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Posted to dev@ofbiz.apache.org by David E Jones <jo...@undersunconsulting.com> on 2007/05/19 05:55:18 UTC
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
This is an interesting question... and one that should probably be discussed frequently as things tend to change over time.
In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page. It is meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system. The core of the project is intended to include a general framework for efficiently building applications, plus a complete set of applications (data model, services, UI elements) to automate general business processes and support "most of what most companies need to operate". On top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of more "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of users or organizations.
The stuff that Jacopo quoted below was meant to tie into the "World Domination" joke that was part of the JavaOne presentation. In other words, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. Of course, these things could really happen, and we're certainly on a growth curve and that may lead to these things.
Like you mentioned Jacopo, how much and how soon this happens will depend on how much contribute to the project.
The real key for that is pretty simple. If everyone who offers services based on OFBiz, or who extends or customizes OFBiz for their organization, or who create derivative works (open source or commercial) would follow a little three step process whenever they develop something, the project would have (with the current community, as I estimate it from the hip) around 20-30 times the involvement it does now (in SVN, Jira, mailing lists, etc). Here is the little three step process:
1. identify what is general or makes sense to parameterize and what is specific to their requirements
2. implement the general or easily parameterizable elements and contribute them to the open source project (which will soon result in streamlining that by the people involved becoming committers and PMC members)
3. configure or extend the functionality in OFBiz to meet requirements being pursued
The only reason OFBiz exists right now is that there are a number of people and organizations who do this now, and have done this for a number of years.
It does require a little bit more work to do this, but mostly just when getting started with and used to doing things this way. In the long run because things are better thought out and more reusable for current and future projects this actually results in far less work, and not by a little, but rather by a LOT!
So, there's my attempt at food for thought... and discussion.
-David
Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
> Hi,
>
> in my opinion the community and the OFBiz project in general will
> greatly benefit if we explicitly define and publish (in the main page of
> the site) a general, ambitious goal for the project.
> Of course, each and every single step in the direction of reaching the
> goal will be uncertain and undefined in its details and will mostly
> depend on contributor's efforts, sponsors etc...
> However the final long term goal should be clearly defined.
>
> I think that we should start from the great plan that David prepared for
> the Java ONE conference:
>
> "- The Next 6 Years
> - First Year: Complete build out of enterprise applications for OOTB
> use by a wide variety of organizations
> - In 2 Years: the market leader for medium and large scale retail
> applications (ecommerce and POS)
> - In 4 Years: more installed ERP seats than SAP and more CRM seats than
> Siebel and SalesForce.com
> - In 6 Years: 20% of global economic activity managed with OFBiz"
>
> What do you think about this?
>
> Jacopo
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net>.
the way google works for SEO is to have a blog that is updated often
with new material.
They like to see information useful to the public about the products
so them more of this type of information that is added on a regular
basis, the higher the rating in google.
Note Search engines not longer use keywords for searches.
Duplicate content work against you.
Also google has key words you pay for to get top ranking
Anil Patel sent the following on 5/20/2007 11:38 AM:
> Hi,
> This is little off track, I just searched on Google for ERP, Ofbiz does not
> come on the First page of Search :(
>
> How can we have Google work for us?
>
> Regards
> Anil Patel
>
>
> On 5/19/07, BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net> wrote:
>>
>> I would like a phrase Like the "Core to all business functions With
>> adaptability to specific Businesses"
>>
>>
>> #3. one of the hard parts, up to now, has been keep up with the fluidity
>> of the design and structure changes.
>> I have a couple of time tried to align what i am doing with the current
>> svn. Only to have the design change enough to make my effect ineffective.
>>
>> Now we have a official version I can adapt what I am doing against that.
>> I would also like to see the implementation of using Get to do builds.
>>
>> #2 again, for someone like me, when major changes are done, with no
>> discussion, it takes an in-ordinate amount of time to get my head around
>> it to see what can be re-used and what has to be added.
>> By then the changes have happened that makes that effort useless.
>>
>> #1. it would be nice to have something like the best practices to have a
>> structure for this evaluation.
>>
>> David E Jones sent the following on 5/18/2007 8:55 PM:
>> >
>> > This is an interesting question... and one that should probably be
>> > discussed frequently as things tend to change over time.
>> >
>> > In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page.
>> It is
>> > meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system.
