RE: Open Source menu system

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hans Boldt [mailto:boldt@xxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 3:19 PM
> To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Open Source menu system
> 
> Terry: I really don't have any opinion on those pieces of software. I 
> think it's a moot point anyways since I doubt they'd ever be open 
> sourced. The strategic direction is elsewhere, and is itself 
> based on a piece of open source software.

The drawback with the "new" strategic direction is that it
runs on an unstable/insecure platform ;-)  

> That said, one of the difficulties in open sourcing something 
> like SEU or SDA would be the logistics. Would some group within IBM be 
> responsible for managing user-contributed patches? Would some other 
> formal or informal group handle the management? Would the 
> community be served by (probably incompatible) forks? Would there 
> even be enough interest in the user community to maintain and 
> enhance the code?

I suspect that the patches, project management and potential
forks would be handled like all other open-source projects.
Once the code was released it would be out of IBM's hands.
An iSeries buyer could then choose to use the IBM version or
the "open" version - whichever suited his needs. Of course,
they would also have to accept the fact that the "open" version
wouldn't be supported by IBM :)  In the case of SEU/SDA, the
only support provided by IBM is for PTF's only, no further
development is taking place so the buyer also has to take
this into consideration.
 
> Unfortunately, of the few open source projects I've seen 
> start up in the iSeries community, few (if any) are still active.
> 
> Cheers! Hans

The iSeries is a small/niche market and lot of us who work
on them don't have time to work on projects like this
at our places of employment.  If an affordable development 
box was available this might change the level of participation.

Thanks for the feedback Hans!

Terry