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.

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

OpenWack Mission Statement

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:

Core and Plugins

This is an important point. OpenWack is not just a piece of software with a number of features. Actually, it’s less than that – only a skeleton of a site. All the functionality for users is defined by plugins. Plugins will be organized into a searchable and segmentable catalog on the site (and actually other places) and will be installed and updated via the admin panel.

Plugins will not only implement end user features like blogs, forum, and video; they will also change the existing functionality, like applying a spam filter to mailbox, or changing smile-set for user input. Plugins are capable of not only adding new but also correcting the existing functionality.

Loose Coupling

This is the term to describe the relationship between the core and the plugins, and actually between the parts of the core. This is the principle when one system makes little suggestions about the other. In human language it means that plugins will not heavily depend on the platform version. As long as the major version number is the same APIs are not supposed to change. If you wrote a fancy comment system for OpenWack 2.x it should work full-proof until OpenWack 3 is released because the API your plugin uses could have changed if there was necessity.

Your plugin may not know which database provider we use, at the same time it may use direct SQL code if you choose. We do not limit development freedom, we just put the responsibility on the plugin author.

Convention over Configuration

This is an important aspect of software and actually one of the strongest factors for user adoption. For example: In software like SkaDate you can create custom site pages with hierarchy and have menu items tied to documents on many-to-one basis, so you can create as many items (main menu, bottom menu, inventory line) for one document as you want. This is all fine but it needs two complicated interfaces for creating/editing documents and menu items with their own hierarchy.

In OpenWack we decided to dump this many-to-one relationship and replace it with one-to-one simplistic approach when you can have only one menu item for one document. It can be hidden but it exists and is one and only. This simple decision makes the interface of working with navigation much simpler. If this diminishes the flexibility from covering 100% of needs to 80% but raises understanding and easiness for say 60% of site owners instead of earlier 20%.

We are going to pursue trade-offs with this kind of ratio everywhere. Expect several important decisions in that venue throughout the code and plugin architecture. Who cares that Wordpress is so much straightforward procedural business-logic-in-templates piece of software? It compensates that easily with powering up thousands of wonderful blogs that millions of users read daily all over the world. Sure, it’s 2009 and we are not going to lean up to any of the two extremes but we will find any opportunity to make the software usable by mere mortals, you know those who do not wear t-shirts with their favorite IRC channels on them. Without sacrificing best practices of writing software. We have enough experience in community software, so the common pitfalls are well defined at this moment.

In the end of the day your site needs to be easy to understand. You can doubt in our decisions but please remember: you build a site for users not to pet the narcissistic boy in you. A site is only as good as it solves users needs. I’m speaking not only about face features but also about administration and management of the site.

Areas of Use

Since the platform is just an empty site ready for plugin setup so its features are only defined by your needs. This leads to the conclusion that the software can be used in all areas of online communication: social networking, education, business intranet, dating, etc… This is the question of how specific plugins solve specific needs. We are going to maintain the lists of the best community developed plugins for different areas of online interaction and guides on how to better tap into any specific area with OpenWack software.

Licensing

OpenWack is open source. You may use it free for any purposes including commercial without removing credits to the developer, OpenWack team.

WackWall

OpenWack will also have one more incarnation – as the engine for WackWall webservice. In fact, we decided to enter free community building business with WackWall first, and OpenWack in its current vision comes to give WackWall users real freedom and flexibility. Once OpenWack iterates to the same functionality volume as the current WackWall (shortly after launching it as open source software), we will make the grand relaunch. Meet WackWall 2.0.

Thanks,
Emil