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Nurturing Ideas Into Open Source Projects?

Posted by Cliff on from the birthing-the-code dept.

lkehresman asks: "Over the course of the past few years, I have been involved in numerous open source projects and have been discovering the wonderful oddities with this development model. However, I am perplexed as to how one would go about starting a project with the bazaar model, and if it's even possible. Indeed, ESR states, "One can test, debug and improve in bazaar style, but it would be very hard to originate a project in the bazaar mode." Is this true? Can anyone give any personal testimony to projects that have succeeded being built like this from the ground up?"

"Until recently, I was the leader of the SquirrelMail project. When it started, we released version 0.1 and people started hacking on it. However, when we decided to do a rewrite, we attempted to start over using the bazaar model from the ground up, allowing for group discussions and decisions. We got caught in a years worth of discussion before any code was actually developed (now, however, its development is well under way and flourishing). I've seen this through personal experiece with countless other projects as well.

As I am venturing into this territory once again with a new project, I'm wondering if anyone in the community has had personal experience with this, and can lend advice as to how to avoid endless bickering about trivial issues. Having a code base to release is obviously a key factor, but in this case, that simply isn't possible due to the magnitude of the task at hand. Advice?"

11 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Nurture this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Frist Porst!

  2. French Toast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The AC Avenger strikes again!!!!

    AC's unite!

  3. HAH! by James+Skarzinskas · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I mark this story here-by first posted. Fall before the supremecy that is this post, and know that all your posts will follow me, only a tail in my greatness.

    1. Re:HAH! by James+Skarzinskas · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Heh, you moderators call us 'offtopic trolls'. You must be some of the biggest trolls I have seen in my life, all you do is sit here and wait for annoying posts to mod them down. Is this what you do? Within 10 seconds... Offtopic. Who is the troll? ^_^.

  4. It's back! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Goatsex: back and better than ever! * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g _ _ g o / \ _ \ _ / \ o a| | _ \ _ | | a t| `. _ | _ | : t s` | _ | _| | s e \ | / _ / \\\ --__ \\ : e x \ \/ _--~~ ~--__| \ | x * \ \_-~ ~-_\ | * g \_ \ _.--------.______\| | g o \ \______// _ ___ _ (_(__> \ | o a \ . C ___) ______ (_(____> | / a t /\ | C ____)/ \ (_____> |_/ t s / /\| C_____) | (___> / \ s e | ( _C_____)\______/ // _/ / \ e x | \ |__ \\_________// (__/ | x * | \ \____) `---- _ --' | * g | \_ ___\ /_ _/ | g o | _ / | | \ _ | o a | _ | / \ \ _ | a t | _/ / | | \ _ |t s | / / \__/\___/ | |s e | / / |_ | | |e x | |_ | | _| |x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x *

  5. Assert some management authority by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Forget about trying to comply with some hot organizational model.

    If its your project and the market demands your product, somebody will fund you. Then just hire the people you need, and tell them what to do. If they aren't productive--fire them.

    If you have problems getting funded, borrow the money and take the risk yourself. If their is a need for the product, you'll be able to get the money. If their isn't a need for the product, you should probably invest your time in more utilitarian pursuits.

  6. Las Vegas Conference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    I am hoping that you guys will be as excited as I am about this conference. http://www.binnews.com has more details. The conference is called BinCon.

    Let me copy and paste from the site:
    " Some of the topics, I would like to cover..
    Keygen creation
    Nag Screen issues
    CD Copy protection
    Future technologys"

    They say they are going to get software companies there to learn about this so they can prevent it. The cost is only 49.00 a night + 45.00 to get into the conference. It is a 2 night/3 day thing.

    Hope this helps
    Joe

  7. Torn sphincter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g g o / \ \ / \ o a| | \ | | a t| `. | | : t s` | | | | s e \ | / / \\\ --__ \\ : e x \ \/ _--~~ ~--__| \ | x * \ \_-~ ~-_\ | * g \_ \ _.--------.______\| | g o \ \______// _ ___ _ (_(__> \ | o a \ . C ___) ______ (_(____> | / a t /\ | C ____)/ \ (_____> |_/ t s / /\| C_____) | (___> / \ s e | ( _C_____)\______/ // _/ / \ e x | \ |__ \\_________// (__/ | x * | \ \____) `---- --' | * g | \_ ___\ /_ _/ | g o | / | | \ | o a | | / \ \ | a t | / / | | \ |t s | / / \__/\___/ | |s e | / / | | | |e x | | | | | |x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x * g o a t s e x *

  8. Pain grill� fran�ais by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm with you!

  9. Re:Thank you for the insight, Captain Duh. by ZaneMcAuley · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Captain Duh, cool nick :P i think ill adopt that handle :)

    --
    ----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
  10. Re:My Experience by alienmole · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    I wound up just writing the whole thing myself, and never got around to opening the source.

    Hey, maybe that's why it didn't succeed as an "open source" project! Just a thought.