Future of PhotArk

[Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com>]

You guys might have seen the e-mail inquiring about the current status
of PhotArk [1], and I would like to start a frank discussion around
the future of PhotArk.

Looking at a high level, I see three possibilities for PhotArk :

- Continue working on REST branch, developing a robust API and then
porting the current UI functionality to the new codebase.

- Switch gears completely, and move away from providing support for
image storage, and start providing a photo aggregation mobile
application (possible using PhoneGap to be more cross platform). This
application would allow you to subscribe to different photo sources
(e.g. Flickr, Google+, Facebook, etc) and see them all in your
phone/tablet.

- Retire the project


Feel free to add to the list, express your suggestions, or continue
more detailed discussion on any of these items.


[1] http://www.mail-archive.com/photark-dev@incubator.apache.org/msg01456.html
-- 
Luciano Resende
http://people.apache.org/~lresende
http://twitter.com/lresende1975
http://lresende.blogspot.com/

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Raymond Feng <en...@gmail.com>]

The 2nd approach sounds interesting. We are not lack of good photo hosting/sharing services, but a mobile/web client that aggregates the different sources is cool. 

Thanks,
Raymond 

On Jan 12, 2012, at 9:40 AM, Luciano Resende wrote:

> You guys might have seen the e-mail inquiring about the current status
> of PhotArk [1], and I would like to start a frank discussion around
> the future of PhotArk.
> 
> Looking at a high level, I see three possibilities for PhotArk :
> 
> - Continue working on REST branch, developing a robust API and then
> porting the current UI functionality to the new codebase.
> 
> - Switch gears completely, and move away from providing support for
> image storage, and start providing a photo aggregation mobile
> application (possible using PhoneGap to be more cross platform). This
> application would allow you to subscribe to different photo sources
> (e.g. Flickr, Google+, Facebook, etc) and see them all in your
> phone/tablet.
> 
> - Retire the project
> 
> 
> Feel free to add to the list, express your suggestions, or continue
> more detailed discussion on any of these items.
> 
> 
> [1] http://www.mail-archive.com/photark-dev@incubator.apache.org/msg01456.html
> -- 
> Luciano Resende
> http://people.apache.org/~lresende
> http://twitter.com/lresende1975
> http://lresende.blogspot.com/

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Subash Chaturanga <su...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Luciano
>
> +1 for the change of PhorArk path. Even if we take this as a typical Photo
> Gallery application, PhotArk still has almost all major back end
> functionality as a incubation project. What we are lacking is an eye
> catching front end (when compare it with flicker or picasa) .
>
> But I think Avdhesh's idea is identical to the $subject. We can move
> forward with the intention of providing a better android photo gallery
> app.
>
> On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah <
> suhothayan@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 18 January 2012 10:37, Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah
>> > <su...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > > +1 The second approach seems interesting.
>> > >
>> > > But at the same time I also need to mention why there were very lack of
>> > > involvement in last mouths.
>> > > I think having a good understanding on the past failures will help us
>> > with
>> > > a better start.
>> > >
>> > > I think the main issue was having both the Rest Branch and Trunk, and
>> > > people working on both.
>> > > Though the REST was introduced to replace the trunk it still didn't
>> come
>> > up
>> > > to that level,
>> > > and further there was very little support from the senior developers in
>> > > designing how things should be going forward.
>> > >
>> >
>> > The PhotArk trunk has become a "legacy application"... and if you have
>> > worked with legacy applications you know what I mean. Hard to
>> > maintain, tightly coupled, etc... The REST branch was nothing more
>> > then a initiative to bring the same functionality that is in trunk, in
>> > a more flexible way, considering different software layers, etc...
>> > There was never a barrier to anyone that tried to collaborate on this
>> > effort, even some GSoC students started, others completed, their work
>> > in the REST branch. If any community member have better strategy on
>> > how we can make the trunk code more flexible, and easy to maintain,
>> > please speak up and let's discuss the different approaches.
>> >
>> > I totally agree on your point. Yes trunk has become a legacy application,
>> the main issue I was mentioning is that we tried to maintain both
>> the REST and the Trunk. That why all went out of control and messy.
>>
>>
>> > > I appreciate this new change but also request the key developers who
>> know
>> > > the domain to take some active part at the early stage of the project,
>> > > to bring the project to a some what a working level before letting the
>> > > project to finds its own way.
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > There is no mandatory requirement for us to go into this direction,
>> > what we have is a absolute requirement to be an active community... if
>> > we can become active without changing directions, fine... if we feel
>> > that changing directions will make us attract more contributors and be
>> > a more healthier community, and if everybody agrees on the issue,
>> > good... if we still the way we are, PhotArk will soon be a retired
>> > podling.
>> >
>>
>> I too feel this change is necessary at this point and
>> in current path PhotArk will be a dead project soon.
>>
>> My suggestion is to take this change and discontinue the development of the
>> previous implementation.
>>
>
> Can't we wrap up the existing back end with a suitable API and address it
> via android layer. And then we can keep enhancing the back end on demand.
> WDYT ?
>
>

