<snip!>
We are interested in helping the MC Team for two
reasons: 1) We are all MC users and "fans", have been for
years. On my SUSE 9.2 workstation MC loads second, Krusader
loads fifth. We want to see MC come out with a new version, and
then another, and so on..., 2) We are in the File Management
business. File Management is what we are about. Even
though Krusader and MC are very different products, for very
different usages in many cases, for different working environments;
they are both "Twin-Panel File Managers". Did I
mention that this is what we do? We believe that there is
considerable synergy between the two products now, and given the
right environment and some time, that there could be a great deal of
synergy between the two products. We cannot help but believe
that if we get an additional development team of file management
experts working with us, even in "different parts of the house",
that this will lead to breakthroughs in file management technology
AND make both products better and more desirable - even if all the
two different teams do is talk and compare "war stories'.
How many other file management developers do you guys know who are
not on your team? We think having the two premier file
management application development teams under the same roof creates
a unique and powerful technology situation; and given the current
strife and problems your team has been having (the rumors of the
product dying, etc.) and our ability to make what we believe is a
very attractive offer, on several levels, to help out and take over
as Maintainer for MC from Pavel; we would be out of our heads not to
at least ask. To at least see if anyone wanted to have a
conversation about the possibility. After discussing the matter
with Pavel over the past two weeks, we are more sure than ever that
such an arrangement can have great potential, and great payoffs, for
both teams. Pavel urged me to make contact with you developers
and if you were willing, move forward. Given the situation,
what would do? I wrote a note asking if anyone wanted to
discuss making a change. It was the only choice.
One of your
developers seemed to be upset because what we are proposing is not
gradual enough. The fact is, if the MC Developers want to accept our
offer, then Pavel will transfer the Maintainership to me and we will
move forward, and the MC Project will get a fresh start and be able
to leave all the trouble of the past three years in the past, and we
believe, move forward to a rewarding and gratifying future where all
of us can break new technology ground and do what we like to do most
- design and write killer software that users all over the world
love! Any member of the MC Development Team that is not into
that idea will not be happy around the Krew, and may want to think
about some other hobby than writing free software..... But
there is really no gradual, incremental way to do this kind of
thing. This is a chance that rarely comes up, we could never
live with ourselves if we never even tried to see if it could
work...
>What
the project needs is a maintainer (or maintainers) that
not
>necessarily does a lot of development himself, but one
that oversees the
>project development, can formulate sensible
milestone targets and
>communicate with the developers about
these targets and if they are
>being met, and do an occasional
release.
I hope I have covered these concerns.
>I'm
not sure this is what you are suggesting.
Be sure. This
is exactly what we are suggesting! If you would like to discuss
this, or any other File Management related issues, Skype me (Skype ID
= fudoki) and we'll chat. I'm a fellow programmer, and a fellow
lover of good software that people don't have to buy from the evil
empire and sacrifice their firstborn to obtain and use!
We like being the best at what we do. Not so long ago the MC
Team was the best at what they do. It can be that way again.
Where will you find a Maintainer that understands you better than
us?
You guys deserve, IOHO, a chance to shine again. We
offer you that chance under the best conditions we can come up with.
It the same as we have, which is the very best we can do - and
believe me, it ain't bad!
Thanks for your note and please don't hesitate to write or Skype
if you have any more questions, concerns, etc. If you and some
of the other Developers want to arrange a conference call with me and
one or more of our Developers to get a feel for our programming
standards and what we expect in terms of professional competence; I
will be happy to facilitate this. That's what I am here for -
to be a facilitator and liaison. Just let me know.
With
warm regards,
Terry
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