Brent Eades wrote: >> approval processes in their respective organizations before they could consider using Java/Cocoon in production. This is something that Jakarta overall could probably spend a little more time educating users about. <<
Well, we have been "selling" Cocoon based solutions to our customers for over a year now - and when we started out the hardest discussions we had where on the use of an open source solution. Many major German organisations already have Java and application servers set up, so that part was "easy". As a "vendor" of the solution (be it a project or a product) you have to be able to provide the support the organisation will need. At the end of the day if some bug in Cocoon causes the production environment to grind to a halt - then it will by YOUR problem - even if you had nothing to do with say the caching system in Cocoon. You also need to be able to provide additional documentation and educate the organisation in using and running the solution. These are some of the reasons we set up a dedicated "open source group" here at S&N. Open source doesn't just land on your desk - you need to be able to integrate the open source into your own development environment, project lifecycle, quality assurance testing etc. And - in my opinion - you need to be able to participate. > What I'm looking for (and don't find in > the documentation) is answers to basic management questions like 'what > advantages does Cocoon provide, i.e. what business objectives does it > help meet and how?' 'how easy is it to implement?' 'what resources > (time, skills level of staff) does it require to (a) get up and > running (b) maintain?' plus standard operational questions like > performance and security. The documentation available so far has been written (mainly) by developers to help other developers understand what is available in Cocoon. This is part of the bootstrap process that is necessary (to build the community). The next wave of "documentation" took place in the last couple of months where we have seen articles on Cocoon appear on Web sites and in magazines etc. This is raising public "awareness" for Cocoon. The next step is the availability of documentation in the form of books. These books will not just stick to documenting Cocoon APIs but will also answer some of the issues raised above. But you know, questions like: "what business objectives does it help meet and how" are really difficult to answer in a way that would suit all scenarios. This isn't Word where you install from a CD and you know from the start what it can - and cannot do (ok, so maybe you find that out later). We are using Cocoon in a great variety of different projects, to do completely different things (portal, web site, xml workflow system, application service providing, controlling self service devices, aggregating financial information, web printing). Imagine trying to combine all the different requirements etc. into one easy to read document. That being said, I also think we need some form of "Applied Cocoon" - whether that be additional documentation such as best practices, tutorials. But it could also be tools, education, get-togethers, workshops,... >> I do get the feeling that Cocoon is pretty near "ready for primetime" by now, however. Time to "make the business case", as you say. << Agreed. But I feel this will be something that is done on a "per case" basis. Tell me your problem and I will tell you how Cocoon (+ any additions) can solve it (assuming it can). Oversimplified - probably - but it's Friday :-). Matthew -- Open Source Group sunShine - Lighting up e:Business ================================================================= Matthew Langham, S&N AG, Klingenderstrasse 5, D-33100 Paderborn Tel:+49-5251-1581-30 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://www.s-und-n.de Weblogging at: http://www.need-a-cake.com Cocoon book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735712352 ================================================================= --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please check that your question has not already been answered in the FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faqs.html> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
