So let me ask the AOO supporters, where do you predict that AOO will be in a year from now, and two years? And give some specifics, like code clean-up, infrastructure, security fixes, new features, and so on.
I'll only address the things I have knowledge of / intend to work on.
I am working now on getting a dedicated server setup for running code analysis tools / fuzzing tools /etc. against the AOO code-base. My plan is to make this an automated process that runs frequently (although the exact details remain TBD) and delivers reports that the AOO developers can use to improve code quality and security. It is my hope that this kind of initiative can help make a major improvement in the quality of the releases.
From a feature standpoint, I have some ideas regarding integrating Calc more with the "Big Data" ecosystem, which - coincidentally - largely revolves around the ASF. A lot of the ideas aren't fully fleshed out yet, but I am picturing Calc as a front-end for working with various analytics processing engines. I think that at one time there was an Uno based R integration for Calc, so I'd also like to look at where that stands and see if that could use some work.
Also, I hope that we can dramatically improve the build system and associated documentation to make it markedly easier for new developers to grab the code, produce builds and get going. But I don't know that that's an area I personally will have much time to work on, plus there are other people working on that anyway.
I think we'd all like to see more frequent releases, so definitely put that down as a goal at least.
I have some other random ideas percolating in my head as well, but if I talk about them, somebody will interpret that as a commitment to deliver them, and since I probably can't justify making that kind of commitment right now, I'll stop here.
And finally, if a year from now, AOO is far behind what you have predicted, will you still keep telling people that AOO is going to be a success? And ditto for two years from now.
I don't tell people that AOO is or isn't going to be a "success". It already is a success by many standards, and not so much by others. I don't think looking at it in such binary terms is productive. As long as there is one person using the code, and one person hacking on the code (and the might be one and the same) then I'm all for it.
I'll only address the things I have knowledge of / intend to work on.
I am working now on getting a dedicated server setup for running code analysis tools / fuzzing tools /etc. against the AOO code-base. My plan is to make this an automated process that runs frequently (although the exact details remain TBD) and delivers reports that the AOO developers can use to improve code quality and security. It is my hope that this kind of initiative can help make a major improvement in the quality of the releases.
From a feature standpoint, I have some ideas regarding integrating Calc more with the "Big Data" ecosystem, which - coincidentally - largely revolves around the ASF. A lot of the ideas aren't fully fleshed out yet, but I am picturing Calc as a front-end for working with various analytics processing engines. I think that at one time there was an Uno based R integration for Calc, so I'd also like to look at where that stands and see if that could use some work.
Also, I hope that we can dramatically improve the build system and associated documentation to make it markedly easier for new developers to grab the code, produce builds and get going. But I don't know that that's an area I personally will have much time to work on, plus there are other people working on that anyway.
I think we'd all like to see more frequent releases, so definitely put that down as a goal at least.
I have some other random ideas percolating in my head as well, but if I talk about them, somebody will interpret that as a commitment to deliver them, and since I probably can't justify making that kind of commitment right now, I'll stop here.
And finally, if a year from now, AOO is far behind what you have predicted, will you still keep telling people that AOO is going to be a success? And ditto for two years from now.
I don't tell people that AOO is or isn't going to be a "success". It already is a success by many standards, and not so much by others. I don't think looking at it in such binary terms is productive. As long as there is one person using the code, and one person hacking on the code (and the might be one and the same) then I'm all for it.