I would push for People to be a wiki page, just so people can edit
their own profiles. If we come across issues with graffiti, we can
always move it back to HTML. Also, do we foresee community members
making it onto this page? Or is this just for paid staff?
On Jul 18, 2007, at 5:42 PM, Katie Capps Parlante wrote:
Yay! The mockup is so much better.
+1 overall
+1 to the changes to the mission statement, though I'd want to be
sure that Mitch is ok with this (I'll follow up)
+1 to moving what we can to the wiki, a handful of pages likely
need to remain static, in particular:
- jobs
- donors
- people (list of osaf staff)
- osaf contact info
(less sure that the last two should be static)
Cheers,
Katie
Mimi Yin wrote:
Katie delegated her bug to update the OSAF Website to me. https://
bugzilla.osafoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8408 After taking a
look at the content currently at www.osafoundation.org <http://
www.osafoundation.org>, I've come up with the following proposal.
*
*
*Proposal*
* Since we no longer post announcements to the OSAF website,
fill the 'body' of the OSAF homepage with 'About OSAF' copy.
* Move sub-pages that need to be updated to the wiki for ease
of maintenance.
* Bring visual look and feel more in-line with other Chandler
Project / OSAF web properties.
See http://chandlerproject.org/Notes/OsafHomepage#MockUp - I'm
currently working on an HTML layout.
*Objective of the OSAF website / About OSAF Area?*
1. Prove our existence and legitimize Chandler Project's open
source / non-profit credentials. This includes:
* Contact information
* People
* Corporate FAQ
* OSAF Mission
* OSAF History
* How to give donations. Who's given donations.
* *Add link to OSAF Community?*
2. For many people, osafoundation.org is just a pit stop in their
search for Chandler Project. * Funnel people to
chandlerproject.org
* Make it easy to download Chandler Desktop, sign up for a
Chandler Hub account and download Chandler Server
* Make it easy to get involved and subscribe to our blog and
mailing lists
* Funnel people who want to find documentation to the project wiki
*OSAF Mission + Corporate History = About OSAF*
I think we should combine OSAF Mission and Corporate History into
a single About OSAF page. Much of OSAF Mission is out of date and
overlaps in spirit with the Vision Document.
* Move everything up to 'Build the product' on http://
www.osafoundation.org/mission_statement.htm to 'About OSAF'
* Move everything on http://www.osafoundation.org/
OSAF_history.htm to 'About OSAF'
Proposed tweaks to copy below:
*ABOUT OSAF*
*Original '**Our Mission'*
Create and gain wide adoption of open source application software
of uncompromising quality. /Build an innovative, sustainable
alternative application despite market inertia./
* I think we should remove this. This was written before the
flood of web-based PIM apps.
Carry forward the vision of Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, and Ted
Nelson of the computer as a medium for communication,
collaboration, and coordination.
/Design a new application to manage personal information including
email, appointments, contacts and tasks./
* Change to: Design a new application to manage personal
information including notes, mail, tasks, appointments and events,
contacts, documents and other personal resources.
/Enable information to be shared easily with colleagues, friends,
and family/
* Change to: Enable sharing with colleagues, friends and
family. In particular, meet the unique and under-served needs of
small group collaboration.
/Serve a broad base of users, from casual to technologically
advanced/
* Change to: Demonstrate that open source software *can* serve
a general audience in the consumer market.
/Eliminate the requirement for a dedicated server or complex
administration/
* Remove
Offer a choice of platforms and full interoperability amongst
Windows, Macintosh, and Linux versions.
Leverage our resources by using an open source model of development.
/Pay fanatical attention to the quality of the user experience./
* Remove. I wonder if this is necessary after all the changes
above. *Proposed 'Our Mission'*
Create and gain wide adoption of open source application software
of uncompromising quality. Carry forward the vision of Vannevar
Bush, Doug Engelbart, and Ted Nelson of the computer as a medium
for communication, collaboration, and coordination.
Design a new application to manage personal information including
notes, mail, tasks, appointments and events, contacts, documents
and other personal resources.
Enable sharing with colleagues, friends and family. In particular,
meet the unique and under-served needs of small group collaboration.
Demonstrate that open source software *can* serve a general
audience in the consumer market.
Offer a choice of platforms and full interoperability amongst
Windows, Macintosh, and Linux versions.
Leverage our resources by using an open source model of development.
*How we started*
OSAF started in 2001 when Mitchell Kapor began to investigate the
possibility of developing a modern Personal Information Manager
using open source tools and methods.
*Decades of design*
One of Mitch’s passions has been designing software applications
that people can use in everyday life - tools that enhance the
organization and retrieval of important information. Beginning
almost two decades ago, he was instrumental in the design of a
variety of landmark personal and business productivity tools
including the first programmable spreadsheet (Lotus 1-2-3), a new
kind of database optimized for entering small items of information
in a free-form manner and adding organizational categories on-the-
fly (Lotus Agenda), and a blindingly fast retrieval tool that
indexed everything on the hard drive (On Location).
Through his several decades of work as entrepreneur, CEO, angel
investor, and venture capitalist, Mitch retained his passion for
making useful software, and accumulated a major backlog of
innovative ideas for new software products.
But the development and adoption of innovative solutions in
important areas of software has become quite difficult. One such
area is that of desktop productivity applications, an area which
encompasses a number of Mitch's most interesting ideas.
Development costs are high, distribution channels are limited, and
barriers to entry are significant. The chance is small that the
traditional venture-capital-backed model of software development
will fill this need.
*The right time for an alternative software development model*
The Linux operating system has demonstrated that freely shared,
collaboratively developed system software can gain critical mass
and become a viable, even preferred, alternative to traditional
proprietary software. The opportunity exists for the same thing to
happen in the applications space, and OSAF was created to pursue
this vision. Mitch found the idea of making something which would
be freely shared and improved upon extremely compelling. The right
product, developed in this way could have a chance to make a
significant impact in the world.
In the spring of 2001, Mitch initiated a limited experiment by
hiring a consulting group to prototype a couple of the key ideas.
The results were both exciting and encouraging, and so, in the
summer of 2001, he took the plunge. He committed to open source
and hired the first employee of a fledgling non-profit, the Open
Source Applications Foundation, with the mission to create and
gain wide adoption of open source application software of
uncompromising quality. In February 2002, OSAF obtained Federal 501
(c)3 nonprofit status.
*Why a non-profit? *
Mitch, the successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist, had not
all of a sudden ceased to believe in the virtues of capitalism.
Rather, he wanted to make a clear statement: the intent of this
effort was not to use this as a vehicle to make more money for
himself. However, he would be very happy for others to make money
and intended to find a licensing scheme which would permit both
non-commercial and commercial development on the code base.
*Updated 'Today'*
As of 2007, OSAF has a staff of 25 contributors and is working
furiously towards the Preview Release.
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