[asterisk-users] Platform decision ...

[SIP]

Moises Silva wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I though to chime in here just to share my opinion for what is worth. 
> As a developer who enjoys playing with telephony in general I try to 
> remain as objective as possible when talking about one or the other, 
> and I felt that "N" from arcdiv was a bit unfair with FreeSWITCH docs.
>  
>
>     Then you'd have to add the con:   cryptic, difficult to find, and
>     wholly
>     incomplete documentation.
>
>     Don't get me wrong. FreeSwitch is a very nice back-end product. 
>
>
> It's hard to not get you wrong when, in my opinion, you start by 
> writing as facts what is barely your particular poor user experience 
> with it. Others, including me, have found what they need in FreeSWITCH 
> wiki just as I have found what I need about Asterisk docs in voip-info.

Sorry, Moises, but I've been to the FreeSWITCH Wiki. It's sparse at 
best. You may have found what you were looking for based on your 
possibly very simple needs, but that doesn't make it very complete 
documentation.

>
>     far as ease of putting it into deployment goes, it's a nightmare from
>     its complete dearth of anything related to coherent docs. It still
>     feels
>     very....  nuts and bolts. Like being handed a Porsche Boxter engine,
>     frame, and a wrench and being told to sort of 'figure out' how it all
>     goes together. And even when you do, it will function screamingly
>     well.
>     But it won't have doors, windows, AC, or creature comforts that we've
>     all come to expect.
>
>
> You mean comforts which you have come to expect. Again, my needs have 
> been so far fulfilled for conferencing and SIP/PSTN gateway uses. 
> Pointing to particular missing applications instead of making your own 
> analogy would be useful, otherwise you are not really being of much 
> help, and just introducing FUD.

I'm not introducing FUD by stating my opinion about the lack of 
documentation, Moises. You're sounding incredibly defensive. Why?

>
> Many users are confused because they try to do things the same way 
> they are used to with Asterisk and some concepts just don't fit or are 
> differently applied. From what I've seen the users that get annoyed 
> the most are those who keep trying to do things in the Asterisk-way 
> and get overwhelmed by the configuration differences, instead of 
> learning the FreeSWITCH-way to accomplish the same goals. Users just 
> get impatient because they're already familiar with something and this 
> new engine is not managed as the old one. The recent announcement of 
> FreePBX running over FreeSWITCH 
> (http://www.freepbx.org/news/2009-08-04/freepbx-v3-come-help-us-shape-the-future) 
> should help to close the gap in user configuration and ease of management.
>
> Of course, there is some truth in your statements. FreeSWITCH needs to 
> catch up with documentation, but I would defy anyone to say they've 
> come to hang around on IRC and did not get their question answered.

IRC answers from people hanging around is not documentation. It's what 
open-source developers like to think of, sometimes, as a 'complete' 
solution, but it doesn't even come close. My comment was about 
documentation. Which is lacking. This is not FUD. This is not me saying 
"Don't touch FreeSWITCH."   This is me saying that, if you're looking 
for a product with good docs to make an easy transition from traditional 
PBX tech to new, or even an easy transition from Asterisk to something 
else, you will not find them with FS.

I'm sure that's changing as time goes on, but it's not there yet, and 
the focus doesn't seem to be on ensuring it gets there. The focus seems 
to be on the band-aid of asking questions on fora and IRC to try and get 
an answer. That may work for some things, but for overall deployment, 
it's lacking.

I'm sorry you're offended by my opinions, but in your words, 'I defy 
you' to show me some comprehensive FreeSWITCH docs.  Heck, even SER has 
more comprehensive documentation, and that's saying a LOT.

N.