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Posted to user@ofbiz.apache.org by David Shere <ds...@steelerubber.com> on 2007/03/05 17:05:58 UTC

Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

What does this article mean when it says that OFBiz has no "services 
division"?

David E. Jones wrote:
> 
> Not a lot of detail on the project, nor terribly accurate on the ones it 
> does have, but an interesting read with some good points anyway:
> 
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&amp;articleId=9011649 
> 
> 
> -David

-- 
David Shere
Information Technology Services
Steele Rubber Products
www.SteeleRubber.com


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Walter Vaughan <wv...@steelerubber.com>.
David E. Jones wrote:

> For open source business  
> software projects like OFBiz are really rather rare, and don't get  much 
> press.

Or visiblity at trade shows. I'm getting two or three marketing pieces a week 
from the NCOF (National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment), and all I can 
think is that there is a bunch of companies that could come into the family and 
help sponsor pieces of ofBiz/openTaps.

I gave two seminars ("Data Standards" and "Marketing your small business on the 
internet") this past weekend a the HotRod & Restoration Trade show in 
Indianapolis. I did get ofBiz worked into the bio that was read by the person 
introducing me, but I didn't get to spend much time talking about ofBiz during 
the seminars.

I'm guessing in 2008 I'll make the push to give presentations on open source ERP 
  /MRP/E-commerce systems [with a emphasis on ofBiz of course] at SEMA 
(http://www.semashow.com), Automotive eForum (http://www.aftermarketeforum.com), 
HRR (http://www.hotrodshow.com), and maybe even the Sema National Education 
Conference.

--
Walter

Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk>.
Scott,

There's something very odd happening with email at my end of the world. 
For some reason I've only just received a copy of my own post to the ML 
of 6 hours ago, your post below arrived after that and I still haven't 
received the posts from Jacopo or yourself to which you refer. I'll 
check Nabble to get myself up to speed and reply on the threads as and 
when they arrive as you suggest.

I wasn't aware that I was feeling particularly frustrated. I'm just one 
of those anally retentive OCD nuts who can only do stuff one step at a 
time. I was just trying to establish that my various messages hadn't 
been lost in the ether so I could close that chapter and move on to 
something else.

Regards,

Ian



Scott Gray wrote:
> Ian,
>
> Jacopo and myself have replied to your second posting within the last 
> few hours, please check the mailing list and we can continue any 
> discussions on that thread.  Please don't feel frustrated, we do 
> appreciate your work.
>
> Thanks
> Scott
>
> Ian McNulty wrote:
>> David,
>>
>> I'm getting really confused here.
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.
>>
>> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB 
>> end-users need is accessible end-user documentation.
>>
>> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
>> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
>>
>>> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
>>> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>>>
>>> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user 
>>> documentation site here 
>>> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>. 
>>>
>>
>> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to 
>> translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
>> least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ). 
>> There can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very 
>> confusing and frustrating indeed.
>>
>> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
>> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of 
>> my own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 
>> 12 of the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one 
>> location.
>>
>> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end 
>> User Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References
>>
>> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that 
>> they might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - 
>> but had absolutely no response whatsoever!
>>
>> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and 
>> had absolutely no response again!
>>
>> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
>> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on 
>> a raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be 
>> their complete lack of interest in this one?
>>
>> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
>> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
>> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
>> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
>> contribution is very minor in comparison.
>>
>> What I am looking for is:
>>
>> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference 
>> PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public 
>> section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by 
>> end-users and further amended and developed by those more qualified 
>> than myself
>>
>> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing 
>> in the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
>> attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
>> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
>>
>> How unreasonable a request is that?
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>>
>>>> David (Jones),
>>>>
>>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>>>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" 
>>>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>>>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>>>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit 
>>>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>>>
>>> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to quite 
>>> me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
>>> anything like that.
>>>
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
>>> Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
>>> project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB 
>>> users and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just 
>>> extremely patient... ;) ).
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>
>
>
>

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Durham
DH1 2UL

t: +44 (0)191 384 4736
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Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Scott Gray <le...@gmail.com>.
Ian,

Jacopo and myself have replied to your second posting within the last 
few hours, please check the mailing list and we can continue any 
discussions on that thread.  Please don't feel frustrated, we do 
appreciate your work.

Thanks
Scott

Ian McNulty wrote:
> David,
>
> I'm getting really confused here.
>
> David E. Jones wrote:
>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.
>
> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB 
> end-users need is accessible end-user documentation.
>
> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
>
>> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
>> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>>
>> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user documentation 
>> site here 
>> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>. 
>>
>
> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to 
> translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
> least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ). 
> There can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very 
> confusing and frustrating indeed.
>
> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of 
> my own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 
> 12 of the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one 
> location.
>
> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end 
> User Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References
>
> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that 
> they might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - 
> but had absolutely no response whatsoever!
>
> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and 
> had absolutely no response again!
>
> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on a 
> raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be 
> their complete lack of interest in this one?
>
> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
> contribution is very minor in comparison.
>
> What I am looking for is:
>
> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference 
> PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public 
> section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by 
> end-users and further amended and developed by those more qualified 
> than myself
>
> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing 
> in the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
> attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
>
> How unreasonable a request is that?
>
> Ian
>
>
>
>
> David E. Jones wrote:
>>
>> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>
>>> David (Jones),
>>>
>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" 
>>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit 
>>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>>
>> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to quite 
>> me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
>> anything like that.
>>
>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
>> Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
>> project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB users 
>> and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just extremely 
>> patient... ;) ).
>>
>> -David
>>
>


Re: Ofbiz Opportunity :: Only Question which I ever needed to ask :)

Posted by Torsten Schlabach <TS...@gmx.net>.
Hi Chand!

