Dear all evolution users, This message is not about a specific evolution issue as such, even though it's related. I just write to you on this list as you may have some ideas on this subject.
The issue: Assume that I have a specific problem that I want to have solved, but there exist no free software package for this. Also assume that I'm not in a hurry, but I'm prepared to pay a reasonable amount to get this package designed and implemented, but I can not afford to hire someone to do it and I don't have time to do it myself. Example: Last year I needed a project planner. Mrproject was still not in a state to be usable enough. It got that far that I even considered buying Microsoft project ($500) until Mrproject was in a state good enough, but those $500 would have been wasted as they wouldn't have added anything to the world's software base. Only made some people at MicroSoft even richer... :( If I then would have been able to pay those $500 to someone who could guarantee this program with a certain functionality within a certain time with a GPL or similar open licence that would have been perfect. (Finally I got a try on version from Microsoft which solved the temporary problem, and now Mrproject has become usable :) Suggestion: What I see as a long term need is an organisation and data base system that can deal with this type of issues, consisting of: * A high level design tool where you can specify your need for the product, building on all possible desgins already existing. * A data base where these designs can be stored and where you can also tell how much you are prepared to pay for this. * A data mining tool which is able to search the data base for similar designs which can be "chunked" together to be able to widen the range of interrested customers. * A contractor tool. When the a reasonable amounts of customers and payment has been reached the system then acts as a contractor to make job offers. * A project employment system where programmers (and other designers of course, as this doesn't need to be a software design tool only) can take "jobs" offered by the system and guarantee a certain design for a certain price. * A contract interface where customers can make up deals about payments. The "profit" can be founded for maintainence of the system and for instance invested in research and development of the system. Of course these are only fundamental ideas, which needs to be thoroughly extended. For my own I'm working with data mining (http://www.neurologic.se) so I may be able to give useful input on this part. If there are people here interrested in this idea it would be interresting to hear your opionion about it, and maybe to start a mailing list on this subject. Best regards Roland Orre _______________________________________________ evolution maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution
