OpenWack Community Software Blog

We’ve been on a stern schedule of writing end-user features for OpenWack and finishing core parts, and some time ago we realized that we are not going to meet that summer 2009 availability promise which I apologize for. Even this apology came a little late but I believe for good.

OpenWack will be available for free download in winter ‘09-10.

We decided to first test the new platform on our own projects (read WackWall and the family). This will let us debug it to death, get details straight, and add all plan-minimum features.

For OpenWack we will also develop all necessary infrastructure for plugin developers, theme designers and users before putting it for download.

This way we want to release something already capable of helping people accomplish their goals. It will save a lot of precious time for users and developers. Once you rely on the platform you don’t need to completely rewrite (or abandon) your efforts. To make it possible we’re gonna take all the real-life fire ourselves first.

We have seen companies releasing half-assed software. Then debug it for months/years or releasing new versions with completely changed APIs to make everyone adopt. Somebody calls that the only proper way to develop software. But we are the crowd that never opts for the obvious.

We will test the software on paid projects before open-sourcing it.

We’ve “been there, done that” before. All OpenWack is about is putting our industry and business logic experience from other projects into the most efficient technical form possible. The one that we’ve been crafting for 7 years. The mere fact that all future Skalfa products will be based on this platform makes us work really hard to show the world something that can be relied on during the whole lifetime of a community project.

Watch news, and watch WackWall update in October.

During the first months of planning and development we’ve elaborated the detailed picture of our goals with the OpenWack product and what it will try to achieve in the Web. I tried to formulate a short description of the main points that you can now read, evaluate and ask questions about.

We welcome any feedback on how our mission speaks to you and what we can do to serve your needs better.

OpenWack Mission Statement

We are in the process of the OpenWack development. For those who don’t know OpenWack is an open source for social networking and community web sites. We set up a user-friendly feedback system at OpenWack.org so you can submit your feedback and vote for good ideas concerning OpenWack open source project.

You can help OpenWack by suggesting new features, improvements for design, performance and usability because it will make the use of this open source easier for you and others. Let us know what you think about OpenWack project, what you want to see in the open source, share your own ideas, discuss with other contributors and vote for the most appropriate ideas.

Feel free to vote for good ideas and share yours.

Thank you for your attention and concerns.
Regards, Tim.

So, you’ve read all the willy-nilly about the new software and wonder what’s in it for you? I’m going to try to answer this straight question. For that I will define several important points about the software: Continue reading »