Hi Andreas, :-) IMHO, the odfauthors.org software is far from being an ideal tool for the LibreOffice docs team.
A) The odfauthors.org software is a product of a past time, when leading-edge systems like Alfresco had not yet reached maturity, that does not have all the features and power of a full-blooded content development system like Alfresco: a mature version control system; powerful and sophisticated workflow management; powerful content search capability able to search within the managed content; built-in discussion system that lets you anchor a discussion on a particular content object; easy updating and uploading of content from directly within the LibreOffice applications, via the Alfresco plugin for OOo/LibO; etc. B) The odfauthors.org software is a hybrid, one-off, custom application without any community taking its development forward. The odfauthors.org system is a software dead-end, based upon a CMS that is not very widely used, for which little technical support is available except from a small group of developers. Alfresco has an entire community behind it. C) The odfauthors.org software does not have the capabilities of Alfresco to cater to the LibreOffice project's future needs for a sophisticated product that can integrate closely with the project's other development systems. Alfresco can provide a powerful platform for the production and maintenance of developer documentation: API manuals, etc. The odfauthors.org software cannot compete with it feature-wise: it is a fairly manual system that is now dated. However, Andreas, please may I respectfully ask you to understand that, in this thread, I am trying to have a conversation with the SC members, and that I very much want them to be able to read my ideas without the thread being filled with OT comments about my posting habits, etc. You are actually giving rise to more posts in the thread than are necessary, and are making my actual topic harder to follow. Could you please respect my right to communicate with the SC? Thank you for your kindness if so. ;-) If you want to continue a discussion of the relative merits of the two products, may I ask you to reply to this post in a *new and separate thread*? Thank you for your understanding if so. ;-) David Nelson On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 22:02, David Nelson <comme...@traduction.biz> wrote: > Hi Florian, :-) > > All the active members of the docs team have accounts on the Alfresco > site I'm hosting right now. There is a general consensus/willingness > to use it, and people have already started trying it out for actual > work. > > Putting it under a TDF sub-domain will only further strengthen > people's commitment to uptake. > > We're ready to start a pilot work project, using the workflow that has > been developed. We have a system set up with: > > - a custom-designed workflow for the docs team, developed by a > professional Alfresco developer and a member of the docs team, > - full git-like versioning, > - rollback, > - discussion around documents, > - full built-in support for ODF/OOo/LibreOffice file formats, > - simple usage (publication/updating) for users via the use of an > existing plugin for OOo/LibO that lets you collaborate right from > within the LibO applications, > - sophisticated searching capability, that can extend right into > hosted documents. > > Basically, we have all the sophisticated functionality we need for > properly-managed, automation-assisted documentation development and > prepping for publication, with the potential ability to interface with > a variety of outside systems, such as directly with the LibreOffice > code repository... > > It would be a great tool for producing developer documentation in the > future, in addition to the user documentation the docs team is now > working on. > > It could also be used for easy management of HTML content on TDF > servers (documentfoundation.org, for instance), and for a variety of > other purposes. > > Using Alfresco, we will be able to develop all our documentation and > many other kinds of content in-house, and we will acquire expertise > and autonomy within the LibreOffice project and docs team. > > The advantages of hosting it on my server would be as follows: > > 1) It's quite a complicated package to set-up and configure. It is > quite memory-hungry. On my server, it is already fully operational. No > workload or worry for you. Version upgrades will be done whenever I > want, without putting workload and responsibility on you. > > 2) On my server, it is running within an environment that is simple to > manage. No problems of conflicts with the many other software products > that TDF runs. You get none of the complications that would inevitably > exist with integrating Alfresco into a TDF server. > > 3) I have access to 24/7 professional technical support, with in-house > Alfresco expertise. Any problems can be troubleshot within minutes, at > any time of day or night, with no problems of people on vacation, > sick, etc. > > 4) On my server, I have full root access and full control over all the > other software running on the server. I can't have that on a TDF > server. > > 5) On my server, I can peacefully reboot the system at any time and, > generally, do anything I want, without having to worry about other > users, running software, etc. And one does need to anticipate > occasional *total* system outages during the running-in period. > > 6) On my server, I can do memory and disk space upgrades 24/7 within > minutes. That kind of turnaround will not be available on a TDF > server. > > 7) The server is hosted in a secure data center in the UK, and > automated backups are taken at regular intervals, under my control. > > 8) You and Christian already have admin access to the Alfresco back > end. You can also both have permanent SSH user accounts to inspect the > server, suggest security improvements, etc. But you will find pretty > much the same security arrangements as I found on > documentfoundation.org. > > 9) I undertake to provide TDF with the best-possible service, and to > work on building a strong docs team and documentation base for > LibreOffice. I will also make a major effort in the future to expand > the number of active docs contributors within the LibreOffice project. > > If you agree, the sub-domain name I would suggest would be > alfresco.libreoffice.org. > > What do you think? ;-) > > David Nelson > -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to steering-discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/steering-discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***
