On Fri, 16 Aug 2013 14:39:16 -0400 Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 1:27 PM, Donald Whytock <dwhyt...@apache.org> wrote: > > On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: > > > >> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 12:18 PM, Hagar Delest <hagar.del...@laposte.net> > >> wrote: > >> >> Objet : Re: Microsoft Censors OpenOffice Download Links > >> >> Not to speak for them, but I suspect they would point out the fact > >> >> that we there are over 100 Apache projects, and they all seem to do > >> >> fine with distribution via the mirrors. > >> >> > >> >> Personally, I'd wonder where this rates with us in terms of priority. > >> >> Compare to, say, forum stability improvements, code signing for our > >> >> installers, and further buildbot coverage, where do torrents rate? > >> > > >> > Of course it's not a priority. > >> > But think about the mechanism of torrent: once it's initiated, it > >> spreads by itself without any input needed. I'm not sure we need powerful > >> resources for the seeds, we can even limit the number of uploads I guess. > >> And then let the torrent spread among users. > >> > > >> > A forum was not in the field of the ASF scope. The AOO forum is still > >> doing and rather well, there is a lot of cooperation and feedback when > >> information is forwarded from on side to the other. So why not make a > >> torrent a first for ASF? > >> > > >> > Please remember that you're handling an office suite, it's not a niche > >> program, it's something that is heavily popular, you tell it yourself when > >> you inform the list about the millions downloads. Ubuntu offers torrents > >> for example. > >> > > >> > >> AOO is popular. Torrents are not. I bet that <1% of downloads were > >> of torrent, when OOo had them. > >> > >> Remember, a common question from users is "I just downloaded > >> OpenOffice and now I cannot find it". So skill level of typical user > >> is not ideal for explaining how to download via P2P. > >> > >> > If ASF does not want to do new things because no other ASF project has > >> even tried, then I'm rather worried about the future. Especially when on > >> the other side LibreOffice has a so efficient team, very good at marketing > >> their project. > >> > > >> > >> 1. Maybe ask LibreOffice how many torrent downloads they see? That > >> would be an interesting number to know. > >> > >> 2. This is not a question of avoiding doing something new. It is a > >> question of prioritization based on cost and benefit. > >> > >> 3. Torrents are not even new. They are old technology. > >> > >> 4. There is nothing to prevent someone from seeding a torrent for AOO > >> today, right now if you thought it was important. It does not need to > >> come from Apache. > >> > >> > > Infra could conceivably create torrents for every ASF distro file, probably > > on an automated basis. Were that to happen, the effort by the AOO TLP > > would be nil and the effort proportionally related to AOO would be > > negligible. > > > > Of course, this could take some significant setup effort on Infra's part, > > and if only the AOO torrents were ever used someone might say, "Why are we > > doing this for only one TLP?" > > > > It would be best if ASF could do it so as to add legitimacy to the torrent. > > Otherwise, if AOO itself was doing it, it would need to be on a > > respected/respectable torrent server, such that we could point to it and > > say, "That is the official AOO torrent." > > > > I think that's the key. If it is to be considered "official" then we > need sufficient control to ensure that it has not been tampered. What > we do right now is have Release Candidates on Apache servers, which > are voted on and then copied onto another Apache server for archives, > and then rsynced from that Apache server by SourceForge. And all > along we have the original digital signature files that can be > verified. So it is around as secure as we can go without taking the > builds themselves right from Apache-hosted buildbots, which is the > next logical step. > > But honestly my low motivation for this is based on the fact that > we're talking about a 150MB file, not a 4GB ISO image. The typical > user can download AOO in less time than it took me to write this note. > For me it takes longer to install AOO than to download it. So in the > grand order of annoyances related to AOO, the download time does not > seem to rate very highly. > > That's my personal opinion. But the nice thing about Apache is this > doesn't prevent someone else from moving this forward if they have the > motivation. Everyone is able to scratch their own itch here. > > Regards, > > -Rob > > > > Maybe a cheap 10gig VM? > > > > Don With respect, Rob, we don't all live in fibre access broadband areas. I count myself lucky in having 200KB/sec access; there are those who are still stuck with 56KB modems on bad dial-up lines. My OpenOffice download is typically 12-14 minutes. > -- Rory O'Farrell <ofarr...@iol.ie> --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