>> > The core of the project is intended to include a general framework for
>> > efficiently building applications, plus a complete set of applications
>> > (data model, services, UI elements) to automate general business
>> > processes and support "most of what most companies need to operate". On
>> > top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of more
>> > "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of
>> users
>> > or organizations.
>> >
>> > The stuff that Jacopo quoted below was meant to tie into the "World
>> > Domination" joke that was part of the JavaOne presentation. In other
>> > words, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. Of course, these things could
>> > really happen, and we're certainly on a growth curve and that may lead
>> > to these things.
>> >
>> > Like you mentioned Jacopo, how much and how soon this happens will
>> > depend on how much contribute to the project.
>> >
>> > The real key for that is pretty simple. If everyone who offers services
>> > based on OFBiz, or who extends or customizes OFBiz for their
>> > organization, or who create derivative works (open source or
>> commercial)
>> > would follow a little three step process whenever they develop
>> > something, the project would have (with the current community, as I
>> > estimate it from the hip) around 20-30 times the involvement it does
>> now
>> > (in SVN, Jira, mailing lists, etc). Here is the little three step
>> process:
>> >
>> > 1. identify what is general or makes sense to parameterize and what is
>> > specific to their requirements
>> > 2. implement the general or easily parameterizable elements and
>> > contribute them to the open source project (which will soon result in
>> > streamlining that by the people involved becoming committers and PMC
>> > members)
>> > 3. configure or extend the functionality in OFBiz to meet requirements
>> > being pursued
>> >
>> > The only reason OFBiz exists right now is that there are a number of
>> > people and organizations who do this now, and have done this for a
>> > number of years.
>> >
>> > It does require a little bit more work to do this, but mostly just when
>> > getting started with and used to doing things this way. In the long run
>> > because things are better thought out and more reusable for current and
>> > future projects this actually results in far less work, and not by a
>> > little, but rather by a LOT!
>> >
>> > So, there's my attempt at food for thought... and discussion.
>> >
>> > -David
>> >
>> >
>> > Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> in my opinion the community and the OFBiz project in general will
>> >> greatly benefit if we explicitly define and publish (in the main page
>> >> of the site) a general, ambitious goal for the project.
>> >> Of course, each and every single step in the direction of reaching the
>> >> goal will be uncertain and undefined in its details and will mostly
>> >> depend on contributor's efforts, sponsors etc...
>> >> However the final long term goal should be clearly defined.
>> >>
>> >> I think that we should start from the great plan that David prepared
>> >> for the Java ONE conference:
>> >>
>> >> "- The Next 6 Years
>> >> - First Year: Complete build out of enterprise applications for OOTB
>> >> use by a wide variety of organizations
>> >> - In 2 Years: the market leader for medium and large scale retail
>> >> applications (ecommerce and POS)
>> >> - In 4 Years: more installed ERP seats than SAP and more CRM seats
>> >> than Siebel and SalesForce.com
>> >> - In 6 Years: 20% of global economic activity managed with OFBiz"
>> >>
>> >> What do you think about this?
>> >>
>> >> Jacopo
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by Anil Patel <ap...@adititechlabs.com>.
Hi,
This is little off track, I just searched on Google for ERP, Ofbiz does not
come on the First page of Search :(
How can we have Google work for us?
Regards
Anil Patel
On 5/19/07, BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net> wrote:
>
> I would like a phrase Like the "Core to all business functions With
> adaptability to specific Businesses"
>
>
> #3. one of the hard parts, up to now, has been keep up with the fluidity
> of the design and structure changes.
> I have a couple of time tried to align what i am doing with the current
> svn. Only to have the design change enough to make my effect ineffective.
>
> Now we have a official version I can adapt what I am doing against that.
> I would also like to see the implementation of using Get to do builds.
>
> #2 again, for someone like me, when major changes are done, with no
> discussion, it takes an in-ordinate amount of time to get my head around
> it to see what can be re-used and what has to be added.
> By then the changes have happened that makes that effort useless.
>
> #1. it would be nice to have something like the best practices to have a
> structure for this evaluation.
>
> David E Jones sent the following on 5/18/2007 8:55 PM:
> >
> > This is an interesting question... and one that should probably be
> > discussed frequently as things tend to change over time.
> >
> > In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page. It is
> > meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system.