Thank you very much for your thoughs. I indeed currently try to make the case of OFBiz.

What doesn't become clear to me from your message:

Is that just some random thoughts or do you pursue any concrete goal?

Regards,
Torsten

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Datum: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 01:11:36 -0800
Von: "Chandresh Turakhia" <ch...@bhartitelesoft.com>
An: user@ofbiz.apache.org
CC: dev@ofbiz.apache.org
Betreff: Ofbiz Opportunity :: Only Question which I ever needed to ask :)

> Hi ,
> 
> Ofbiz is looked at with curiousity for reasons other than it was Open
> Source from few people.
> 
> Changing Values
> ----------------------------
> 
> Corportate 2.0 is all about Open Company. People need to pathom the need
> to make WallStreet 1.0 to appreciate attempts for Corporate 2.0 :)
> Business 2.0 is only about Business Plan merged with Social Plans. Rise of
> Indian poor does not create "revolution" but makes many answerable on
> ballot bozez. Indians are being American of late - ASKING for cheaper & cheaper
> ( everyday low price ) goods - irrespective to national boundaries.
> 
> Things in perspective 
> --------------------------------
> 
> Indian Retail ( Organized Retail ) is tring to achieve in 5 years what
> other Developed Countries developed over a period of 25 years. It is
> frenzy@best.
> 
> Bharti teams with Wal-Mart and atleast 5 others 5Billion $ Plus other
> investments in organized retail. India has 10million pluz small traders. Number
> nowhere in the world match in unorganized sector. 
> 
> Usual structure of Deal : Indian Partner brings capital and contacts;
> Western partner brings "Systems" which helps to 'derisk' capital investments.
> But it opens up to Political risk of "Unfair Advantage" to big business
> houses. Western Partner may give technology free to Indian venture but it
> further solidify case of Unfair Advantage. :( 
> 
> Ofbiz Opportunity : 
>   a.. Indian Partner ACCEPTS Systems from Western Partner but uses
> SOFTWARE which is available for free to everyone
>   b.. Hopefully Ofbiz gains in adapting to Established retail segment.
> Practical implementations.
> What does It take make this happen ?
> 
> DISCLAIMER : This is just my personal thoughts. My Company has no
> obligations for whatsoever. AND I am not Lawyer.
> 
> Chand 
> Architect - COO team

Ofbiz Opportunity :: Only Question which I ever needed to ask :)

Posted by Chandresh Turakhia <ch...@bhartitelesoft.com>.
Hi ,

Ofbiz is looked at with curiousity for reasons other than it was Open Source from few people.

Changing Values
----------------------------

Corportate 2.0 is all about Open Company. People need to pathom the need to make WallStreet 1.0 to appreciate attempts for Corporate 2.0 :)
Business 2.0 is only about Business Plan merged with Social Plans. Rise of Indian poor does not create "revolution" but makes many answerable on ballot bozez. Indians are being American of late - ASKING for cheaper & cheaper ( everyday low price ) goods - irrespective to national boundaries.

Things in perspective 
--------------------------------

Indian Retail ( Organized Retail ) is tring to achieve in 5 years what other Developed Countries developed over a period of 25 years. It is frenzy@best.

Bharti teams with Wal-Mart and atleast 5 others 5Billion $ Plus other investments in organized retail. India has 10million pluz small traders. Number nowhere in the world match in unorganized sector. 

Usual structure of Deal : Indian Partner brings capital and contacts; Western partner brings "Systems" which helps to 'derisk' capital investments. But it opens up to Political risk of "Unfair Advantage" to big business houses. Western Partner may give technology free to Indian venture but it further solidify case of Unfair Advantage. :( 

Ofbiz Opportunity : 
  a.. Indian Partner ACCEPTS Systems from Western Partner but uses SOFTWARE which is available for free to everyone
  b.. Hopefully Ofbiz gains in adapting to Established retail segment. Practical implementations.
What does It take make this happen ?

DISCLAIMER : This is just my personal thoughts. My Company has no obligations for whatsoever. AND I am not Lawyer.

Chand 
Architect - COO team

Ofbiz Opportunity :: Only Question which I ever needed to ask :)

Posted by Chandresh Turakhia <ch...@bhartitelesoft.com>.
Hi ,

Ofbiz is looked at with curiousity for reasons other than it was Open Source from few people.

Changing Values
----------------------------

Corportate 2.0 is all about Open Company. People need to pathom the need to make WallStreet 1.0 to appreciate attempts for Corporate 2.0 :)
Business 2.0 is only about Business Plan merged with Social Plans. Rise of Indian poor does not create "revolution" but makes many answerable on ballot bozez. Indians are being American of late - ASKING for cheaper & cheaper ( everyday low price ) goods - irrespective to national boundaries.

