On 5/29/2014 9:37 AM, Dave Crozier wrote:
It's not the "open source" bit at all that starts the alarm bells. I have personally written lots profitable systems
where they were all based on open source MySQL etc etc. It's the word "ONLY" that sets me a quiver. The inclusion of
"non-proprietary software" along with this statement as well as "hard-coding of specific "fields" should
be avoided" says to me, as Stephen has already muted that the system is so changeable that it will be a never ending set of
specifications or even worse, no specification at all with the goal posts constantly moving.
There are loads of proprietary systems that will do exactly what they want but
at a price, but that price that will be fixed upon a definite requirement which
doesn't seem to be intimated ... in other words they don't know what it will
look like or be when (if) they finish the project.
A commercial solution would tie them down and make them think about their
requirements and it seems to me that is what they DON'T want to do,
preferring that the prospective developer(s) simply dance to their choice .. as
it changes.
Maybe I am being a little harsh here, maybe not but nearly 40 years of development
experience has given me a fairly good nose for these type of projects. Get into them and
they can bleed you dry. I bet there is no phased implementation plan in place either, you
can be virtually certain that it will be "finish it and you get paid, but we
won't pay you in phases".
Beware... I see dead peopleor projects.. lol!
Dave
-Original Message-
From: ProFox [mailto:profox-boun...@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Kurt @ VR-FX
Sent: 29 May 2014 17:24
To: profox@leafe.com
Subject: Re: Possible Data Warehouse Project
Dave - I don't get it. just because its supposed to be based upon Open-Source SW - that
doesn't imply "Cost Nothing"! I think that's a rather BIG Assumption on your
Part. Not that I am fully knowledgeable about Open-Source dev. and what's going on out
there in the Bus. world.
But, seems to me over the past Decade - a HUGE # of co's & org's have gone the
route of Open-Source, even really BIG Co's - but, it doesn't mean the systems were
developed for Free!
-K-
On 5/29/2014 11:48 AM, Dave Crozier wrote:
Quote:
"It needs to use only open source, 100% standards-compliant, non-proprietary
software"
... oh and it needs to cost nothing to be developed on the back of "When it's
finished we can sell a lot of these..."
Been there, got the EXPENSIVE teeshirt, never again!
Dave
-Original Message-
From: ProFox [mailto:profox-boun...@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Ken Dibble
Sent: 29 May 2014 16:41
To: profox@leafe.com
Subject: Possible Data Warehouse Project
Folks,
This is an EXTREMELY preliminary "feeler" about what potential exists for a
contract to build and maintain a statewide Center for Independent Living data warehouse.
I am NOT an official person authorized to do anything. I am participating in a
workgroup that is developing specifications for a project. This project may
never get off the ground. I am not in a decision-making position. I'm just
gauging issues and interest.
The New York State vocational rehabilitation agency and the state Independent
Living Council are looking to create a data warehouse that can be used to
document both unmet needs for, and impact of services provided by, Centers for
Independent Living. The database would need to import data in a standard format
from many individual Centers, and be able to query across all data points in a
flexible fashion.
It would need to be fully compatible with a wide range of browsers and OSes,
and have a mobile tablet/phone component. It does not require high-concurrency
though.
It needs to use only open source, 100% standards-compliant, non-proprietary
software for data storage and website operation. It needs to be maintained to
ensure compatibility with rapidly changing browser and OS requirements on a
timely basis.
The system needs to be higly flexible, capable of storing and querying on any
number of specific data points within several broad categories of data.
In other words, the specifics of what the system needs to store and report can change
frequently, so hard-coding of specific "fields" should be avoided.
The people who develop this would, naturally, need to be very experienced in
all segments of open-source database and website development.
Does anybody out there feel that, if such a project went out to bid, they would
be likely to respond?
Any other thoughts would be welcome.
Thanks.
Ken Dibble
www.stic-cil.org
When I think of "open source" I think of a lot of Python projects -
Dabo, Ubuntu and Django are a few that quickly come to mind. These are
well managed projects with clear definitions where contributors are
working together to make the project work. I interpret what I read here
as the customer wants the source code so they can get somebody else to
work o
