[Ldsoss] Re: PAF and New FamilySearch

[Gordon Clarke]

Charles,   Speaking for the Family and Church History group,  PAF is high on the list as a potential Open Source offering.  However, the decision will probably be deferred until the scope of programmatic intefaces into the New FamilySearch are decided.  At that time, we will take direct steps to encourage third-party development or modification of Desktop products for compatibility with the New FamilySearch.   FYI,  What we can say publicly about the New FamilySearch features are provided below.   Best regards,   Gordon Clarke   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brief Overview of New FamilySearch Features   1. Temple Ordinances Family Search is simplifying the process required for Latter-day Saints to prepare names for the temple ordinances.   Imaging being able to manage your personal family history online, seeing at a glance what temple work needs to be done for your ancestors, and easily preparing a name for temple ordinances--all in one place on the Internet!   - Prepare tempe names from home over the internet ( no more diskettes) - Easily see ordinance information and status of work in progress - Significantly reduce duplication of research and ordinance work   2. Online collaborative Family Tree The family tree feature will allow people worldwide to create and manage their family histories online.   People from various culture worlwide wil be able to:   -  Add, correct, and manage their family histories online -  Correct personal submissions/data in real time -  Dispute the submissions of others -  Work collaboratively with family members and relatives -  Find living relatives they did not know existed -  Reduce duplication of research effort and time   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> "Charles Fry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 6/12/2006 8:26 AM >>> As previously mentioned on this list, I think that PAF would be an excelent piece of software for the Church to open source. It is something that almost everyone needs and that many people use. In my experience most volunteer software development is done by people working on software that they use and care about. That is where much of the motivation comes from. This would make PAF a prime candidate for open source development. Charles -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Welch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself... > Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:26:52 -0600 > To: LDS Open Source Software <ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org> > Reply-To: LDS Open Source Software <ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org> > > My name is Tom Welch.  I was recently recruited by the  Church to define > an "open source" strategy for the Church.  What does this mean?  Well, > for years the Church has been a heavy user of open source technology.  > Many of the back-end systems are all based upon open source software.  > In fact, the Church has contributed to certain open source projects with > improvements that it has made.  Because of sensitivity issues, the > Church has asked the individual developers to submit changes upstream in > the developers name instead of the Church's name.  My role, however, is > not to get the Church to use more open source software but is to figure > out how we can leverage the OSS community to help build applications > that the Church does not have the resources to do. > > *A little bit about me:* > > I am the former chief technology officer of Linspire, Inc > <http://www.linspire.com>. (formally known as Lindows).  I resigned my > post at Linspire to work on this project as I can see the huge benefit > that enlisting the LDS development community can provide to the Church > and to Church members.  I was with Linspire from the very beginning and > have watched that company grow and become a success and am still > involved with the leadership board of Freespire.org > <http://www.freespire.org> (a completely free version of Linspire that > will be available this summer).  I am also the author of the original > scriptures reader that ran on the Palm and CE devices (EZ Reader).  I > also wrote the original Franklin Day Planner software (Ascend) that was > sold by Franklin Covey for years.  I've been around the "block" for many > years and have seen the rise and success of open source software and I > am very enthusiastic to be a part of it. > > As you think of the Church and the work that they do from a technology > front, most of the work is done to benefit the Church as a whole.  By > this I mean that the Church spends almost all of their technology > resources in building programs that run the Church (membership records, > financial, assets, missionary, family history, temple, etc).  Very > little "technology" money is spent benefiting individual members.  That > is why there are no "Duty to God" tracking software, scouting software, > family preparedness software, ward mission software, etc.  There are a > lot of members that have written programs to help them in their Church > callings but the Church has never really looked at or authorized any of > these for use by the Church membership as a whole. > > My job is to try and change all of this by enlisting the LDS development > community.  So my first job is to try and build an infrastructure to > allow us all to communicate and collaborate on projects.  This mailing > list (and the ldssoss.org website) is a good starting point but my > vision is to take it so much further.  In the coming weeks I will share > much more of our plans.  Please be patient because I have a lot to do to > work within the parameters at the Church. > > *One point of caution, however:* > > One of the biggest concerns the Church has with endorsing or sponsoring > a LDS Developers site is that the content on the site could get out of > control.  Flame wars, rude behavior, religious debate, or other > non-Christlike behavior will not be tolerated by the Church and will get > any such endorsed site "unendorsed".  So it is up to us to show everyone > and prove that we can work as a community to build great software that > will benefit users and do all of this in a cooperative and Christlike > way.  WE need to self moderate. > > Please feel free to contact me individually or through this list with > ideas, questions, concerns, etc.  I'd love to hear all of your thoughts. > > Tom > -- > Tom Welch > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > (801) 240-1609 > (858) 829-4614 - Cell > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the > intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and > privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, > disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the > intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email > and destroy all copies of the original message. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Ldsoss mailing list > Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org > http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- Slap The jap With Iron Scrap Burma-Shave http://burma-shave.org/jingles/1943/slap _______________________________________________ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. 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