Things in perspective 
--------------------------------

Indian Retail ( Organized Retail ) is tring to achieve in 5 years what other Developed Countries developed over a period of 25 years. It is frenzy@best.

Bharti teams with Wal-Mart and atleast 5 others 5Billion $ Plus other investments in organized retail. India has 10million pluz small traders. Number nowhere in the world match in unorganized sector. 

Usual structure of Deal : Indian Partner brings capital and contacts; Western partner brings "Systems" which helps to 'derisk' capital investments. But it opens up to Political risk of "Unfair Advantage" to big business houses. Western Partner may give technology free to Indian venture but it further solidify case of Unfair Advantage. :( 

Ofbiz Opportunity : 
  a.. Indian Partner ACCEPTS Systems from Western Partner but uses SOFTWARE which is available for free to everyone
  b.. Hopefully Ofbiz gains in adapting to Established retail segment. Practical implementations.
What does It take make this happen ?

DISCLAIMER : This is just my personal thoughts. My Company has no obligations for whatsoever. AND I am not Lawyer.

Chand 
Architect - COO team

Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk>.
Tim,

For some inexplicable reason your email seems to have been one of the 
first replies posted on this issue, but only arrived in my inbox some 16 
hours later, when I was just on my way to bed. Having had no response 
for days to me 2 previous posts I've been somewhat overwhelmed by 
today's reactions. As I said before, I wasn't looking for praise, but 
it's very much appreciated anyway. Many thanks.

Best,

Ian



Tim Ruppert wrote:
> Ian, all I can say is that each day we've discussed trying to devote 
> some resources the exercise you've teed up - and we're all interested 
> in.  Things have been rather busy, as you can imagine, and we ask for 
> a bit of patience.  
>
> We see your work and are excited about incorporating it as has been 
> described in the past.  Great stuff and thanks again.
>
> Cheers,
> Tim
> --
> Tim Ruppert
> HotWax Media
> http://www.hotwaxmedia.com
>
> o:801.649.6594
> f:801.649.6595
>
>
> On Mar 7, 2007, at 12:11 AM, Ian McNulty wrote:
>
>> David,
>>
>> I'm getting really confused here.
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.
>>
>> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB 
>> end-users need is accessible end-user documentation.
>>
>> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
>> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
>>
>>> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
>>> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>>>
>>> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user 
>>> documentation site here 
>>> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>. 
>>
>> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to 
>> translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
>> least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ). 
>> There can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very 
>> confusing and frustrating indeed.
>>
>> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
>> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of 
>> my own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 
>> 12 of the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one 
>> location.
>>
>> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end 
>> User Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References 
>> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/%7Eian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References>
>>
>> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that 
>> they might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - 
>> but had absolutely no response whatsoever!
>>
>> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and 
>> had absolutely no response again!
>>
>> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
>> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on 
>> a raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be 
>> their complete lack of interest in this one?
>>
>> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
>> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
>> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
>> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
>> contribution is very minor in comparison.
>>
>> What I am looking for is:
>>
>> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference 
>> PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public 
>> section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by 
>> end-users and further amended and developed by those more qualified 
>> than myself
>>
>> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing 
>> in the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
>> attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
>> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
>>
>> How unreasonable a request is that?
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>>
>>>> David (Jones),
>>>>
>>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>>>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" 
>>>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>>>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>>>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit 
>>>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>>>
>>> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to quite 
>>> me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
>>> anything like that.
>>>
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
>>> Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
>>> project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB 
>>> users and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just 
>>> extremely patient... ;) ).
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>

Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Tim Ruppert <ti...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
Ian, all I can say is that each day we've discussed trying to devote  
some resources the exercise you've teed up - and we're all interested  
in.  Things have been rather busy, as you can imagine, and we ask for  
a bit of patience.

We see your work and are excited about incorporating it as has been  
described in the past.  Great stuff and thanks again.

Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com

o:801.649.6594
f:801.649.6595


On Mar 7, 2007, at 12:11 AM, Ian McNulty wrote:

> David,
>
> I'm getting really confused here.
>
> David E. Jones wrote:
>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the  
>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current  
>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to  
>> create and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of  
>> user.
>
> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB end- 
> users need is accessible end-user documentation.
>
> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas  
> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
>
>> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and  
>> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>>
>> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user  
>> documentation site here <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/ 
>> Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>.
>
> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts  
> to translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered  
> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my  
> comments at http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being 
> +Worked+On ). There can be no doubt that most end-users will find  
> this very confusing and frustrating indeed.
>
> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current  
> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount  
> of my own time to answering David's request for help by translating  
> all 12 of the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format  
> in one location.
>
> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end  
> User Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at  
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager 
> +References
>
> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that  
> they might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space  
> - but had absolutely no response whatsoever!
>
> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March -  
> and had absolutely no response again!
>
> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the  
> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here  
> on a raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear  
> to be their complete lack of interest in this one?
>
> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or  
> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking  
> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have  
> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my  
> contribution is very minor in comparison.
>
> What I am looking for is:
>
> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager  
> Reference PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a  
> more public section of the Wiki where they can be more easily  
> accessed by end-users and further amended and developed by those  
> more qualified than myself
>
> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently  
> existing in the user documentation, with half-completed fragments  
> of various attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs  
> currently scattered over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
>
> How unreasonable a request is that?
>
> Ian
>
>
>
>
> David E. Jones wrote:
>>
>> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>
>>> David (Jones),
>>>
>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB  
>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both  
>>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational  
>>> readiness" than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very  
>>> good and widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of  
>>> community development. (I understand you believe that approach  
>>> won't benefit OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>>
>> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to  
>> quite me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/ 
>> wrote anything like that.
>>
>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the  
>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current  
>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to  
>> create and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of  
>> user. Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time,  
>> the project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non- 
>> OOTB users and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but  
>> just extremely patient... ;) ).
>>
>> -David
>>


