[Zope-dev] Two visions

[Jim Fulton]

I'd like to get feedback on two possible visions for the future of
Zope 2 and Zope 3.  

1) Our current vision (AFAIK) is that Zope 3 will eventually
   replace Zope 2

   - There will be lots of overlap between the Zope 2 and Zope 3
     lifetimes.  (Zope 2 might be supported more or less
     forever.)

   - Eventually, the gap between Zope 2 and will become very small. 
     requiring a small leap.

   In this vision, Zope 3 would have to become a lot more like
   Zope 2, or we would lose features.

2) In an alternate vision, Zope 2 evolves to Zope 5.

   - Zope 5 will be the application server generally known as Zope.  It
     will be backward compatible (to the same degree that Zope 2
     releases are currently backward compatible with previous Zope 2
     releases) with Zope 2.  Zope 5 will similarly be backward
     compatible with Zope 3 applications built on top of the current
     Zope 3 application server.

     Note that Zope 5 will leverage Zope 3 technologies to allow a
     variety of configurations, including a Zope 2-like configuration
     with implicit acquisition and through-the-web development, and a
     Zope 3-like configuration that looks a lot like the current Zope
     3 application server.  Maybe, there will be a configuration that
     allows Zope 2 and Zope 3 applications to be combined to a
     significant degree.

   - Zope 3 will explode. :)

     For many people, Zope 3 is first a collection of technologies
     that can be assembled into a variety of different applications.
     It is second a Zope 2-like application server.  I think that
     these folks aren't really interested in the (Zope 2-like)
     application server.

     Zope 3 will continue as a project (or projects) for creating
     and refining these technologies.  

     (It would probably make sense for this activity to to have some
      name other than "Zope".  On some level, the logical name would
      be "Z" (pronounced "Zed" :).  An argument against "Z" is that 
      it would be hard to google for, but Google handles such queries
      quite well and I'd expect that we'd move to the top of Google Z
      search results fairly quickly.  However, I'll leave naming
      decisions to experts. ;)

   Advantages of this vision:

   - Zope 2 users don't need to leave Zope 2. 

   - Zope 3 doesn't have to reproduce all Zope 2 features.

   - There wouldn't be confusion about 2 Zopes.

   It is important that Zope 5 be backward compatible with both Zope 2
   and Zope 3, although not necessarily in the same
   configuration. Many people are building Zope 3 applications today
   and they should not be penalized.

Thoughts?

Jim

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