Dear Torsten & users,
Let me answer some of Torsten's questions, and share my own feelings
about Mozart.
Torsten Anders wrote:
My first question is whether it is a good idea to post a new MEP to
Mozart hackers instead of Mozart users. Actually, I doubt that more than
half of the eight members of the Mozart Board are at all subscribed to
the hackers list (please correct me if I am wrong), so it may be that
they never see this submission. Also, if we want that the Mozart
community discusses the proposal, then why not submitting it to the
Mozart list to which most likely most readers are subscribed?
I have just checked the hackers mailing list subscriptions. All board
members except Gert Smolka are subscribed. So the real question is: do
they actually read the messages on the list?
However, it may even be that not all members of the Mozart Board are
subscribed to or are regularily reading the users list. After all, few
of them are posting here. So, perhaps any MEP should also be send to all
board members directly by email in order to give them at least a chance
to take part in the process.
One could argue that Mozart Board members which are not following any
Mozart mailing list at all are perhaps not interested any more. I would
certainly not go that far. Nevertheless, perhaps the board members could
be asked, say, once a year whether they want to carry on with this this
duty.
I think your analysis is correct. Times have changed, and it seems that
only 2 out of 8 board members are still actively involved with Mozart:
Peter and myself. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming anyone here.
But it seems that the board is no longer representative of the Mozart
community.
I feel Mozart has the best chance to survive if we welcome everyone
willing to contribute with open arms. In the past, there have been cases
where potential developers/contributers where driven away, simply
because there existed no official way for them to add what they missed
(e.g., I have in mind past proposals concerning Unicode support).
Meanwhile we have an official way (MEPs). However, we should make sure
that this process is actually working. Moreover, in my personal view it
would be best if potential contributers can get the feeling they are
indeed welcome -- if the Mozart Board appears not to care than this may
have the opposite effect.
I am a more pessimistic about the future of Mozart. I think we have a
very serious maintenance issue here. Mozart's implementation is too
complex and too obscure for newcomers. It's too complex even for
experienced developers, in fact. I still have myself some trouble for
understanding certain parts of the code. Moreover it lacks modularity
and documentation.
I will leave the UCL in September, and start a non-academic career. I
will keep around for some time, but I cannot guarantee anything. I am
not sure I will want to spend my free time on hacking. Boriss Mejias,
Gustavo Gutierrez and Yves Jaradin will continue to maintain and develop
Mozart, but I think they will need some help...
Cheers,
raph
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