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk>.
Hey Chris,

Your concern is appreciated, but frustrated I am not. I'm simply working 
through tasks and ticking them off the list in my typical 
anally-retentive, OCD kind of way :-/

Yes, Jacopo did tell me where to put the docs. He didn't go through the 
procedure in as much detail as you have done here, but I did kind of 
understand that already. As I said in my post to David below, I wasn't 
looking for any kind of thanks, simply some kind of acknowledgement that 
somebody was that the work was now available for further development and 
wouldn't be lost in the maelstrom of other activity the community is 
currently engaged in.

Just to put the record straight, the process of uploading to the Wiki 
took a week certainly, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. No way 
I could have finished the whole job in just one week. As I'm sure you 
know, the majority of the work had to be done off-line, exporting the 
PDFs to txt and png, reformatting the txt into Wiki, putting the images 
in the right place etc., etc. Even if it were possible, the sheer 
monotony of doing all that in one week would have driven me even more 
bonkers than I already am! I actually started way back in January and 
have been spending all my spare time on it ever since. I don't like it 
when people promise things they can't deliver, and from comments David 
has made in previous discussions, it seems that OFBiz has suffered from 
way too much of that already. So I didn't announce I was going to do it 
until I'd already finished most of the job and was confident I could 
finish the rest.

Patience is something I'm happy to say I have aplenty. I have no clients 
with any need for OFBiz and therefore no need for any kind of 
installation or documentation myself in the foreseeable future. So 
there's no urgency from my end on anything.

Just for the record, I'm actually more interested in the development of 
the open source movement as a whole than I am in OFBiz per se.

When I first came across OFBiz I picked this up on the ML:

Torsten Schlabach wrote:
> Today, at Universities around the world, when you learn what an
> operating system is, you use Linux. When you learn what a webserver is,
> you use Apache httpd. When you learn what XML, XSLT and the like is all
> about, you use Apache Cocoon. When you learn what a J2EE container is
> all about, you're likely to use either JBoss or Geronimo. When you learn
> what an ERP system is, and you're studying at a western university that
> either has enough money or is considered important enough, you will 
> use SAP. 

I just think that it would be a pretty crucial victory for the open 
source community to be able to add something like OFBiz to the end of 
that list. Whether OFBiz can, or even wants, to get there before any of 
the other OS projects competing in the same territory remains to be 
seen. All I do know is that I've contributed what  I can. Now I've 
ticked that off the list, it's time to be moving on.

Best,

Ian
 



Chris Howe wrote:
> Hey Ian,
>
> I can understand your frustration, but Jacopo answered you February
> 23rd with how the process of having your work replace the current
> protected documentation would likely go.
> 1. Create the ones you're interested in updating in your user account
> space (BTW, great work on getting to all of them)
> 2. The community can then review, add to, clarify, rearrange your work
> as needed.
> 3. Replace the current docs in the protected space with the community
> reviewed docs to protect them from being edited by those who may not
> understand how things do/will fit together.
>
> You just finished step 1 within the week.  I know I personally schedule
> things I want to look at in the community project at least a week or
> two out (and still am only able to get around to about half of what I
> want to look at/contribute to).  I can only imagine the timetable for
> those that are doing OFBiz professionally would be even more drawn out
> than that unless it was a pressing topic.  In addition, there are a few
> things going on with UI refactoring and AJAX implementations that may
> make many of the screens that are documented obsolete or not work in
> the same fashion that the docs are describing.  This week's hackathon
> should show a firmer direction here. 
>
> I surely appreciate the work you put into converting those docs over. 
> I might suggest making a JIRA issue in regards to this so that
> discussion can be a bit more collected as interest in reviewing this is
> likely to trickle in rather than come in waves.  In any event, have a
> bit of patience and I'm certain it will work itself out :-)
>
> ,Chris
>
>
> --- Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk> wrote:
>
>   
>> David,
>>
>> I'm getting really confused here.
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>     
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create
>>>       
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.
>>>       
>> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB
>> end-users 
>> need is accessible end-user documentation.
>>
>> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
>> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
>>> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>>>
>>> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user
>>>       
>> documentation 
>>     
>>> site here 
>>>
>>>       
> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>.
>   
>> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to
>>
>> translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
>> least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ).
>> There 
>> can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very confusing and
>>
>> frustrating indeed.
>>
>> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
>> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of
>> my 
>> own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 12
>> of 
>> the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one
>> location.
>>
>> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end
>> User 
>> Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
>>
>>     
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References
>   
>> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that
>> they 
>> might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - but
>> had 
>> absolutely no response whatsoever!
>>
>> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and
>>
>> had absolutely no response again!
>>
>> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
>> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on
>> a 
>> raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be
>> their 
>> complete lack of interest in this one?
>>
>> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
>> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
>> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
>> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
>> contribution is very minor in comparison.
>>
>> What I am looking for is:
>>
>> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference
>>
>> PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public
>>
>> section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by
>> end-users 
>> and further amended and developed by those more qualified than myself
>>
>> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing
>> in 
>> the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
>> attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
>> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
>>
>> How unreasonable a request is that?
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>     
>>> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> David (Jones),
>>>>
>>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>>>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational
>>>>         
>> readiness" 
>>     
>>>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>>>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>>>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit
>>>>         
>>>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>>>>         
>>> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to
>>>       
>> quite 
>>     
>>> me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
>>> anything like that.
>>>
>>> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
>>> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
>>> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create
>>>       
>>> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
>>> Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
>>> project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB
>>>       
>> users 
>>     
>>> and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just extremely 
>>> patient... ;) ).
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>>       
>
>
>
>   

