Hi, Thanks Louis for posting this - apologies from my side since I did not keep up with my promise of putting in the list of issues.
Louis Suarez-Potts wrote: > The primary problems, as I understand them, have to do with issues > related to localization of OOo to Indic languages. [add your favourite > issues here] We will collate and collect the issues (a majority of which would have Issue Tracker entries) and present a comprehensive document for the same. > They also have to do with the impression that the process by which code > is submitted, evaluated, incorporated is opaque. The overall solution, > I believe, lies in making the relevant processes more transparent. The > Engineering Steering Committee has been working in this direction but > perhaps something more from it would help. The idea, after all, is to > promote development of OOo everywhere. To elaborate a bit more on this. Those who have been tracking the recent momentum in L10n activity in India and Indic languages would notice that the Government has taken an active interest (through C-DAC) to release Indic language software CDs. OpenOffice.org forms a primary component of the suite of software shipped there (besides Firefox, Thunderbird and Gaim) - the office suite makes the *works-for-me* experience of Indic enabled Open Source software complete. As such, the developers and contributors are eager to find, resolve, test and release fixes to issues which could turn out to be the potential show stoppers. The general feeling is that in some cases there exists some bit of communication gap in terms of understanding the local priorities. Obviously, a project cannot start being sensitive to each and every locale it touches and the issues therein - that is a sure shot recipe for chaos. What would be desired is a clear direction in terms of who is the GoTo team for the issues, how does the Engineering Steering Committee view the path to resolution, how to map Indic priorities with the product roadmap and priorities as well as release schedules and more importantly is it possible to make such native language developers part of the ESC. > Finally, I suggested to Sankarshan that one thing OOo can benefit from > is having local mentors who can address questions directly, in person, > when possible, and he tentatively agreed. Ideally, substantially > discussions will be captured on mail lists or forums or even IRC but > that's not always possible. Sometimes it's easier just to talk. This is another important point. A consequence of the interest in the Indic enablement has been that a lot of upcoming contributors want to contribute to OpenOffice.org. The notion would thus be to - direct, goad, coach and guide them into the direction which require most love but also fit in with their skill sets. GNOME has a nice way of addressing this by having dedicated BUG Days where a lot of real time mentoring happens. IRC provides a somewhat limited (bandwidth access in India is still an issue) but very real time way to meet this high touch activity. Having local mentors who are present, active and serve as guides would be best placed to do the needful. What it needs to begin with is a list of things expected out of the mentors, what specific areas need to be targetted and a single landing page for all this probably on the wiki. Louis, I tentatively agreed then - I put up my hand now. > The point is to start dialogue on how we can make it easier for > developers to work on OOo and how we can improve the procedures for > making meritorious work noticed. A little bit of direction, a whole lot of collaboration and more importantly constant interaction would enable us to take OpenOffice.org to greater heights. To all the developers who strive to make OpenOffice.org better with each passing day - my heartfelt thanks. I guess someday Louis will post about his views on how passionate the Indic NLP is on OO.o. Warm regards Sankarshan -- >From Untruth, lead me to the Truth, >From Darkness, Lead me towards the Light, >From Death, Lead me to Life Eternal. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
