[Zope] Factoids for supporting zope

[ghaley@mail.venaca.com]

> My argument is that money is leveraged by the active Zope community so
> a crux in my logic is how strong this community is.
> 
> Other support?
> 	
	Hi Albert.

	I'm not sure about the first part of the question, so i'll go to
the second query.

	Our company uses zope in a combination of consumer and commercial
applications.  We find it very powerful, very fast, and quite flexible --
though this last comes later.

Pluses:

	The Zope community is very strong, and very supportive.  Queries
to the list get answered fairly quickly, and, tend to be in direct
proportion to the quality of the question asked.  I have also found the
tone of reponses to be respectful -- unlike some other obnoxious lists,
you tend not to get an answer "Read the Man page!"  Replies will range
from detailed information on the specific problem to a recommendation of
existing documentation that might have already addressed the problem
raised.  

	There is a wealth of documentation available on-line at
zope.org.  There are tutorials, full length documentation, how-tos, and
the archive of the list-serves.  the quality ranges from very thorough to
fairly rudimentary, so, caveat preemptor!  Docmentation written by the
digicool folks is generally excellent.

	Zope will do anything that other web languages claim (e.g., asp
and php), though with more sophistication, since it is written in a real,
object oriented programming language (python).

Minuses:

	The learning curve is STEEP!!  Once you learn Zope, you can
prototype and implement very complex solutions quickly, but plan on
several months before you get the full power of the server under your
hood.  As many testimonials will attest, you can do some nice stuff in
short order, but you'll be at the tip of the iceberg.

	There are no books on Zope yet, though there is one on the way
from O'Reilly, and I think I heard there is one in the works from
Wrox.  There is a chapter on Zope at the end of "The Quick Python Book",
but it is not very complete.  As more users come on board, the publishers
will quickly follow (remember, it was only about three years ago that the
number of linux books would fit on a single shelf in a bookstore).  

	You need to know Python to get the real power of the server
working for you, but Python is powerful and very clean, and its
datastructures are amazing.

Good luck,

ciao!
greg.

Gregory Haley
DBA/Web programmer
Venaca.com


> 
> I am going through a justification (risks) of the use of Zope for a
> corporate client. Framing things as an Open Source play relies on the
> health of its community for its longevity and access to expertise for
> support. I remember some number tossed out when the Members folder at
> zope.org went to Btree. What is the current # of Members? Is this an
> estimate of the Zope community? I think there is probably some dead
> wood in that # but at least its an estimate. I remember it being over 10K.
> 
> Our client thought that the recent VC money was about 1/2 what would
> be needed to make it fly. 

> Regards,
> Albert Boulanger
> aboulanger@vpatch.com
> 
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