-- 
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Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Chris Howe <cj...@yahoo.com>.
Hey Ian,

I can understand your frustration, but Jacopo answered you February
23rd with how the process of having your work replace the current
protected documentation would likely go.
1. Create the ones you're interested in updating in your user account
space (BTW, great work on getting to all of them)
2. The community can then review, add to, clarify, rearrange your work
as needed.
3. Replace the current docs in the protected space with the community
reviewed docs to protect them from being edited by those who may not
understand how things do/will fit together.

You just finished step 1 within the week.  I know I personally schedule
things I want to look at in the community project at least a week or
two out (and still am only able to get around to about half of what I
want to look at/contribute to).  I can only imagine the timetable for
those that are doing OFBiz professionally would be even more drawn out
than that unless it was a pressing topic.  In addition, there are a few
things going on with UI refactoring and AJAX implementations that may
make many of the screens that are documented obsolete or not work in
the same fashion that the docs are describing.  This week's hackathon
should show a firmer direction here. 

I surely appreciate the work you put into converting those docs over. 
I might suggest making a JIRA issue in regards to this so that
discussion can be a bit more collected as interest in reviewing this is
likely to trickle in rather than come in waves.  In any event, have a
bit of patience and I'm certain it will work itself out :-)

,Chris


--- Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk> wrote:

> David,
> 
> I'm getting really confused here.
> 
> David E. Jones wrote:
> > Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
> > project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
> > contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create
> 
> > and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.
> 
> It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB
> end-users 
> need is accessible end-user documentation.
> 
> In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
> Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:
> 
> > There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
> > reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
> >
> > You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user
> documentation 
> > site here 
> >
>
<http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>.
> 
> >
> 
> As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to
> 
> translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
> least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ).
> There 
> can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very confusing and
> 
> frustrating indeed.
> 
> To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
> contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of
> my 
> own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 12
> of 
> the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one
> location.
> 
> This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end
> User 
> Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
>
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References
> 
> I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that
> they 
> might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - but
> had 
> absolutely no response whatsoever!
> 
> I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and
> 
> had absolutely no response again!
> 
> I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
> Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on
> a 
> raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be
> their 
> complete lack of interest in this one?
> 
> BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
> brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
> whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
> committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
> contribution is very minor in comparison.
> 
> What I am looking for is:
> 
> 1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference
> 
> PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public
> 
> section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by
> end-users 
> and further amended and developed by those more qualified than myself
> 
> 2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing
> in 
> the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
> attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
> over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.
> 
> How unreasonable a request is that?
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> David E. Jones wrote:
> >
> > On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
> >
> >> David (Jones),
> >>
> >> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
> >> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
> >> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational
> readiness" 
> >> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
> >> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
> >> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit
> 
> >> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
> >
> > Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to
> quite 
> > me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
> > anything like that.
> >
> > Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
> > project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
> > contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create
> 
> > and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
> > Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
> > project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB
> users 
> > and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just extremely 
> > patient... ;) ).
> >
> > -David
> >
> 


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Ian McNulty <ia...@mcnultymedia.co.uk>.
David,

I'm getting really confused here.

David E. Jones wrote:
> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.

It is generally accepted that one of the main things all OOTB end-users 
need is accessible end-user documentation.

In OFBiz End-User Documentation >  OFBiz End User Docs Home > Areas 
Being Worked On, David E. Jones wrote:

> There is a lot of work to be done on editing and structuring and 
> reformatting the OFBiz documentation. In short, we need your help!
>
> You can find the PDF exports from the Undersun end-user documentation 
> site here 
> <http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports>. 
>

As far as I can tell, half-completed fragments of various attempts to 
translate the Manager Reference PDFs are currently scattered over at 
least 6 other locations in the Wiki (for details see my comments at 
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ). There 
can be no doubt that most end-users will find this very confusing and 
frustrating indeed.

To help address the problem of the lack of resources in the current 
contributing community, I decided to commit a considerable amount of my 
own time to answering David's request for help by translating all 12 of 
the Manager References in their entirety to Wiki format in one location.