As you said, this requires a backend (which assumes we continue to
have a PhotArk image repository), and is specific to Android. I was
imagining we could try using something like PhoneGap (a.k.a Apache
Cordova) and make a HTML5 kind of app, using some phone device for
storage of subscritions maybe... having said all that, I have only
read from phoneGap and looked at the APIs without prototyping anything
yet.

How about, as a first concrete step, the community create a sandbox
and create a helloWorld project that reads a stream from flickr or
picasa (as those have public photo streams) ?



-- 
Luciano Resende
http://people.apache.org/~lresende
http://twitter.com/lresende1975
http://lresende.blogspot.com/

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Subash Chaturanga <su...@gmail.com>]

Hi Luciano

+1 for the change of PhorArk path. Even if we take this as a typical Photo
Gallery application, PhotArk still has almost all major back end
functionality as a incubation project. What we are lacking is an eye
catching front end (when compare it with flicker or picasa) .

But I think Avdhesh's idea is identical to the $subject. We can move
forward with the intention of providing a better android photo gallery
app.

On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah <
suhothayan@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 18 January 2012 10:37, Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah
> > <su...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > +1 The second approach seems interesting.
> > >
> > > But at the same time I also need to mention why there were very lack of
> > > involvement in last mouths.
> > > I think having a good understanding on the past failures will help us
> > with
> > > a better start.
> > >
> > > I think the main issue was having both the Rest Branch and Trunk, and
> > > people working on both.
> > > Though the REST was introduced to replace the trunk it still didn't
> come
> > up
> > > to that level,
> > > and further there was very little support from the senior developers in
> > > designing how things should be going forward.
> > >
> >
> > The PhotArk trunk has become a "legacy application"... and if you have
> > worked with legacy applications you know what I mean. Hard to
> > maintain, tightly coupled, etc... The REST branch was nothing more
> > then a initiative to bring the same functionality that is in trunk, in
> > a more flexible way, considering different software layers, etc...
> > There was never a barrier to anyone that tried to collaborate on this
> > effort, even some GSoC students started, others completed, their work
> > in the REST branch. If any community member have better strategy on
> > how we can make the trunk code more flexible, and easy to maintain,
> > please speak up and let's discuss the different approaches.
> >
> > I totally agree on your point. Yes trunk has become a legacy application,
> the main issue I was mentioning is that we tried to maintain both
> the REST and the Trunk. That why all went out of control and messy.
>
>
> > > I appreciate this new change but also request the key developers who
> know
> > > the domain to take some active part at the early stage of the project,
> > > to bring the project to a some what a working level before letting the
> > > project to finds its own way.
> > >
> >
> >
> > There is no mandatory requirement for us to go into this direction,
> > what we have is a absolute requirement to be an active community... if
> > we can become active without changing directions, fine... if we feel
> > that changing directions will make us attract more contributors and be
> > a more healthier community, and if everybody agrees on the issue,
> > good... if we still the way we are, PhotArk will soon be a retired
> > podling.
> >
>
> I too feel this change is necessary at this point and
> in current path PhotArk will be a dead project soon.
>
> My suggestion is to take this change and discontinue the development of the
> previous implementation.
>

Can't we wrap up the existing back end with a suitable API and address it
via android layer. And then we can keep enhancing the back end on demand.
WDYT ?


