Mike, Well said. I had much the same reaction as you. I would even devote some company resources to it - but it sounded a little fuzzy from the outset. In my experience most projects ar "spear-headed" by a person or very small team who direct the vision. There's a reason the communist never built a decent car (Dave's Yugo notwithstanding :) I'll second your offer with one of my own. I will promise to add enough deficiencies to inspire a host of developers (ha).
-Mark -----Original Message----- From: Mike Kear [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 5:06 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: cf open shopping cart Well I for one was watching this project kick off with interest. Initially I saw it as an opportunity for me to contribute something back to the community that has been so good to me over quite a few years now. I thought I would gain from it because it would also be good for me to be involved in a collaborative project, because I do nearly everything by myself these days. I know I have some expertise in some aspects of this project, and nearly no expertise in other aspects so I thought I could contribute as well as learn. So i was about to put my hand up and say I'll dive in and help. Then the bickering started. Back and forth about what it was going to be, and what it was going to do. First it was going to be like this, then like that, then like something else, without anyone offering a clear idea of what it was going to be. "uh oh," I said to myself "this looks just like <x - a nighmare of a project I was involved in years ago> and it'll be ages before anyone gets anywhere with it." I was about to suggest a functional spec, when someone else pooh-poohed the use of CFCs. Someone said they didnt want to use this new-fangled CFC stuff. They wanted to write the shopping cart using more conventional procedural code. To be frank I saw this as adding nothing to the cf community. there is already an excellent procedural shopping cart thanks to Ben Forta in the CFWACK and quite frankly I dont see what you could do in an open source cart that wasn't already there in the book, and which I've already used, adapted and modified several times. I didnt say anything at the time because most of the participants seemed to like that approach. Rather than try to rain on the parade, I put my hand back down and decided to go my own way. If you guys want to build a new procedural shopping cart, good luck to you, I'll be standing there applauding when and if it's finished. However if anyone wants to take this project in a different direction, I am more than willing to put my shoulder to the wheel. But I'd say there has to be a few things different: - someone has to be elected, appointed or self-appointed as the project leader (look at the success of the model-glue project - due in no small part to the fact that Joe Rinehart has put his personal goolies on the line and has taken charge of it) - There has to be a clear definition of what the project is for. I'm afraid, "open source shopping cart" doesnt cut it. There are already several that if not free are close to it. Most people either have CFWACK or know someone who has and there have ready access to how to build a procedural shopping cart.. What's going to be different about this one? >From these two things will flow a proper functional spec and a direction to the project. At this point, since I havent been following the details of the project, you may well have defined the project, but I havent seen it, so I cant offer my help. I'll be glad to add whatever skills and energy I have that might contribute to an open source shopping cart if it's going to be a project that works. And if it's going to add something new to the world. Just another 'me too' shopping cart isnt worth the effort, except that it gives the contributors experience and new skills. And to put it bluntly, I'm interested in developing my skills in the use of CFCs and OOP, not just redoing something I've been doing for eight years now. And that fact that you're lashing about Dave, tells me this project is a mess right now. It needs an objective that will inspire people to be involved. The CFEclipse project has inspired it's contributors because they saw deficiencies in the existing tools and figured they could do a better one. I reckon if they'd started out saying "lets build a development tool that's like notepad with a couple of other features" it would have gone nowhere. Cheers Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer AFP Webworks http://afpwebworks.com ColdFusion, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET hosting from AUD$15/month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:229011 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