This work has now been completed. I was not given access to the end User 
Docs space so have put them in my personal Confluence space at 
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/~ian@mcnultymedia.co.uk/Manager+References

I posted news of this on the ML on the 3 March with a request that they 
might now be transferred out of my to the End User Docs space - but had 
absolutely no response whatsoever!

I reposted this request under a new thread again on the 5 March - and 
had absolutely no response again!

I understand that most of the core team is currently engaged in the 
Developer's Hackathon in Ephraim. But they are still posting here on a 
raft of other issues. What am I to make of what would appear to be their 
complete lack of interest in this one?

BTW. Just to be clear on this, I am not looking for any thanks or 
brownie points or engaging in any other kind of attention seeking 
whatsoever. I understand that other members of this community have 
committed considerably more to this project than I have and that my 
contribution is very minor in comparison.

What I am looking for is:

1) some kind of acknowledgement that the translated Manager Reference 
PDFs can, at some time in the future, be transferred to a more public 
section of the Wiki where they can be more easily accessed by end-users 
and further amended and developed by those more qualified than myself

2) some kind of solution to the cloud of confusion currently existing in 
the user documentation, with half-completed fragments of various 
attempts to translate the Manager Reference PDFs currently scattered 
over at least 6 other locations in the Wiki.

How unreasonable a request is that?

Ian




David E. Jones wrote:
>
> On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>
>> David (Jones),
>>
>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" 
>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit 
>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>
> Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to quite 
> me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote 
> anything like that.
>
> Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the 
> project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current 
> contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create 
> and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user. 
> Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the 
> project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB users 
> and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just extremely 
> patient... ;) ).
>
> -David
>

Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by "David E. Jones" <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:57 PM, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:

> David (Jones),
>
> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB  
> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both  
> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness"  
> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and  
> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community  
> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit  
> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)

Yeah, I guess I like Jacopo's point that it would be better to quite  
me than speak for me. In this I don't believe I even said/wrote  
anything like that.

Having a large OOTB end-user community would certainly benefit the  
project, in really major ways too. The problem is that the current  
contributing community does not have sufficient resources to create  
and maintain what would be needed to satisfy this sort of user.  
Hopefully that will change in the future. In the mean time, the  
project is self-sustaining and growing based on use by non-OOTB users  
and contributors (or those that are OOTB users, but just extremely  
patient... ;) ).

-David


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Scott Gray <le...@gmail.com>.
+1

Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
> Jonathon, all,
>
> Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>> David (Jones),
>>
>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both 
>> under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" 
>> than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and 
>> widely published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community 
>> development. (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit 
>> OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)
>> ...
>
> I'm sorry to interfere with a mail addressed to David Jones (via the 
> mailing list), but I think that my comments (not specifically 
> addressed to this Jonathon's mail) are worth of consideration:
>
> 1) if it's not really necessary, I would not want to see David Jones 
> time wasted reading/answering this kind of long messages about a 
> subject discussed at least 1000 times; David is one of the best 
> architects/developers in the project and we should all do our best to 
> leave him concentrated in the most critical tasks that can make the 
> project grow; in the last months I've noticed the bad habit to attempt 
> to attract David (and other core developers as well) in long and 
> unnecessary discussions
>
> 2) another very bad habit is to attribute to others your personal 
> re-elaboration of what others said: in this way, if the concept is 
> reported in an incomplete or incorrect way, you can create confusion 
> to new users and oblige the person to jump in and correct it. As a 
> general rule, never try to restate what you think that other said, 
> just express your thoughts (if they are of interest for the project).
> For example, Jonathon said: "I understand you (David) believe that 
> approach won't benefit OFBiz"
> I really don't think that David ever said something like this; the 
> main point here is that OFBiz and Tomcat are totally different 
> products (as discussed 10000 times).
>
> In general #1, #2 are harmful habits for a project and we should avoid 
> them.
>
> Jacopo
>
>
>


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com>.
Hi Shi Jinghai,

Yes, time will tell. Over the history of open source projects, there's been many forks that 
supersede other "less favored" ones. Natural selection.

Time doesn't wait for anyone. I can create the best open source ERP in the world today, and still 
get superseded later on.

Actually, you don't need to "hear" about OFBiz to know what it really is. OFBiz is open source. 
You know what it really is just by reading the source codes (plus the SVN commit logs).

Glad you're keeping your mind and eyes open. :) As always, "see for yourself", don't just take 
anybody's word for it.

As for Jacopo's comment, the topic he may have forgotten was about "services division", a very 
pertinent factor in both open source and commercial projects. As for Jacopo's comments about "I 
really don't think that David ever said something like this", we'll have to ask David himself (and 
also look at past posts on the ML). I could have remembered wrong.

As for Jacopo's comment "I've noticed the bad habit to attempt to attract David", I don't 
particularly see this habit being rampant among posters (again, look through past posts), so this 
ML is clean and lean enough. There are some outright inflammatory posts/posters, but those are 
rare, and please understand personalities and language barriers in play here. But I do admit, I 
see some rare posts directed at David to elicit very philosophical responses, though I can't say 
those philosophical discussions are unnecessary since I don't understand/read quite a bit of those 
myself. I also see David trying to "contain" certain wrong/hasty directions in OFBiz development; 
those would certainly "attract David". IMHO, David seems to be becoming a stronger "benevolent 
dictator" (more free time now? terminology related to some past posts) for OFBiz, which is great 
for OFBiz.