> I think this will help to keep the project focus on a unified direction,
> attracting more developers and resulting in a better product.?
>
> Regards
> Suho
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Luciano Resende
> > http://people.apache.org/~lresende
> > http://twitter.com/lresende1975
> > http://lresende.blogspot.com/
> >
>


Thanks
-- 
Subash Chaturanga
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Sri Lanka

Blog -  http://subashsdm.blogspot.com/
Twitter - http://twitter.com/subash89

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Suhothayan Sriskandarajah <su...@gmail.com>]

On 18 January 2012 10:37, Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah
> <su...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > +1 The second approach seems interesting.
> >
> > But at the same time I also need to mention why there were very lack of
> > involvement in last mouths.
> > I think having a good understanding on the past failures will help us
> with
> > a better start.
> >
> > I think the main issue was having both the Rest Branch and Trunk, and
> > people working on both.
> > Though the REST was introduced to replace the trunk it still didn't come
> up
> > to that level,
> > and further there was very little support from the senior developers in
> > designing how things should be going forward.
> >
>
> The PhotArk trunk has become a "legacy application"... and if you have
> worked with legacy applications you know what I mean. Hard to
> maintain, tightly coupled, etc... The REST branch was nothing more
> then a initiative to bring the same functionality that is in trunk, in
> a more flexible way, considering different software layers, etc...
> There was never a barrier to anyone that tried to collaborate on this
> effort, even some GSoC students started, others completed, their work
> in the REST branch. If any community member have better strategy on
> how we can make the trunk code more flexible, and easy to maintain,
> please speak up and let's discuss the different approaches.
>
> I totally agree on your point. Yes trunk has become a legacy application,
the main issue I was mentioning is that we tried to maintain both
the REST and the Trunk. That why all went out of control and messy.


> > I appreciate this new change but also request the key developers who know
> > the domain to take some active part at the early stage of the project,
> > to bring the project to a some what a working level before letting the
> > project to finds its own way.
> >
>
>
> There is no mandatory requirement for us to go into this direction,
> what we have is a absolute requirement to be an active community... if
> we can become active without changing directions, fine... if we feel
> that changing directions will make us attract more contributors and be
> a more healthier community, and if everybody agrees on the issue,
> good... if we still the way we are, PhotArk will soon be a retired
> podling.
>

I too feel this change is necessary at this point and
in current path PhotArk will be a dead project soon.

My suggestion is to take this change and discontinue the development of the
previous implementation.
I think this will help to keep the project focus on a unified direction,
attracting more developers and resulting in a better product.

Regards
Suho


>
>
>
> --
> Luciano Resende
> http://people.apache.org/~lresende
> http://twitter.com/lresende1975
> http://lresende.blogspot.com/
>

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Suhothayan Sriskandarajah
<su...@gmail.com> wrote:
> +1 The second approach seems interesting.
>
> But at the same time I also need to mention why there were very lack of
> involvement in last mouths.
> I think having a good understanding on the past failures will help us with
> a better start.
>
> I think the main issue was having both the Rest Branch and Trunk, and
> people working on both.
> Though the REST was introduced to replace the trunk it still didn't come up
> to that level,
> and further there was very little support from the senior developers in
> designing how things should be going forward.
>

The PhotArk trunk has become a "legacy application"... and if you have
worked with legacy applications you know what I mean. Hard to
maintain, tightly coupled, etc... The REST branch was nothing more
then a initiative to bring the same functionality that is in trunk, in
a more flexible way, considering different software layers, etc...
There was never a barrier to anyone that tried to collaborate on this
effort, even some GSoC students started, others completed, their work
in the REST branch. If any community member have better strategy on
how we can make the trunk code more flexible, and easy to maintain,
please speak up and let's discuss the different approaches.