> > The core of the project is intended to include a general framework for
> > efficiently building applications, plus a complete set of applications
> > (data model, services, UI elements) to automate general business
> > processes and support "most of what most companies need to operate". On
> > top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of more
> > "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of users
> > or organizations.
> >
> > The stuff that Jacopo quoted below was meant to tie into the "World
> > Domination" joke that was part of the JavaOne presentation. In other
> > words, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. Of course, these things could
> > really happen, and we're certainly on a growth curve and that may lead
> > to these things.
> >
> > Like you mentioned Jacopo, how much and how soon this happens will
> > depend on how much contribute to the project.
> >
> > The real key for that is pretty simple. If everyone who offers services
> > based on OFBiz, or who extends or customizes OFBiz for their
> > organization, or who create derivative works (open source or commercial)
> > would follow a little three step process whenever they develop
> > something, the project would have (with the current community, as I
> > estimate it from the hip) around 20-30 times the involvement it does now
> > (in SVN, Jira, mailing lists, etc). Here is the little three step
> process:
> >
> > 1. identify what is general or makes sense to parameterize and what is
> > specific to their requirements
> > 2. implement the general or easily parameterizable elements and
> > contribute them to the open source project (which will soon result in
> > streamlining that by the people involved becoming committers and PMC
> > members)
> > 3. configure or extend the functionality in OFBiz to meet requirements
> > being pursued
> >
> > The only reason OFBiz exists right now is that there are a number of
> > people and organizations who do this now, and have done this for a
> > number of years.
> >
> > It does require a little bit more work to do this, but mostly just when
> > getting started with and used to doing things this way. In the long run
> > because things are better thought out and more reusable for current and
> > future projects this actually results in far less work, and not by a
> > little, but rather by a LOT!
> >
> > So, there's my attempt at food for thought... and discussion.
> >
> > -David
> >
> >
> > Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> in my opinion the community and the OFBiz project in general will
> >> greatly benefit if we explicitly define and publish (in the main page
> >> of the site) a general, ambitious goal for the project.
> >> Of course, each and every single step in the direction of reaching the
> >> goal will be uncertain and undefined in its details and will mostly
> >> depend on contributor's efforts, sponsors etc...
> >> However the final long term goal should be clearly defined.
> >>
> >> I think that we should start from the great plan that David prepared
> >> for the Java ONE conference:
> >>
> >> "- The Next 6 Years
> >> - First Year: Complete build out of enterprise applications for OOTB
> >> use by a wide variety of organizations
> >> - In 2 Years: the market leader for medium and large scale retail
> >> applications (ecommerce and POS)
> >> - In 4 Years: more installed ERP seats than SAP and more CRM seats
> >> than Siebel and SalesForce.com
> >> - In 6 Years: 20% of global economic activity managed with OFBiz"
> >>
> >> What do you think about this?
> >>
> >> Jacopo
> >
> >
> >
>
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net>.
I would like a phrase Like the "Core to all business functions With
adaptability to specific Businesses"
#3. one of the hard parts, up to now, has been keep up with the fluidity
of the design and structure changes.
I have a couple of time tried to align what i am doing with the current
svn. Only to have the design change enough to make my effect ineffective.
Now we have a official version I can adapt what I am doing against that.
I would also like to see the implementation of using Get to do builds.
#2 again, for someone like me, when major changes are done, with no
discussion, it takes an in-ordinate amount of time to get my head around
it to see what can be re-used and what has to be added.
By then the changes have happened that makes that effort useless.
#1. it would be nice to have something like the best practices to have a
structure for this evaluation.
David E Jones sent the following on 5/18/2007 8:55 PM:
>
> This is an interesting question... and one that should probably be
> discussed frequently as things tend to change over time.
>
> In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page. It is
> meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system.
> The core of the project is intended to include a general framework for
> efficiently building applications, plus a complete set of applications
> (data model, services, UI elements) to automate general business
> processes and support "most of what most companies need to operate". On
> top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of more
> "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of users
> or organizations.
>
> The stuff that Jacopo quoted below was meant to tie into the "World
> Domination" joke that was part of the JavaOne presentation. In other
> words, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. Of course, these things could
> really happen, and we're certainly on a growth curve and that may lead
> to these things.
>
> Like you mentioned Jacopo, how much and how soon this happens will
> depend on how much contribute to the project.