As usual, to cut the discussion short and clean, I'll not respond to this thread anymore. I just 
wanted to mention that it's good you're "seeing for yourself" over time. That's what we should all 
do, including/especially OFBiz core team, be objective. Though "the people" do make "the project", 
it's often useful to look to the leader in predicting future directions than to look to the 
members (like myself!).

Time will tell, and I'm placing my bets on OFBiz for now.

 >> As a general rule, never try to restate what you think that other said, just
 >> express your thoughts (if they are of interest for the project)

Jacopo is right here. But more specifically, we should not assume or second-guess intent of 
posters; quoting other posters in order to respond to them is more grounded and less risky.

Jonathon

Shi Jinghai wrote:
> I don't think so.
> 
> In Chinese, 兼听则明, which means you hear more on a thing's good and
> bad, you see more on what the thing really is.
> 
> Time will show its justice.
> 
> 在 2007-03-06二的 06:49 +0100,Jacopo Cappellato写道:
>> Jonathon, all,
>>
>> Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
>>> David (Jones),
>>>
>>> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
>>> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both under 
>>> Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" than 
>>> OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and widely 
>>> published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community development. 
>>> (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit OFBiz; I don't 
>>> know so I can't say.)
>>> ...
>> I'm sorry to interfere with a mail addressed to David Jones (via the 
>> mailing list), but I think that my comments (not specifically addressed 
>> to this Jonathon's mail) are worth of consideration:
>>
>> 1) if it's not really necessary, I would not want to see David Jones 
>> time wasted reading/answering this kind of long messages about a subject 
>> discussed at least 1000 times; David is one of the best 
>> architects/developers in the project and we should all do our best to 
>> leave him concentrated in the most critical tasks that can make the 
>> project grow; in the last months I've noticed the bad habit to attempt 
>> to attract David (and other core developers as well) in long and 
>> unnecessary discussions
>>
>> 2) another very bad habit is to attribute to others your personal 
>> re-elaboration of what others said: in this way, if the concept is 
>> reported in an incomplete or incorrect way, you can create confusion to 
>> new users and oblige the person to jump in and correct it. As a general 
>> rule, never try to restate what you think that other said, just express 
>> your thoughts (if they are of interest for the project).
>> For example, Jonathon said: "I understand you (David) believe that 
>> approach won't benefit OFBiz"
>> I really don't think that David ever said something like this; the main 
>> point here is that OFBiz and Tomcat are totally different products (as 
>> discussed 10000 times).
>>
>> In general #1, #2 are harmful habits for a project and we should avoid them.
>>
>> Jacopo
>>
>>
> 
> 


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Shi Jinghai <sh...@langhua.cn>.
I don't think so.

In Chinese, 兼听则明, which means you hear more on a thing's good and
bad, you see more on what the thing really is.

Time will show its justice.

在 2007-03-06二的 06:49 +0100,Jacopo Cappellato写道:
> Jonathon, all,
> 
> Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
> > David (Jones),
> > 
> > What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
> > convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both under 
> > Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" than 
> > OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and widely 
> > published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community development. 
> > (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit OFBiz; I don't 
> > know so I can't say.)
> > ...
> 
> I'm sorry to interfere with a mail addressed to David Jones (via the 
> mailing list), but I think that my comments (not specifically addressed 
> to this Jonathon's mail) are worth of consideration:
> 
> 1) if it's not really necessary, I would not want to see David Jones 
> time wasted reading/answering this kind of long messages about a subject 
> discussed at least 1000 times; David is one of the best 
> architects/developers in the project and we should all do our best to 
> leave him concentrated in the most critical tasks that can make the 
> project grow; in the last months I've noticed the bad habit to attempt 
> to attract David (and other core developers as well) in long and 
> unnecessary discussions
> 
> 2) another very bad habit is to attribute to others your personal 
> re-elaboration of what others said: in this way, if the concept is 
> reported in an incomplete or incorrect way, you can create confusion to 
> new users and oblige the person to jump in and correct it. As a general 
> rule, never try to restate what you think that other said, just express 
> your thoughts (if they are of interest for the project).
> For example, Jonathon said: "I understand you (David) believe that 
> approach won't benefit OFBiz"
> I really don't think that David ever said something like this; the main 
> point here is that OFBiz and Tomcat are totally different products (as 
> discussed 10000 times).
> 
> In general #1, #2 are harmful habits for a project and we should avoid them.
> 
> Jacopo
> 
> 


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Jacopo Cappellato <ti...@sastau.it>.
Jonathon, all,

Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
> David (Jones),
> 
> What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB 
> convenience and experience? Even Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both under 
> Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational readiness" than 
> OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and widely 
> published docs to further fuel explosive rate of community development. 
> (I understand you believe that approach won't benefit OFBiz; I don't 
> know so I can't say.)
> ...