> I appreciate this new change but also request the key developers who know
> the domain to take some active part at the early stage of the project,
> to bring the project to a some what a working level before letting the
> project to finds its own way.
>


There is no mandatory requirement for us to go into this direction,
what we have is a absolute requirement to be an active community... if
we can become active without changing directions, fine... if we feel
that changing directions will make us attract more contributors and be
a more healthier community, and if everybody agrees on the issue,
good... if we still the way we are, PhotArk will soon be a retired
podling.




-- 
Luciano Resende
http://people.apache.org/~lresende
http://twitter.com/lresende1975
http://lresende.blogspot.com/

Re: Future of PhotArk

[Suhothayan Sriskandarajah <su...@gmail.com>]

+1 The second approach seems interesting.

But at the same time I also need to mention why there were very lack of
involvement in last mouths.
I think having a good understanding on the past failures will help us with
a better start.

I think the main issue was having both the Rest Branch and Trunk, and
people working on both.
Though the REST was introduced to replace the trunk it still didn't come up
to that level,
and further there was very little support from the senior developers in
designing how things should be going forward.

I appreciate this new change but also request the key developers who know
the domain to take some active part at the early stage of the project,
to bring the project to a some what a working level before letting the
project to finds its own way.

Regards,
Suho



On 12 January 2012 23:52, Kumar, Devesh <de...@gmail.com> wrote:

> +1 for photo aggregation service using HTML5/CSS3 platform (with phonegap
> builds on tablets/mobiles)
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 11:10 PM, Luciano Resende <luckbr1975@gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > You guys might have seen the e-mail inquiring about the current status
> > of PhotArk [1], and I would like to start a frank discussion around
> > the future of PhotArk.
> >
> > Looking at a high level, I see three possibilities for PhotArk :
> >
> > - Continue working on REST branch, developing a robust API and then
> > porting the current UI functionality to the new codebase.
> >
> > - Switch gears completely, and move away from providing support for
> > image storage, and start providing a photo aggregation mobile
> > application (possible using PhoneGap to be more cross platform). This
> > application would allow you to subscribe to different photo sources
> > (e.g. Flickr, Google+, Facebook, etc) and see them all in your
> > phone/tablet.
> >
> > - Retire the project
> >
> >
> > Feel free to add to the list, express your suggestions, or continue
> > more detailed discussion on any of these items.
> >
> >
> > [1]
> >
> http://www.mail-archive.com/photark-dev@incubator.apache.org/msg01456.html
> > --
> > Luciano Resende
> > http://people.apache.org/~lresende
> > http://twitter.com/lresende1975
> > http://lresende.blogspot.com/
> >
>

Re: Future of PhotArk

["Kumar, Devesh" <de...@gmail.com>]

+1 for photo aggregation service using HTML5/CSS3 platform (with phonegap
builds on tablets/mobiles)


On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 11:10 PM, Luciano Resende <lu...@gmail.com>wrote:

> You guys might have seen the e-mail inquiring about the current status
> of PhotArk [1], and I would like to start a frank discussion around
> the future of PhotArk.
>
> Looking at a high level, I see three possibilities for PhotArk :
>
> - Continue working on REST branch, developing a robust API and then
> porting the current UI functionality to the new codebase.
>
> - Switch gears completely, and move away from providing support for
> image storage, and start providing a photo aggregation mobile
> application (possible using PhoneGap to be more cross platform). This
> application would allow you to subscribe to different photo sources
> (e.g. Flickr, Google+, Facebook, etc) and see them all in your
> phone/tablet.
>
> - Retire the project
>
>
> Feel free to add to the list, express your suggestions, or continue
> more detailed discussion on any of these items.
>
>
> [1]
> http://www.mail-archive.com/photark-dev@incubator.apache.org/msg01456.html
> --
> Luciano Resende
> http://people.apache.org/~lresende
> http://twitter.com/lresende1975
> http://lresende.blogspot.com/
>