[Zug-sig] First post... :^)

[Rob Page]

Hi Luciano:

On Jul 17, 2007, at 11:05 AM EDT, Luciano Ramalho wrote:
 > > I was suggesting a database of sorts of people that
 > > are willing to make presetations on certain topics.
 > > I was not suggesting that the foundation would
 > > subsidize travel expenses.
 > >
 > Yes, such a database would be very useful.

Truly?  I would be glad if it was but don't say it
would be useful just to "be nice" :^)  It would take
work to create and maintain so we need to be cautious
about what we sign up for :^)

 > As for subsidizing travel expenses for the speakers,
 > in the case of developing countries you could
 > consider that as an investment in the growth of the
 > local communities which can provide professional
 > services at lower costs to Zope users worldwide. Good
 > Zope developers are always scarce. But Canonical,
 > Enfold Systems and Plone Solutions currently employ
 > several Brazilians who live here but telecommute to
 > do top-notch development work for them.

 From my personal perspective it's difficult to imagine
(in the near-term) a Foundation with the funds/cash
flow that would allow the subsidy of travel expenses.
In my opinion, that kind of expense has such a narrow
value in time (a conference) and space (one
venue/conference/country) that any sense of "fairness"
to the global community would be difficult to achieve.

I hope that the ZF builds a membership base or paying
members at various levels such that it can provide
these kinds of services to user groups.

 > Regarding the hosting, I am not sure that would be as
 > useful. The hosting needs of the ZUGs themselves are
 > usually modest, and can be easily provided locally.
 >
 > A more robust hosting infrastructure would be needed
 > if a ZUG were to sell hosting services to its
 > constituency, but I don't think that is a good idea,
 > as it is outside the usual scope of a ZUG and would
 > compete with private hosting providers with whom we
 > should be partnering, and not competing. In fact,
 > hosting a ZUG site is a very good way for a hosting
 > provider to get it's feet wet in Zope hosting.
 >
 > I hope I did not misunderstood the intention of your
 > "shared hosting infrastructure" suggestion. Correct
 > me if I am wrong.

First, I was *definitely* not suggesting that ZUGs sell
anything! :^)  I was suggesting that shared hosting
might allow the ZUGs to benefit one another by focusing
development on a single software product "Zope for
ZUGs"  :^)  In so doing there would be focus,
maintainability, etc..

Said another way, if all of the people around the world
that worked on ZUG sites all worked on centralized
infrastructure I suspect we might all be better off.

Your point is well taken - ZUG tech needs are modest.
Is that because ZUGs don't want to do more, there are
no volunteers to do more?

Regards,
Rob

--
Rob Page               V: 540 361 1710
Zope Corporation       F: 703 995 0412