[Zope] RE: [ZCommerce] RE: Philip leaves Arsdigita (was: Re:[Zope]kerberos ? + LDAP + ecommerce + ZEO replication etc)

[Walter Ludwick]

PS:  The last msg to come in while i was laboring over my last (like a fool,
it now appears) really begs a response.  (Now it's my turn to get "torqued"
>:-< 


on 4/5/01 4:23 AM, Chris McDonough at chrism@digicool.com wrote:

>> I think Albert's saying (forgive me for speaking for you if
>> I get this wrong) that no-one but DC can evaluate the
>> opportunity and make the decision if DC should do this work.
> 
> I'd like you to figure out whether you'd like to mow my law, Michael.
> There's big things in it for you.  Get back to me in a week, please.  ;-)


YO, dude:  Analogies are odious, but this one really stinks.  Neither Albert
nor Michael, nor anybody else in attendance here asked you to analyze the
opportunity of mowing his lawn, or anything of the sort.  While we all see
something to gain in the opportunity arena we've been attempting to scope
out (else why are we even talking?), let us not kid ourselves about who it
is that stands to gain the most.  Yeesh.

I must confess that this whole business of free software development is new
to me (less than a year).  I am not a programmer.  I do however employ
programmers -- too many of them, alas (for more info, ask Kaivo Inc., who've
provided me with two good ones [a small majority of the total, alas] over
the last six months, since they bravely accepted from your company the
handoff of our RFP, on the very eve of proposal due date).  Over the last
decade, i have run more software projects and paid more programmers than i
care to remember.  I cite these facts to let you know, i am no piker in this
domain, panhandling for a free lunch.

In fact the landscape of this turf, dear Chris (ridiculous as it is to talk
about intellectual properties as though they were physical properties,
enjoyment of which is *inversely* proportional to the number of people
sharing them) looks to most of us here a bit more like this:  We are all
busy professionals, and those of us that don't work for DC are over here in
*your* sandbox, doing our best to contribute substantially to the
intellectual capital of *your* enterprise (remember, it is DC's stock that
rises or falls in direct proportion to the installed user-base of Python/
Zope -- certainly not mine), in the hope that we can enjoy a somewhat beter
experience as tenants in this commons whose future is under your defacto
control (i.e. if you say Zope is for Content Managment, and i say it's for
eCommerce and/or eCommunity, we all know who wins the argument).

But who wants to engage in any such ridiculous argument?  We all agree that
Zope can and should do all this stuff;  the only argument i see going on
here  is some sort of pissing contest over who is the busiest.  That's a
conversation i have no interest in whatsoever -- as is the case, i suspect,
with *most* of us here.  I've only joined the conversation here because the
prospect of eCommerce in Zope (up to now an oxymoron -- rather like
"military intelligence," or "jumbo shrimp") appeared for a fleeting moment
like something worth talking about.  If that was just a mirage on the
horizon, forgive me;  been thirsty too long, i guess.

I guess somebody here needs a long weekend to think about priorities;  i for
one sure do.


|/|/alt
Walter Ludwick
wludwick@mail.walmar.com