:: I get almost 1/2 my income from mod_perl jobs. As a :: contractor I would like to have a very professional looking :: mod_perl site -- it might just bring in one extra job. :: Anything to keep me writing perl and paying the bills is :: good. So I have more reasons to want a nice professional :: site besides a nice functional mod_perl site for the open :: source community.
[cut] +1 Bill, I have cut most of your email only to keep down noise. You have put forward a brilliant argument, as usual. I agree with almost everything you wrote. I too am convinced that we need a professional website to back up one of the most powerful and useful tools available to Perl developers - mod_perl. I am a web-developer and application programmer. When I consult with a client about his website or intranet, a large part of my job is introducing them to technologies that they often aren't aware of. In any instance where CGI is involved, I always advocate mod_perl. I also have to justify my recommendations, arguing against the big name branded solutions. I don't do this because I hate Microsoft, or because I won't dirty my hands with anything other than open-source software, or for any other reason. I do this because I believe I have found the best platform to develop web applications on - LAMP (and also because I am more familiar with these technologies than any others). Naturally I present my clients with as much information and as many reference URL's as necessary. However, neither the Apache nor the mod_perl website are "professional" from a design point of view, and for the developer community they don't need to be (we only need the docs!). However, from an advocacy viewpoint they really fail. They just don't reflect on the quality, stability or performance of the platform at all. As far as Apache is concerned, it probably doesn't matter. Most IT people (sometimes even the managers) know of and respect Apache (it's hard not to eh?) - but mod_perl really needs to be promoted, and often to people who say things like "you should use C or Java for server applications - Perl's just a scripting language". When the going gets tough with clients like this I have two invaluable reference documents I point them to: 1) Ian Kallen's "Industrial Strength Publishing" (salon.com) - http://www.salon.com/contact/staff/idk/print.html, and 2) Perrin Harkins' "Building a Large-scale E-commerce Site with Apache and mod_perl" - http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2001/10/17/etoys.html Thank you Perrin and Ian - these papers are extremely persuasive! :-) The point of all this (finally) - we need a website that is professional and that reflects the quality of the product. We need to promote mod_perl. We need advocacy/promotion/marketing to be prominent - with the developer/technical documentation in its own, separate section. Now I realise that we are coming to the end of the development phase of the website. Also, like Bill, I sense the frustration growing here as the same old arguments get batted back and forth (email ping pong). So my suggestions are not for immediate implentation. However, I feel that we should be aiming towards this in the future. As Bill points out, "it might just bring in one extra job"... It would also go a long way to ensuring that mod_perl remains a "hot" technology according to public opinion. By the way... If there are any other documents similar to the two described above, which advocate mod_perl with such detail, can you please send me the URL's. Documents such as these are powerful marketing tools and I could always use more. :-) Jonathan M. Hollin - WYPUG Co-ordinator West Yorkshire Perl User Group http://wypug.pm.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