>
> The real key for that is pretty simple. If everyone who offers services
> based on OFBiz, or who extends or customizes OFBiz for their
> organization, or who create derivative works (open source or commercial)
> would follow a little three step process whenever they develop
> something, the project would have (with the current community, as I
> estimate it from the hip) around 20-30 times the involvement it does now
> (in SVN, Jira, mailing lists, etc). Here is the little three step process:
>
> 1. identify what is general or makes sense to parameterize and what is
> specific to their requirements
> 2. implement the general or easily parameterizable elements and
> contribute them to the open source project (which will soon result in
> streamlining that by the people involved becoming committers and PMC
> members)
> 3. configure or extend the functionality in OFBiz to meet requirements
> being pursued
>
> The only reason OFBiz exists right now is that there are a number of
> people and organizations who do this now, and have done this for a
> number of years.
>
> It does require a little bit more work to do this, but mostly just when
> getting started with and used to doing things this way. In the long run
> because things are better thought out and more reusable for current and
> future projects this actually results in far less work, and not by a
> little, but rather by a LOT!
>
> So, there's my attempt at food for thought... and discussion.
>
> -David
>
>
> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> in my opinion the community and the OFBiz project in general will
>> greatly benefit if we explicitly define and publish (in the main page
>> of the site) a general, ambitious goal for the project.
>> Of course, each and every single step in the direction of reaching the
>> goal will be uncertain and undefined in its details and will mostly
>> depend on contributor's efforts, sponsors etc...
>> However the final long term goal should be clearly defined.
>>
>> I think that we should start from the great plan that David prepared
>> for the Java ONE conference:
>>
>> "- The Next 6 Years
>> - First Year: Complete build out of enterprise applications for OOTB
>> use by a wide variety of organizations
>> - In 2 Years: the market leader for medium and large scale retail
>> applications (ecommerce and POS)
>> - In 4 Years: more installed ERP seats than SAP and more CRM seats
>> than Siebel and SalesForce.com
>> - In 6 Years: 20% of global economic activity managed with OFBiz"
>>
>> What do you think about this?
>>
>> Jacopo
>
>
>
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by Tim Ruppert <ti...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
Yeah, I think if we can spend a little more time marketing ourselves
to everyone - not just developers - we'll find that even more
companies will appreciate what OFBiz has to offer. The only thing
that commercial companies like Elastic Path (eComm specific) have on
us is marketing and a big fat price tag. We can do this.
Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com
o:801.649.6594
f:801.649.6595
On May 19, 2007, at 5:00 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
> +1 for Jacopo and Tim's sentence proposition. A bit of humour also may
> be good, but I agree not in front page. Though, who knows ? Most of
> the
> peple interested in OFBiz are enough clever to understand a bit of it
> :o)
>
> Jacques
>
> ----- Message d'origine -----
> De : "Jacopo Cappellato" <ti...@sastau.it>
> À : <de...@ofbiz.apache.org>
> Envoyé : samedi 19 mai 2007 08:17
> Objet : Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
>
>
>> David, Tim,
>>
>> thanks for your comments.
>> I agree that in the project's web site there is already a description
> of
>> what OFBiz is.
>> Maybe we should just add a clear, short, statement about our final
> goal
>> at the top of the site.
>> In my opinion Tim has implicitly suggested a good one: "Our goal
>> is to
>> build the best ERP system in the World".
>> A concise statement like this could catch people attention.
>>
>> Jacopo
>>
>> David E Jones wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Tim Ruppert wrote:
>>>> Now getting back to the OFBiz project goal, I'm going to have to
> ever
>>>> so slightly disagree with our goal stopping there. While I agree
> that
>>>> OFBiz is a comprehensive enterprise information automation system -
>>>> and I'm WAY stoked to be working on it - I think that OFBiz is FAR
>>>> more than just a framework that people use to build applications.
> In
>>>> fact if OFBiz is just a framework - than what application out there
>>>> that takes some configuration (note that I didn't say
> customization)
>>>> isn't?
>>>
>>> Just to clarify, I really do agree with this. Maybe if I took my
> scope
>>> paragraph and split it into some bullet points it would make it more
>>> clear...
>>>
>>> In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page.
> It is
>>> meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation
> system:
>>>
>>> 1. the core of the project is intended to include a general
> framework
>>> for efficiently building applications
>>>
>>> 2. plus a complete set of applications (data model, services, UI
>>> elements) to automate general business processes and support "most
> of
>>> what most companies need to operate"
>>>
>>> 3. on top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number
> of
>>> more "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types
> of
>>> users or organizations
>>>
>>> -David
>>
>
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by Jacques Le Roux <ja...@les7arts.com>.
