Why not update the funding from simple donation to a purchase of clojure/core software like a refined version of the eclipse plugin or some other incentive based approach? I think I understand why rich might find 'donation' approach a bit uncomfortable.
On Jan 4, 2:24 pm, Mark Engelberg <mark.engelb...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Luke VanderHart > > <luke.vanderh...@gmail.com> wrote: > > For what it's worth, I am really glad of the position Rich is taking > > on a roadmap and Clojure's future development. I would much rather > > Clojure remained fresh, innovative and agile, and that it continues to > > offer unexpected, delightful new features and abilities. It can't > > really do that if Rich has to work through a years worth of mundane > > improvements he's already committed to before he can implement a new > > idea. > > About roadmaps: > > I think there are a core set of Clojure developers who meet regularly > on IRC and discuss all kinds of interesting issues surrounding > Clojure. They post ideas on the separate dev list, and on the various > group development sites (assembla, github, confluence, etc. -- it has > changed over time where the active discussions are happening). > > I believe that those "in the core" don't fully realize how little of > that information trickles out to the masses. Improved information > flow can generate excitement and enthusiasm in the community. > > For example, to those outside the core, sometimes it feels like > development is proceeding at a slow pace. We mainly see the new, > stable releases, which occur only occasionally (just 1.2 in the last > year, right?). The inner group knows what's going into 1.3. They > know how much effort has been spent testing out ideas, some of which > were discarded, and some of which are highly likely to remain in the > pipeline for a future stable release. The know what time has gone > into creating build tools and other mundane things that are necessary > as the project's infrastructure grows. For those outside the core, > seeing a summary of the past year's accomplishments is tremendously > exciting, creating a sense of "Wow, Clojure's development is really > progressing, with lots of great things happening. This is a > fast-moving train that I want to be a part of." > > Similarly, when looking ahead, it is possible to provide a glimpse in > the form of "Here are the areas we're actively investigating (e.g., > primitive math, pods, etc.). It's hard to know exactly which will > bear fruit, but these are some of the things we're trying out, and > some of the problems we'd like to solve." Furthermore, it's useful to > know when past ideas have been officially discarded. For example, a > couple years back there was a lot of discussion surrounding streams, > as a way to handle stateful i/o interactions. Are those ideas > officially dead, or are they just lower priority than a lot of things, > or are we awaiting a fresh new insight? > > These sorts of communications to the community are certainly essential > when trying to generate excitement about Clojure's forward momentum > for funding purposes, but even if Rich has abandoned funding in the > interest of not being tied to a specific set of commitments or > expectations, I hope that the core developers will still realize the > great community-building value of summarizing "where we have been and > where we hope to go". > > About funding: > > Last year, when Rich appealed for funding, he explained that without > the funding, it did not make rational economic sense for him to devote > his full time to Clojure development. He would be forced to take > other contracting jobs, and less of his time would be spent on > Clojure. So to me, the sad part of this announcement is that it > carries with it the implication that Clojure development is going to > slow down, because Rich will have to focus on things other than > Clojure in order to make money. Is there any kind of middle ground > possible here? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
