Re: [guadec-list] Re-considering expectnation web service

[Murray Cumming <murrayc murrayc com>]

On Wed, 2008-01-02 at 20:50 +0000, Alan Cox wrote:
> > I agree 100% here, just because we're supposed to have an ideology of
> > free software doesn't mean we should be against using non-free software.
> > Hell, dreamweaver is an awesome product! This logic extends further that
> > if we are able to help Expectnation become open source (as a previous
> > post suggested), then the way to do that is to embrace it now...
> > Especially as it has features which are invaluable to GUADEC being a
> > success in 2008!
> 
> If you rely on proprietary then you need to account for all the bad
> things it brings as well as the convenience in this case.

Yes. We've already had assurances that all the data will be exportable
in standard formats such as XML. I haven't seen the formats, but we
aren't talking about spreadsheets or a wordprocessor so I am quite
confident that it'll be something simple that we can use.

> What happens if Expectnation goes out of business before guadec 2008 ?
> What is the backup plan ? I'm not saying Expectnation isn't the right
> choice but that you have to do the rest of the work that goes with a
> proprietary choice.

Luckily, we can consider this as a one-off at first. Most of our
previous cobbled-together systems have been unusable soon after the end
of GUADEC (or during or before), and we've survived that.

If we come to depend on it in the long term, then my answers are:
- Don't depend on it in the long term if it continues to be proprietary.
2 GUADECS would be my limit. This would be a harder decision to make at
the time, of course, but I'm confident that the pressure to be open will
remain. 
- Use the XML when we need to.

-- 
murrayc murrayc com
www.murrayc.com
www.openismus.com