I'm also not too keen on a star ranking system, especially if it is
mostly based on having passed incubation or not.
To me, passing incubation is more an indication of good process
management and long term viability than an indication of software
quality/robustness and ability to really solve the user's needs.
However, a star ranking system makes me think of hotel/restaurant rating
and would mislead the user to think that a software with 4 stars
(because it passed incubation) does a better job than others with 2 or 3
which is not necessarily the case.
If the goal is to denote whether a project has passed incubation or not
then let's call the rating that way (which is what we currently do when
we differentiate between graduated and in-incubation projects on
www.osgeo.org). If we want to create a "project maturity rating" then it
will have to take into account several variables as Andrea wrote
earlier... and then defining those variables and evaluating each piece
of software against them will be quite a task.
In the end, I just wanted to register the fact that I too am worried
about the possible side-effects of a poorly handled rating system on our
communities.
Daniel
Cameron Shorter wrote:
On 06/06/10 10:14, Jason Birch wrote:
IMHO getting into rating projects is just asking for trouble,
infighting, bitterness, and people/projects walking away from OSGeo.
Jason, this is a valid concern with decent founding. However I think the
potential for conflict is not as bad as you may think, and there is a
very strong user community desire for, and value to be gained from such
ratings.
1. We already have a rating system, based upon:
* Project has completed incubation
* Project is in incubation
* Project is not in incubation
What I'm suggesting is that we apply a star system to these stages.
2. We already have a criteria for defining this rating, (which may be
refined), which reduces the subjectiveness and hence the potential for
conflict.
--
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/
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