[Asterisk-Dev] Asterisk Maintenance and Development

[Steven Critchfield]

On Mon, 2005-01-03 at 14:41 -0500, Mike M wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 03, 2005 at 10:57:58AM -0600, Howard White wrote:
> > 
> > The growth of Asterisk (the program) and Asterisk (the community)
> > demands that the keepers of the keys (Mark; Digium) institute proper,
> > formal and documented Product (Program) Life Cycle techniques.  We all
> > wish for Asterisk (the program) to be accepted by a wider audience which
> > may only be accomplished by having a clear path of where Asterisk is
> > going (and by when).
> 
> I must have missed something about open source.  Since when did open
> source projects run according project schedules?  Open source is a gift.
> How can one ask for a gift on a schedule?

This is one of those odd problem children where we need at least one
company behind the development to keep us in the hardware we need.
Companies like project schedules even if they slip on a regular basis.

Milestones and release cycles haven't hurt Mozilla or other pure
software projects.

An added benefit of developers setting a list of features to try and
complete by a given time frame is that it is likely to move forward more
than previously. It is a motivator to not let down the other developers
who made the time schedule as apposed to listless wandering through the
code. Not to mention that a ToDo list that is easier for everyone to see
for each milestone release would possibly encourage new users where to
jump in and look for a place to get their feet wet.

I know Howard was suggesting a slave driver complete with whip to get
code rolling out, but moving that direction helps organize effort in a
way that may get more traction. 

-- 
Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>