[Zope] Re: [Zope-Annce] ANN: Perl For Zope - why I'm bummed

[Bill Anderson]

Andrew Kenneth Milton wrote:

[...]

> The sad fact of the matter is that there is more concern for people's
> personal welfare, than that of the project as a whole. When in fact, what
> is good for Zope is good for the community.
> 
> Zope is open source, if you don't like Perl, and it morally offends
> you, branch the code and keep your own Python-only version running. If
> you don't think this is feasible, ask yourself why, and then rethink why
> other language support in Zope is a GoodThing(tm) (TCL ? mmm acs integration)

OK, let's look at the issue of fragmentation...(this is one of my larger
concerns).

Right now DC is adamant about the being no perl products. But, as you
say, it is Open, so one can branch and fragment. Now, let's do some
math.

How much larger is the perl community; let's be honest, they are at
least an order of magnitude larger). So, let us _assume_ that as some
are predicting, we get this huge influx of perlers, and their
concomitant perl-method based apps. We are then confronted with the
situation where we have the majority of users demanding perl products,
so they can stay in the land of perl and zope. Will DC remain as strong?
Likely, IMO. But, as you say, the code is open. So, they branch the
code, and start maintaining their own. Guess what happens to the
userbase and developerbase from perl? That would be it wavig goodbye, or
perhaps thats not  awave....

As I have said, I have a fair amount of confidence in DC's refusal to
include perl products. But, I also am fully aware that either they will
cave in, or their perlers we reportedly would gain would fork, and add
it on their own, thus abandoning the rest of us, and gainig us very
little, if anything in the meantime. Unless python supplants perl as the
dominant language in the world of scripting for the web, the forked
verison will always win in a marketing contest, as long as it has what
the 'Real Zope' has, nad has the perl stuff ours doesn't. In the world
of marketing, more is better. In order to avoid this, it will take
significant effort on the part of DC, and us users and developers.
Basically, python will have to be considered a 'first class' citizen (to
borrow a phrase ;-), and perl will have to remain a second-class citizen
at best, and this will have to be tactfully, yet unquestionably made
known. Can or Will this be done? I guess we will see, won't we?

These are not the fearfull meanderings of a Python Nerd, but
observations of history, and trends.