 
> OSAF started in 2001 when Mitchell Kapor began to investigate the 
> possibility of developing a modern Personal Information Manager using 
> open source tools and methods.
> 
> *Decades of design*
> 
> One of Mitch’s passions has been designing software applications that 
> people can use in everyday life - tools that enhance the organization 
> and retrieval of important information. Beginning almost two decades 
> ago, he was instrumental in the design of a variety of landmark personal 
> and business productivity tools including the first programmable 
> spreadsheet (Lotus 1-2-3), a new kind of database optimized for entering 
> small items of information in a free-form manner and adding 
> organizational categories on-the-fly (Lotus Agenda), and a blindingly 
> fast retrieval tool that indexed everything on the hard drive (On Location).
> 
> Through his several decades of work as entrepreneur, CEO, angel 
> investor, and venture capitalist, Mitch retained his passion for making 
> useful software, and accumulated a major backlog of innovative ideas for 
> new software products.
> 
> But the development and adoption of innovative solutions in important 
> areas of software has become quite difficult. One such area is that of 
> desktop productivity applications, an area which encompasses a number of 
> Mitch's most interesting ideas. Development costs are high, distribution 
> channels are limited, and barriers to entry are significant. The chance 
> is small that the traditional venture-capital-backed model of software 
> development will fill this need.
> 
> *The right time for an alternative software development model*
> 
> The Linux operating system has demonstrated that freely shared, 
> collaboratively developed system software can gain critical mass and 
> become a viable, even preferred, alternative to traditional proprietary 
> software. The opportunity exists for the same thing to happen in the 
> applications space, and OSAF was created to pursue this vision. Mitch 
> found the idea of making something which would be freely shared and 
> improved upon extremely compelling. The right product, developed in this 
> way could have a chance to make a significant impact in the world.
> 
> In the spring of 2001, Mitch initiated a limited experiment by hiring a 
> consulting group to prototype a couple of the key ideas. The results 
> were both exciting and encouraging, and so, in the summer of 2001, he 
> took the plunge. He committed to open source and hired the first 
> employee of a fledgling non-profit, the Open Source Applications 
> Foundation, with the mission to create and gain wide adoption of open 
> source application software of uncompromising quality. In February 2002, 
> OSAF obtained Federal 501(c)3 nonprofit status.
> 
> *Why a non-profit? *
> 
> Mitch, the successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist, had not all 
> of a sudden ceased to believe in the virtues of capitalism. Rather, he 
> wanted to make a clear statement: the intent of this effort was not to 
> use this as a vehicle to make more money for himself. However, he would 
> be very happy for others to make money and intended to find a licensing 
> scheme which would permit both non-commercial and commercial development 
> on the code base.
> 
> *Updated 'Today'*
> 
> As of 2007, OSAF has a staff of 25 contributors and is working furiously 
> towards the Preview Release.
> 
> 
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