Hello there,
2013/7/16 Chris Graham <[email protected]> > On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 6:26 PM, Lennart Jörelid > <[email protected]>wrote: > > > This is not (or should not be) an entirely technical question - support > for > > various versions of JDK may be the simpler criterion to discuss, but I > feel > > the more relevant question is > > > > "Do we first and foremost see small-scale projects [small organisations] > or > > enterprise-scale projects [enterprise-scale organisations] as the > > recipients of what we build?" > > > > > I think that the premise of the question is utterly wrong! > > It is not an "OR" question. The fact is that we do, and need too, cater for > both! It's an "AND". I heartily disagree. While we may *want* to cater for both, I think we fall short in quite a few areas. Moreover, the choices we make in implementing features or fixing bugs come from our understanding of what needs to be done - and many of them are certainly more geared at one end of the scale than the other. While Maven (substitute most FOSS projects, if you like) may be best of breed in some aspects, there are certainly big areas where we are very far from being the gold standard. As a somewhat trivialized example, just consider the maven main site from a usability perspective... how readable, clearly structured and simple can you say it is presently? In an enterprise perspective, where many people (instead of just one or a few) need to absorb the same amount of information more focus would have had to go into improving the maven site and the information within it - so one could well argue that the site is clearly done for the benefit of a few experts, implying that the Maven community has chosen the needs of small-scale rather than enterprise-scale projects in this regard (consciously or not). > > In the former case, we are at liberty to cut support for older JDK > versions > > and trust in the more modern toolchain and vice versa. While some > > long-standing problems with newer JDKs (like retina support for JDK 7 on > > Macs, proper font support for JDK on Linux, or sluggishness of JEE > > container upgrades for example) can certainly hinder or prevent upgrading > > the toolchain, to what extent do you believe these problems to be > relevant > > for small-scale projects and enterprise-scale projects respectively? > > > > In my experience, the upgrade speed of ASF / Codehaus / Eclipse (which > > manufacture the toolchains that pretty much everyone uses) is one of the > > major factors in determining the upgrade speed of most projects out > there. > > Quite few players are willing to pay the cost to sculpt their development > > process and toolchain entirely from their own needs. > > > > > In the enterprise space, from what I've seen, it's comes down to one thing: > COST. > Most professional and FOSS software engineering boils down cost in some form. Cost may be interpreted more as "money" for enterprise projects, and more as "effort" or "time" in the FOSS world, but they certainly work in similar ways as far as resources go.... and WRT quality as well. Both in most FOSS projects I have looked into and in most Enterprise projects I have looked into, someone has to be passionate/driven/stubborn enough to keep nagging the project management or committers to get a change accepted into the codebase. > If the existing solution works, then it tends to stay put. As upgrading > costs, hugely! > I'd say that an existing solution which sorta works stays on quite a bit both in the FOSS world and in the enterprise world. For example, the maven Model has certainly stayed on in its current form for quite awhile due to its "works well enough" status. There are certainly requirements for tooling which would benefit from proper inheritance between same element, and a well-working structure and process for comments/metadata in the Model elements, implying a standard way to insert XML comments into the POM explaining what certain configuration elements do or why they are injected there. Usability Engineering could certainly be as valid for FOSS projects as in any enterprise project. I see the similarity of patterns and group dynamics in the FOSS world and the enterprise world. They are both sluggish and both imperfect - but we will have to make the best use of what we have. > I will also be the first to admit, that as things get leaner, and/or start > to move to the cloud, that the technology used is getting a better look in. > However, with embedded produts, I can not see that changing too much at > all. > > In the open source space, sure, feel free to let the OS stuff lead, as it > does eventually find it's way into the corporate space. -- +==============================+ | Bästa hälsningar, | [sw. "Best regards"] | | Lennart Jörelid | EAI Architect & Integrator | | jGuru Europe AB | Mölnlycke - Kista | | Email: [email protected] | URL: www.jguru.se | Phone | (skype): jgurueurope | (intl): +46 708 507 603 | (domestic): 0708 - 507 603 +==============================+
