This thread started on the PMC list because we have a sepcific request
for short article on Forrest and its involvement with GSoC in a major
Magazine (for the benefit of the PMC, the artcile length has been
reduced from that originally proposed). However, the general theme of
the discussion is relevant to the community as a whole so we are moving
the general discussion here.
Forrest, to date, has resisted getting publicity because we feel that
the community is not really strong enough to support an influx of users.
At this stage we feel that it is important to expand the developer base
rather than gain high profile pubicity for the project. This needs to
happen in an organic and managed way.
However, we can't hope to attract developers if nobody knows that the
project exists and whether it can help or not. So maybe *some* press is
a good idea.
I therefore proposed that we write some articles with a slightly
"unusual" focus. We would like feedback from the wider community on the
idea of this article, the usefullness of such articles and any further
comments regarding publicity in general.
The proposed article(s) would provide an overview of Forrest, the Apache
development process, how GSoC has interacted with that process, and how
Anil feels about the mentoring process as an entry mechanism to Open
Source and the wider Forrest community.
We hope that the article will paint an image of Forrest is a gentle
entry to ASF projects and specifically to the the full power of the
*huge* project that is Cocoon. Whilst at the same time providing
encouragement for technical folk who have an XML publishing need, the
kinds of users that might progress to becoing developers.
It is important to realise that this kind of article is *not* what has
been requested by the magazine mentioned earlier. They want a "normal"
400-500 word description of the GSoC project, its aims and what it
delieverd. I think that this article can be written without it attrating
large numbers of users needing support since the whole purpose of the
GSoC project is to provide support for users who need a GUI to be able
to do work and we will say in the article that the GSoC project provides
the initial seed code for this, but is a long way from a fully usable GUI.
So, community comments on the benefits of this article are also welcome.
If the community feels this publicity could be "too much too soon" then
we won't write it. There are too few of us developers to go around as it
is, I don't want to see one or two of us getting snowed under by an
influx of new users.
Ross
