On 1/30/2011 6:35 AM, Richard Reeve wrote:
What a shame! I remember the enthusiasm in the i community when isociety was rolled out. If there is anything that I can do to help please contact me offline. I am more than willing to do whatever I can.
I don't think any "grass roots" effort is going to get any traction
without at least nominal participation from IBM. midrange.com is one of
the exceptions, and even so a small part of its success can be
attributed to the fact that IBMers hang out here regularly and provide
input and advice. That's particularly true with the Rational tools, and
of course Barbara's indefatigable presence mentoring the RPG list.
IMO, the problem with every other IBM midrange collective has been a
lack of a properly focused product. Almost every one of these things
has been more about marketing, but yet it's been pitched to the
developers. Developers think marketing gimmicks are cute... for about a
month. But when it becomes clear that that they are the ones expected
to provide the content with little or no tangible return in helping them
with their day job, such efforts usually drift off into the sunset.
Midrange.com is successful for at least two reasons. First and foremost
is because David Gibbs personally has given his blood, sweat and tears
to make it work. He didn't rely on anybody else to make sure the system
worked and has continued to update it from its early days as a bulletin
board (it helps that he has ruled it with pretty much an iron fist when
it comes to what is and isn't allowed). The other salient point is that
this is a forum in which participants get value immediately based on
questions asked and answered. Real questions, real answers, real
value. Most other IBM midrange related efforts have been "portals" or
"aggregators" which is a fancy name for links. What exactly is the
value-add of a link? Not sure. Google works pretty well most of the time.
What's the answer? To me, the only thing that might fly would be a
collaborative effort where people presented real world problems and then
developed solutions that others could use. It would be the next step
past the forum, but short of true open source development. Someone
would say something like "Hey, how do I email a report?" and people
would present their answers. Some might say RTFM for OVRPRTF *PDF and
SNDDST, while others might provide a simple Java class. The problem of
course is that there is little benefit for the folks that take the time
to present the software.
That's why a lot of open source IBM i stuff just tails off. There are
only a handful of folks in our community who have actually provided that
level of software, and you really have to take your hat off them. Folks
like Aaron Bartell, Scott Klement, Giovanni Perotti and Per Gummendal
are unique and special members of our community. And while I've left
several off the list, there just aren't enough of them to sustain
anything past the forums stage.
So, the question is whether there is enough commitment among us, the IBM
i community, to sustain anything other than forums, and if there is, how
to do it. If IBM doesn't bless it (and perhaps even if it does), then
it has to have real value to the participants, and that's a tough road
to hoe.
Here's a couple of things to think about: What would YOU want from such
an effort? And what would you be willing to commit to make that happen?
Joe
midrange.com