+1 for Jacopo and Tim's sentence proposition. A bit of humour also may
be good, but I agree not in front page. Though, who knows ? Most of the
peple interested in OFBiz are enough clever to understand a bit of it
:o)
Jacques
----- Message d'origine -----
De : "Jacopo Cappellato" <ti...@sastau.it>
À : <de...@ofbiz.apache.org>
Envoyé : samedi 19 mai 2007 08:17
Objet : Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
> David, Tim,
>
> thanks for your comments.
> I agree that in the project's web site there is already a description
of
> what OFBiz is.
> Maybe we should just add a clear, short, statement about our final
goal
> at the top of the site.
> In my opinion Tim has implicitly suggested a good one: "Our goal is to
> build the best ERP system in the World".
> A concise statement like this could catch people attention.
>
> Jacopo
>
> David E Jones wrote:
> >
> >
> > Tim Ruppert wrote:
> >> Now getting back to the OFBiz project goal, I'm going to have to
ever
> >> so slightly disagree with our goal stopping there. While I agree
that
> >> OFBiz is a comprehensive enterprise information automation system -
> >> and I'm WAY stoked to be working on it - I think that OFBiz is FAR
> >> more than just a framework that people use to build applications.
In
> >> fact if OFBiz is just a framework - than what application out there
> >> that takes some configuration (note that I didn't say
customization)
> >> isn't?
> >
> > Just to clarify, I really do agree with this. Maybe if I took my
scope
> > paragraph and split it into some bullet points it would make it more
> > clear...
> >
> > In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page.
It is
> > meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation
system:
> >
> > 1. the core of the project is intended to include a general
framework
> > for efficiently building applications
> >
> > 2. plus a complete set of applications (data model, services, UI
> > elements) to automate general business processes and support "most
of
> > what most companies need to operate"
> >
> > 3. on top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number
of
> > more "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types
of
> > users or organizations
> >
> > -David
>
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by Jacopo Cappellato <ti...@sastau.it>.
David, Tim,
thanks for your comments.
I agree that in the project's web site there is already a description of
what OFBiz is.
Maybe we should just add a clear, short, statement about our final goal
at the top of the site.
In my opinion Tim has implicitly suggested a good one: "Our goal is to
build the best ERP system in the World".
A concise statement like this could catch people attention.
Jacopo
David E Jones wrote:
>
>
> Tim Ruppert wrote:
>> Now getting back to the OFBiz project goal, I'm going to have to ever
>> so slightly disagree with our goal stopping there. While I agree that
>> OFBiz is a comprehensive enterprise information automation system -
>> and I'm WAY stoked to be working on it - I think that OFBiz is FAR
>> more than just a framework that people use to build applications. In
>> fact if OFBiz is just a framework - than what application out there
>> that takes some configuration (note that I didn't say customization)
>> isn't?
>
> Just to clarify, I really do agree with this. Maybe if I took my scope
> paragraph and split it into some bullet points it would make it more
> clear...
>
> In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page. It is
> meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system:
>
> 1. the core of the project is intended to include a general framework
> for efficiently building applications
>
> 2. plus a complete set of applications (data model, services, UI
> elements) to automate general business processes and support "most of
> what most companies need to operate"
>
> 3. on top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of
> more "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of
> users or organizations
>
> -David
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by David E Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
Tim Ruppert wrote:
> Now getting back to the OFBiz project goal, I'm going to have to ever so
> slightly disagree with our goal stopping there. While I agree that
> OFBiz is a comprehensive enterprise information automation system - and
> I'm WAY stoked to be working on it - I think that OFBiz is FAR more than
> just a framework that people use to build applications. In fact if
> OFBiz is just a framework - than what application out there that takes
> some configuration (note that I didn't say customization) isn't?
Just to clarify, I really do agree with this. Maybe if I took my scope paragraph and split it into some bullet points it would make it more clear...
In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page. It is meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation system:
1. the core of the project is intended to include a general framework for efficiently building applications
2. plus a complete set of applications (data model, services, UI elements) to automate general business processes and support "most of what most companies need to operate"
3. on top of those we also have (and plan to have more of) a number of more "special purpose" applications that are used for specific types of users or organizations
-David
Re: Defining the OFBiz's project goal
Posted by Tim Ruppert <ti...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
David, +1 on the steps there. If we all took a bit more time to
think about what we are working on and how to generalize it more - we
would definitely have MUCH more code contributed and reused. No
doubt about it!