I'm sorry to interfere with a mail addressed to David Jones (via the 
mailing list), but I think that my comments (not specifically addressed 
to this Jonathon's mail) are worth of consideration:

1) if it's not really necessary, I would not want to see David Jones 
time wasted reading/answering this kind of long messages about a subject 
discussed at least 1000 times; David is one of the best 
architects/developers in the project and we should all do our best to 
leave him concentrated in the most critical tasks that can make the 
project grow; in the last months I've noticed the bad habit to attempt 
to attract David (and other core developers as well) in long and 
unnecessary discussions

2) another very bad habit is to attribute to others your personal 
re-elaboration of what others said: in this way, if the concept is 
reported in an incomplete or incorrect way, you can create confusion to 
new users and oblige the person to jump in and correct it. As a general 
rule, never try to restate what you think that other said, just express 
your thoughts (if they are of interest for the project).
For example, Jonathon said: "I understand you (David) believe that 
approach won't benefit OFBiz"
I really don't think that David ever said something like this; the main 
point here is that OFBiz and Tomcat are totally different products (as 
discussed 10000 times).

In general #1, #2 are harmful habits for a project and we should avoid them.

Jacopo



Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com>.
David (Jones),

What about those open source projects that are polished for OOTB convenience and experience? Even 
Apache (httpd) and Tomcat (both under Apache Licence 2.0?) have better OOTB "operational 
readiness" than OFBiz. Ie, they work well OOTB and they have very good and widely published docs 
to further fuel explosive rate of community development. (I understand you believe that approach 
won't benefit OFBiz; I don't know so I can't say.)

I still maintain that there are 2 sections to OFBiz --- core and ERP. And I'd say the core 
certainly works very well OOTB (like Springs, Freemarker, Apache, Tomcat, Mantis, PHP, etc).

Maybe we make that clear to new users?

Imagine if Tomcat was advertised as a shopping cart software, and the shopping cart software built 
on top of the webserver was incomplete (or "almost ready to fly, but not quite"). There'd be 
complaints, even though Tomcat is really a solid webserver and not a shopping cart.

But of course, I understand you may want OFBiz to stand for an ERP solution, not just an entity 
engine (which as many had said is the "jewel in the crown"). I think if you work at things the way 
you do now, we'd probably have a solid ERP solution in a few years' time.

There are "services divisions" for open source projects. That's the community itself! Nobody would 
pick up an open source project for use or solutioning if it lacks this "services division". In 
many companys' open source adoption policies, wide adoption aka community support aka "services 
division" is the TOP concern. This "services division" counterpart in open source projects is what 
gives them the decided edge over commercial projects with paid and comparatively limited (not 
world-wide and free flow) REAL services division.

I don't know if the ML knows this, but the ML is often the first channel to be watched in 
assessing the project's "services division". The quality and demographics (techie to hobbyist 
spectrum) of the "services division" makes or breaks the open source projects.

But still, I do admit it probably makes more sense (and cents) to advertise "My ERP consulting 
company" rather than advertise OFBiz itself. I'd say I'd have more success promoting "My ERP 
consulting company" than OFBiz, as things are now. OFBiz core is a solid product, and that's not ERP.

By the way, I'm getting real good at taking apart my RC helicopter. The major diff between RC 
helicopters and RC planes is that helicopters need major calibration (more moving parts). So, what 
is advertised as "Ready-To-Fly (RTF)" for helicopters really means "Almost-Ready-to-Fly (ARF)" 
(one notch down). More people buy planes than helicopters; those who give up on helicopters (steep 
learning curve) just go for planes or cars thereafter.

I like OFBiz. :)

Jonathon

David E. Jones wrote:
> 
> This is actually a very accurate part of the article. OFBiz is an open 
> source project, with no commercial interests, so there really is no 
> services division. In fact, there is no company.
> 
> In a way it seems another failure to distinguish between commercial and 
> community driven open source projects. For open source business software 
> projects like OFBiz are really rather rare, and don't get much press.
> 
> -David
> 
> 
> On Mar 5, 2007, at 9:05 AM, David Shere wrote:
> 
>> What does this article mean when it says that OFBiz has no "services 
>> division"?
>>
>> David E. Jones wrote:
>>> Not a lot of detail on the project, nor terribly accurate on the ones 
>>> it does have, but an interesting read with some good points anyway:
>>> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&amp;articleId=9011649 
>>> -David
>>
>> --David Shere
>> Information Technology Services
>> Steele Rubber Products
>> www.SteeleRubber.com
>>
> 


Re: ComputerWorld Article, Mentions OFBiz

Posted by "David E. Jones" <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
This is actually a very accurate part of the article. OFBiz is an  
open source project, with no commercial interests, so there really is  
no services division. In fact, there is no company.

In a way it seems another failure to distinguish between commercial  
and community driven open source projects. For open source business  
software projects like OFBiz are really rather rare, and don't get  
much press.

-David


On Mar 5, 2007, at 9:05 AM, David Shere wrote:

> What does this article mean when it says that OFBiz has no  
> "services division"?
>
> David E. Jones wrote:
>> Not a lot of detail on the project, nor terribly accurate on the  
>> ones it does have, but an interesting read with some good points  
>> anyway:
>> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do? 
>> command=viewArticleBasic&amp;articleId=9011649 -David
>
> -- 
> David Shere
> Information Technology Services
> Steele Rubber Products
> www.SteeleRubber.com
>