[Zope-CMF] Sneak preview - workflow

[Shane Hathaway]

On Tue, 22 May 2001, seb bacon wrote:

> DC should do whatever they need to do to keep profitable.  If this
> means closing off some of the CMF code, then so be it.  I wouldn't
> want DC to struggle because of the Open Source decision, and I'm
> immensely grateful for what we've already been given.

Gratitude goes a long way in my book.

> Having said that, however:
>
> 1) DC committed themselves to OSS for a very good reason - essentially
>    the ones you outlined above.  DC opened up the previously closed
>    software, ZEO, for the same reasons.  Either those reasons still
>    stand and the original business model (consulting, etc) remains
>    sound, or the OSS experiment was a mistake.

OSS is no longer an experiment for us.  It has been proven to work.  But
for each new product we have to think about the greatest benefit to the
company.  DC weighs more than just concrete numbers in the decision,
however, and that's why we almost always choose open source.  Community
means a lot to us.

> 2) However, if DC sees add-on modules as part of consulting work, that
>    makes sense.
>    Isn't Workflow part of the core, though?  It is core features like
>    this which will encourage new users to embrace the CMF and help
>    develop it further, make it more stable, popular, and feature-rich,
>    and ultimately help DC sell 'modules'.

Indeed.  It can be hard to tell what's a core feature and what's not--but
I think you're right, workflow is close to the core.

> However, I'm a bit confused: could you explain how this is a new
> direction?

I think pluggable, dynamic workflow is going to change the way products
are written.  It's parallel to the "new religion" Jim has been talking
about.

http://www.zope.org/Members/michel/Components/Components/NewReligion

> In particular, what are the business requirements driving
> the recent flurry of CMF improvements?

Essentially we intend to use CMF as the basis for most consulting
engagements.  In fact, that's what drove the creation of CMF.

Shane