[Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
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. (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 (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 --
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
Tom Welch,Your message highlights the great truth that spirituality is not separable from our work as developers. We cannot rise to the pinnacle of our technical capabilities without developing in parallel our socio-psycho-spiritual maturity as individuals and as a community. Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia, courageously inserts this idea of spirituality into interviews as a matter of habit by explaining matter of factly that the real issue on which Wikipedia rises or falls is Love--love for the world and love for the individuals in the community. There was not long ago a great example of such a self-moderating LDS forum where serious (?) work was done in an atmosphere of spiritual maturity. On the SAMU-L (Scriptural Antiquities and Mormonism--Uncontentious) mailing list in the 1990s the tone was one of peace, forebearance, and reverence. So it can be done with commitment. Perhaps the parameter Uncontentious in the title was key; sometimes we need a little reminder. Thank you for sharing a wonderful introduction to yourself and a wonderful vision for a new relationship between the LDS Church and the LDS software development community through FLOSS ideals. May we rise to the vision. -- Tom Haws 480-201-5476OpenOffice.org v. MS Office:Kids love OOo.Wife didn't notice I switched.Get OOo free.There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for Gandhi ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
Well said! Tom Thomas Haws wrote: Tom Welch, Your message highlights the great truth that spirituality is not separable from our work as developers. We cannot rise to the pinnacle of our technical capabilities without developing in parallel our socio-psycho-spiritual maturity as individuals and as a community. Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia, courageously inserts this idea of spirituality into interviews as a matter of habit by explaining matter of factly that the real issue on which Wikipedia rises or falls is Love--love for the world and love for the individuals in the community. There was not long ago a great example of such a self-moderating LDS forum where serious (?) work was done in an atmosphere of spiritual maturity. On the SAMU-L (Scriptural Antiquities and Mormonism--Uncontentious) mailing list in the 1990s the tone was one of peace, forebearance, and reverence. So it can be done with commitment. Perhaps the parameter "Uncontentious" in the title was key; sometimes we need a little reminder. Thank you for sharing a wonderful introduction to yourself and a wonderful vision for a new relationship between the LDS Church and the LDS software development community through FLOSS ideals. May we rise to the vision. -- Tom Haws 480-201-5476 OpenOffice.org v. MS Office:Kids love OOo.Wife didn't notice I switched.Get OOo free. "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for" Gandhi ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- Tom Welch [EMAIL PROTECTED] (801) 240-1609 (858) 829-4614 - Cell --
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
On Jun 8, 2006, at 8:26 AM, Tom Welch wrote: 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. I'm excited for the Church to more fully use open source! I think open source software can help save the widow's mite for better uses, and I believe there are dozens of talented developers on this list that will be glad to put their skills to work for the Church. Congratulations on your new position, and I'm glad to see the Church taking this stance. One thought I want to throw out is the importance of open APIs even when the code can't be open. For instance, I doubt that MIS will ever be open sourced (understandably). But as Dan Hanks has mentioned, offering an API with the same authentications and permissions as the web app would allow individual units to creatively solve problems they deal with. They could automate the populating of a calendar with birthdays, or map out their ward members' addresses, or download birthdays and phone numbers into a PDA. (All these have come up on this list.) Jonathan Schwartz had said that it doesn't matter that Java isn't open source because the APIs are open and are decided by a community process. Similarly, APIs for the ward directory, ward calendar, Boy Scouts, Young Women's, genealogy, etc. would spawn an ecosystem of development and volunteerism even if the code can't be open sourced (though that would be nice too.) Richard --- Richard K. Miller www.richardkmiller.com ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
