Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Sam Ramji About the CodePlex Foundation

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the life-after-microsoft dept.

This week the Codeplex Foundation announced its first project, the ASP.NET Ajax Library Project, as part of its first sponsored gallery, the ASP.NET Gallery. The CodePlex Foundation is now two months old, and Foundation President Sam Ramji has agreed to answer questions about the Foundation, its first project, and overall progress to date. Usual Slashdot interview rules apply.

16 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Non-Microsoft technologies? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Will priority be given to those using Microsoft tools, or can anyone play?

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    1. Re:Non-Microsoft technologies? by nametaken · · Score: 2, Informative

      From the FAQ:

      "Q: What kinds of open source projects will the Foundation focus on?
      The Foundation has no pre-suppositions about particular projects, platforms, or open source licenses . "

  2. Question: by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do you plan to integrate Ajax into the Web 2.0 Cloud to empower the Semantic Web using SaaS on top of a SOAP backend utilizing XML? What is the signal-to-buzzword ratio in day-to-day communications at your foundation? Isn't Ajax just soooo 2007, and shouldn't you rename your new project something more up-to-date, such as Tweetbook.blog?

  3. SourceForge.net by rs232 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why not contribute to SourceForge.net instead of unnecessarly duplicating it?

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
    1. Re:SourceForge.net by Abcd1234 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ugh, 'cuz sourceforge sucks balls? Shitty layout. Slow as hell. Seriously, I welcome a decent alternative to SourceForge (not that this is necessarily it).

    2. Re:SourceForge.net by Abcd1234 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or they feel they can do a better job and see no point in wasting time trying to fix Sourceforge, which has been on a steadily decline since it first hit the OSS scene?

      Seriously, SF has plenty of resources behind it... the fact that it sucks (IMHO) suggests there's something systemic going on there, and if I were MS, I wouldn't want to go anywhere near it.

    3. Re:SourceForge.net by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Have you ever tried to use Sourceforge? It's slow, ugly, constantly gives vague errors, image uploads constantly fail, terrible UI, forgets which page you were on before logging in, awful bug tracking with insultingly-named fields (canned response!)...

      A better question is, "why would any project actually interested in user feedback use Sourceforge?"

      --
      Comment of the year
    4. Re:SourceForge.net by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Assuming you're comparing CodePlex the website (which isn't the same thing as CodePlex the foundation) to SourceForge, then I'd imagine one reason is that CodePlex uses TFS for source control and related stuff. Aside from being a showcase, some people might actually prefer that to SourceForge offerings, especially when they code to MS stack already, and use non-Express Visual Studio edition (which has decent TFS integration).

  4. "IP needs"? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From your FAQ:

    We wanted a foundation that addresses a full spectrum of software projects, and does so with the licensing and intellectual property needs of commercial software companies in mind.

    This seems to imply that there are existing foundations that do so without those licensing and IP needs. Regardless, what do you see as the role of a foundation like yours in addressing the needs of commercial software companies?

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  5. Re:A gallery... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unfortunately, the CodePlex Foundation has some sort of distinction between a gallery and a repository. I spoke for 30 minutes with Ramji a few weeks back, and yet I still have absolutely no idea what those differences are. He said that these galleries weren't about code, but rather about the ways corporations contribute code into them.

    So, here's the first question: What is the difference between a Gallery and a Repository?

  6. Microsoft Front by mounthood · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Half the Board of Directors, and half of the Advisory Board are from Microsoft. Why should we think that this anything but a Microsoft front?

    The about page says "Our Board of Directors is an interim board" and that they will pick the new board but that's no too encouraging given who's doing the picking. CodePlex seems like Microsoft trying to create a community.

    --
    tomorrow who's gonna fuss
    1. Re:Microsoft Front by ClosedSource · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Half the Board of Directors, and half of the Advisory Board are from Microsoft. Why should we think that this anything but a Microsoft front?"

      Because if it were a "front" you wouldn't have known that Microsoft was involved.

  7. Development? by zegota · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can you give us an update on the development of Spider-Man 3?

  8. Re:A gallery... by poetmatt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    maybe the appropriate question is, why should this answer bs eo complicated?

  9. Re:A gallery... by shentino · · Score: 2

    Microsoft isn't used to dealing with open source, so you should expect a bit of clumsiness.

    Everyone stumbles a bit when they first learn to walk.

  10. AOLer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I see that you kept your AOL screen name. So, you were the 99th guy on AOL to think your were being unique? Kind of like MoodyBlue23464?