Re: What's up?

[Chris <dev@openserve.org>]

On Tuesday 03 February 2004 01:50 pm, Darryl Caldwell wrote:
> The list has been fairly quiet. What have you all been doing to further
> awareness of Free Software to the NGO/NFP masses?

Work on my project, InfoCentral, is still progressing.  It has been a little 
slow over the last few months, but I expect faster progress in the near 
future.  I have decided to overhaul the code to use the GNU Enterprise 
application server instead of talking directly to the database backend.  
Java/J2EE was also considered but ruled out due to the learning curve / 
administrative overhead / problematic Sun licensing.  I would describe GNUe 
as a "KISS" alternative to J2EE. (not to mention completely Free)  It should 
be noted that GNUe is largely stagnant right now and needs some development 
help before it can become truly useful.  I'm currently investigating their 
code closer and learning Python in preparation to help out.

> On my end, the Calendula fundraising system moves forward. I've been
> networking with some folks to fine tune the REQs and have rethought
> through my initial design plans. I will have a PNG of the system
> workflow up for public consumption soon.

If you have not already, I strongly encourage you to consider the "enterprise 
application server" route.  2-tier monolithic web apps written in 
PHP/Perl/etc. are a dead end when it comes to business-type software.  Don't 
make the same mistake that I did.  ):  btw, one of the great things about 
GNUe is that it provides a means for many "business apps" to be written and 
integrated around the same model.  So, for instance, I won't have to write 
accounting features for InfoCentral because that's somebody else's GNUe 
project / component.  Similarly, you could write Calendula as a GNUe 
fundraising sub-project rather than a standalone piece of software that is 
far more difficult to integrate.

Chris Gebhardt
InfoCentral project leader
www.infocentral.org