[Zope] What causes the community to stall so often?

[Ron Arts]

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Hi,

I am a newcomer in Zope (been using it for a week), coming from PHP.
My view of Zope is still fresh. I am a very experienced Linux admin from
the ISP world, but also a C programmer.

I think Zope has the following problems:

1. difficult installation (What? you say? I'll come to that)
2. unclear direction
3. downloadable productlist 'unreliable'
4. small but showstopping documentation deficiences

1. Difficult installation.

Most people want to install a binary package these days (in practice
this means RPM). When you look at the downloads, you see that the latest
RPM is not the most recent Zope version. Oops! I thought, is this a
serious product? (Please note: this first impression is important)

Another thing: how to install? PCGI? ZServer? There is no recommended
way. Documentation is sparse on this matter.

The windows install is good, but you're missing most of the opensource
community if the unix/linux people don't install zope. And many
people *only* install rpm (if only for easy removal).

2. Unclear direction.

When I started browsing www.zope.org and all the dopcumentation,
I came about three confusing differences: DTML, ZAL, and Zope3.
It all was unclear to me, and if I will build a site in Zope I
don't want to be on a dead trail. It is unclear to me which route
I should take.

3. downloadable product list.

Many products I downloaded did not work with my zope 2.5.0. ZopeGUD
is broken. I could not even create an RPM for ZMySQLDA, even though
I asked around on this list. So I still don't have MySQL access.
Other products are listed as unmaintained. Why are they still on the
list? Also there are duplicate products. The difference between
them is not outlined, and nothing is recommended. Are some products
far superior to others even though they seem to accomplish the same
thing? I am forced to find out myself.

4. small documentation deficiences.

Small things that stop you dead in your tracks. I can provide examples.

Basically what I miss is a clear path to take, many recommendations (PHP
has lots of those) easy RPM installation, and a bag of working
trustworthy Products (preferably distributed as RPM's).

regards,
Ron Arts



-- 
Netland Internet Services
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http://www.netland.nl   Kruislaan 419              1098 VA Amsterdam
info: 020-5628282       servicedesk: 020-5628280   fax: 020-5628281

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