vBorgforge? (a novel)

[The Geek]

The preamble ramble

Er, not sure if this has been suggested or not - hopefully Im an insane genius that can cackle relentlessly at my own creativity (most likely not)

However... I was on a roll posting here tonight and I thought I would continue with something that I have been meandering on for awhile... (tack it down to the sheer boredom of a hotel room).

The point in a round about way

There are loads of projects that would benefit the community as a whole if there was a way that you could set up a system where a group could own and develop a project.

Right now, Joe develops a mack... releases it... and spends his time supporting it. Jane wants to help, so she makes a post and attaches a bit o code in hopes that it may be folded into the current or future release however Joe is a pretty busy fella and doesnt have the time to check and integrate and release so Janes contribution gets buried.
Meanwhile Frank is insipred by Joes work and creates something based on Joes work - but ads a new twist or new level of functionality to ol Joes stuff even though Joe led the way, Janes work becomes irrelavant, joe journeys to sumatra looking for freaky monkeys and the project dies leaving Frank wondering if he would upset Joes grandma if he released his new twist on the old code.

Phew.

This is a bit drawn out isnt it?

The Climax

In a nutshell, I think it would be scrumdiddlyumchious to have each mack be manageable by a group. If joe buggers off, then another member in the group can always apoint someone else to take his place and keep it alive.

The mack can have its own page outlining the functionality, the releases, progress reports, etc... and of course amazingly enough - a discussion thread.
All previous versions could potentially be accessible for stability purposes (including release notes etc...) and a kind of cvs system that would allow multiple people to work on it.

yayayaya - whatever. Im sure the admin and mods eyes have rolled back to ensure that their frontal lobe is still intact ("Does this nut realize the work that would be required to introduce/maintain a system like this?"... yes. Wouldnt it be easier to do with a system like this!). I bet my lotto ticket that something like this could really really work well.

Why? (the introspective bit)

For one, I really hold back on realeasing new code and putting forth code proposals as it inevitably leads to an amazing amount of time that is spent riding solo helping people use it, implimenting fixes, implimenting new features, drinking beer, and writing installer, readme's, etc... Which inevitably leads to new or existing projects dieing on the grapevine and the developer getting frustrated as users get frustrated.

Ultimatly a mack comes down to the 1 person that releases it. Ownership, rights, responsability, etc... which only serves to hinder its development and thus the potential heights that the mack could reach (including the attractiveness that vB gets from an active development community).

What I am proposing wont make Elton John grow his hair back... however it could make a big difference in the evolution of the world (well, as far as vB macks are concerned anyway)

Ill stop now before your snoring gets much louder.

Proglogue and authors note

Excuse the typist as he just on a roll with typing his thoughts as they come to him.