17 Aug
2004
17 Aug
'04
7:02 p.m.
On Tuesday 17 August 2004 11:26 am, Dave Robillard wrote:
On Tue, 2004-08-17 at 07:17, John Check wrote:
[blah, blah, snip]
Yes, I bounced it off him first. I have the resources to host it so he can
either pull a frame or maybe I'll just host it if that flies with him..
Really I've been running my mouth because the plan of attack was a little hazy
and the time wasn't right. Among other things, that gave me a chance to feel
you guys out. I also really have to be able to float a business case to a
bank, (I've had the good fortune to rub up against some hardcore
entreprenuers. Failures too, but failure is good) and you gotta have the
angles covered.
FWIW, I've got a fairly high level guy (SSL rated, Celine Dion records type)
to bounce concepts off up, and he's sparked a few ideas.
I was mid-end when I was fulltiming it and I know what I would have liked.
Anyway, now that I've said it in so many words, I can get down to business
So What's Your Plan Smartass?
First thing is to improve the documentation factor to help make things
easier for the brave. Right now it's a Gordian knot and here are what the
scissors look like. I expect we all know what a MIDI implementation chart
is.
I'm going to whomp up a database driven reporting system that extends the
concept to include protocol and library support and has some
Wiki like features. One will be able to search for specific types of
programs with specific criteria like:
Sequencers with LADSPA, JACK, DSSI, MESS, OSC, PHAT (Yes PHAT is that
cool) Hits will come back in table form with checkmarks in the
appropriate columns, ranked by how much of a match and a "freshness"
date.
The app name will link to the project site and there will be additional
links to the primary documentation and the Wiki, if one exists.
There will also be a link to and reporting form for an MI chart.
Forms will be radio buttons/check boxes/combo boxes.
The only text input will be for URLs. This should minimize grammatical
and language issues as well as make internationalization easy.
Links will be validated at a regular interval and 404's will generate an
email to me, or if someone has taken responsibility for a project, that
person. Bounced emails to that address will be returned to me for further
investigation.
This is intended for both developers and end users. It will take no more
than 5 minutes to file a complete report.
This may sound like a burden for the developers, but no more than a Wiki
is a burden on users. I'll prime the pump with some reports on what I use
myself. Newly interested users looking to help out on projects should
find filing a report to be a good way to begin.
I'm happy to see that this email has finally gotten around to an actual
concrete task that needs doing...
IIRC, Dave Phillips has said numerous times that he would like
linux-sound.org to be a better (more automated, database driven) page,
but doesn't have the time.
I know I wish I could search for only jack/alsa seq
apps, and filter out
all the OSS noise. page_votes++
User ranking? Doable.
[snip]
Yeah, well, I know not everybody cares about the business angle, that's why
sizing up the list culture beforehand is good (I just can't lurk though ;).
I've seen people come in to lists and say things that sound not dissimilar.
One can really sound like an idiot.
I figure, if I can get some of you guys blessing, that's only going to help
the bootstrap process.
Despite the apparent lack of popularity of the
idea, it will have
distributed processing as an option. This will allow for incremental
penetration and interoperability with
existing systems.
Can't say I care even a little tiny bit about the "business angle", but
jack-over-eth is IMO an incredibly awesome idea. If noone's working on
it in a year or so I'll do it for my CS honours project. :)
-DR-