Now getting back to the OFBiz project goal, I'm going to have to ever
so slightly disagree with our goal stopping there. While I agree
that OFBiz is a comprehensive enterprise information automation
system - and I'm WAY stoked to be working on it - I think that OFBiz
is FAR more than just a framework that people use to build
applications. In fact if OFBiz is just a framework - than what
application out there that takes some configuration (note that I
didn't say customization) isn't?
Personally, I think looking at the stated goals that you and Ean came
up with at the conference - I actually fall closer to that camp as to
where I think that OFBiz has the potential of going. I look at this
project and it's future and I see the best God damn ERP system out
there! Once we are able to complete some of the applications that we
have all been thinking about putting into the project:
1. Project Management
2. CRM
3. SFA
4. Full Financials Package
5. Human Resources
6. Automated Customer Service / Knowledge Base
7. Fully Featured Content Management
We will have a system unlike anything out there. Something that
fulfills what people are looking for in an ERP system - but with the
added bonus that you CAN build other applications on top.
My two cents - let's rally around this one.
Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com
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On May 18, 2007, at 9:55 PM, David E Jones wrote:
>
> This is an interesting question... and one that should probably be
> discussed frequently as things tend to change over time.
>
> In general though the goal of OFBiz is as stated on the home page.
> It is meant to be a comprehensive enterprise information automation
> system. The core of the project is intended to include a general
> framework for efficiently building applications, plus a complete
> set of applications (data model, services, UI elements) to automate
> general business processes and support "most of what most companies
> need to operate". On top of those we also have (and plan to have
> more of) a number of more "special purpose" applications that are
> used for specific types of users or organizations.
>
> The stuff that Jacopo quoted below was meant to tie into the "World
> Domination" joke that was part of the JavaOne presentation. In
> other words, it was a little tongue-in-cheek. Of course, these
> things could really happen, and we're certainly on a growth curve
> and that may lead to these things.
>
> Like you mentioned Jacopo, how much and how soon this happens will
> depend on how much contribute to the project.
>
> The real key for that is pretty simple. If everyone who offers
> services based on OFBiz, or who extends or customizes OFBiz for
> their organization, or who create derivative works (open source or
> commercial) would follow a little three step process whenever they
> develop something, the project would have (with the current
> community, as I estimate it from the hip) around 20-30 times the
> involvement it does now (in SVN, Jira, mailing lists, etc). Here is
> the little three step process:
>
> 1. identify what is general or makes sense to parameterize and what
> is specific to their requirements
> 2. implement the general or easily parameterizable elements and
> contribute them to the open source project (which will soon result
> in streamlining that by the people involved becoming committers and
> PMC members)
> 3. configure or extend the functionality in OFBiz to meet
> requirements being pursued
>
> The only reason OFBiz exists right now is that there are a number
> of people and organizations who do this now, and have done this for
> a number of years.
>
> It does require a little bit more work to do this, but mostly just
> when getting started with and used to doing things this way. In the
> long run because things are better thought out and more reusable
> for current and future projects this actually results in far less
> work, and not by a little, but rather by a LOT!
>
> So, there's my attempt at food for thought... and discussion.
>
> -David
>
>
> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>> Hi,
>> in my opinion the community and the OFBiz project in general will
>> greatly benefit if we explicitly define and publish (in the main
>> page of the site) a general, ambitious goal for the project.
>> Of course, each and every single step in the direction of reaching
>> the goal will be uncertain and undefined in its details and will
>> mostly depend on contributor's efforts, sponsors etc...
>> However the final long term goal should be clearly defined.
>> I think that we should start from the great plan that David
>> prepared for the Java ONE conference:
>> "- The Next 6 Years
>> - First Year: Complete build out of enterprise applications for
>> OOTB use by a wide variety of organizations
>> - In 2 Years: the market leader for medium and large scale retail
>> applications (ecommerce and POS)
>> - In 4 Years: more installed ERP seats than SAP and more CRM
>> seats than Siebel and SalesForce.com
>> - In 6 Years: 20% of global economic activity managed with OFBiz"
>> What do you think about this?
>> Jacopo