Richard K Miller wrote: One thought I want to throw out is the importance of open APIs even when the code can't be open. For instance, I doubt that MIS will ever be open sourced (understandably). But as Dan Hanks has mentioned, offering an API with the same authentications and permissions as the web app would allow individual units to creatively solve problems they deal with. They could automate the populating of a calendar with birthdays, or map out their ward members' addresses, or download birthdays and phone numbers into a PDA. (All these have come up on this list.) Jonathan Schwartz had said that it doesn't matter that Java isn't open source because the APIs are open and are decided by a community process. Similarly, APIs for the ward directory, ward calendar, Boy Scouts, Young Women's, genealogy, etc. would spawn an ecosystem of development and volunteerism even if the code can't be open sourced (though that would be nice too.) This has been discussed internally and it is our wish to create API's as well. It will take time for this to evolve but it is something we plan on offering. API's for not only the MIS but potentially other systems, such as API's to the unit website calendar, etc. --- Richard K. Miller www.richardkmiller.com ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- 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
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
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. One thing I have observed is that the flame wars on this list seem to be much more tame than on many other lists I've seen (e.g. Provo Linux Users' Group). I believe that with a little moderation from an official within the church, the list would be even more tame and cooperative because we could get official word on proper use of information and church policy (seems to be the areas of most contention) instead of endless debate. I don't think that we really want to formally moderate this mailing list. Further, I don't think that this mailing list should ever be official. If the Church starts Libre projects, they should have their own associated mailing lists, and even then I doubt they should be moderated. However there should be some enforcable expectation of mailing list posts made by active project participants (i.e. poor behavior should be allowed, but have its consequences). Charles -- Within this vale Of toil And sin Your head grows bald But not your chin Burma-Shave http://burma-shave.org/jingles/1955/within_this_vale ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
Excellent! Look forward to having you help out! Tom Brice Hunt wrote: Tom Welch wrote: 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. Hi, Tom. My name is Brice Hunt. Welcome to the list. For years (since graduating college in 2002), I have been trying to get a programming job at all sorts of places and have very consistently had my resume screened out by human resource departments everywhere (including the Church's HR department--but that was before the more recent hiring procedures were put into place for the technology departments). The few times that I have been able to directly contact a hiring manager, it quickly became obvious that they were looking for someone with a lot of previous management experience that could step right into the management role or were looking for interns because they didn't want or couldn't afford to pay a wage that would support a small family. I always ended up going to work for a farmer or a construction company (I don't mind physical labor, I just love programming more). As my wife completes her A.A.S. degree in drafting and is working in her field of study, she is earning more money now than I ever have in my entire life. What does this mean to you? It means that I am a stay-at-home dad that home-schools my children, that is able to write programs, and that has about 10-20 hours of spare time per week (most weeks--not this summer, though) that I could dedicate to working on open source projects in ways that would directly benefit the church. All I need is to be told what project to work on (or start) and what functionality the church needs to add to the project (or what the goal of the new project is). 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. One thing I have observed is that the "flame wars" on this list seem to be much more tame than on many other lists I've seen (e.g. Provo Linux Users' Group). I believe that with a little moderation from an official within the church, the list would be even more tame and cooperative because we could get official word on proper use of information and church policy (seems to be the areas of most contention) instead of endless debate. Brice Hunt ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- Tom Welch [EMAIL PROTECTED] (801) 240-1609 (858) 829-4614 - Cell --
Re: [Ldsoss] Let me formally introduce myself...
On 6/8/06, Shane Hathaway [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jesse Stay wrote: You may want to try the Family History Department. They are also moving in the direction of OSS, and there are a couple teams hiring there. Yep, my group is hiring, and we really need more people who are educated in open source methodology and tools. I feel awfully lonely sometimes! I'd like to work with someone else who's not afraid of functional programming, dynamic languages, portable code, distributed systems, kernel hacking, emacs, vi, and Gentoo. :-) I'm not afraid! ...but I've already got a good job with people I like, and there's no way I'd commute to SLC :-P I feel sorry for you, though. Everyone's afraid of emacs AND vi up there? I mean, I can understand being afraid of one or the other...but both? Poor guy. I'm lucky, in my immediate work area everyone uses OS X and Linux, and we all at least know how to exit out of emacs and vi, even if not everyone uses both. ~ Nathan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
