IMO

As the old year falls away and the new year boots up, it is traditional for people to write "old year retrospectives" as well as "new year predictions." Heck, I originally envisioned this entry as a duet of 2 separate blogs. But as much as I tried, it was just too difficult to keep them distinct and self-contained. There was simply too much overlap and as much as I expect "new things" in 2018, I think 2018 will mostly be a solidification of events and issues ramped up from 2017.

So with all that in mind, I present my 2017-2018 Introspections... in no particular order:

Continue reading "My 2017-2018 Introspections"

It is no secret that, for awhile at least, Apache OpenOffice had lost its groove.

Partly it was due to external issues. Mostly that the project and the committers were spending a lot of their time and energies battling and correcting the FUD associated around the project. Nary a week would go by without the common refrain "OpenOffice is Dead. Kill it already!" and constant (clueless) rehashes of the history between OpenOffice and LibreOffice. With all that, it is easy and understandable to see why morale within the AOO community would have been low. Which would then reflect and affect development on the project itself.

So more so than anything, what the project needed was a good ol' shot of adrenaline in the arm and some encouragement to keep the flame alive. Over the last few months this has succeeded beyond our dreams. After an admittedly way-too-long period, we finally released AOO 4.1.4. And we are actively working on not only a 4.1.5 release but also preparing plans for our 4.2.0 release.

And it's there that you can help.

Part of what AOO really wants to be is a simple, easy-to-user, streamlined office suite for the largest population of people possible. This includes supporting old and long deprecated OSs. For example, our goal is to continue to support Apple OSX 10.7 (Lion) with our 4.2.0 release. However, there is one platform which we are simply unsure about what to do, and how to handle it. And what makes it even more interesting is that it's our reference build system for AOO 4.1.x: CentOS5

Starting with AOO 4.2.0, we are defaulting to GIO instead of Gnome VFS. The problem is that CentOS5 doesn't support GIO, which means that if we continue with CentOS5 as our reference build platform for our community builds, then all Linux users who use and depend on those community builds will be "stuck" with Gnome VFS instead of GIO. If instead we start using CentOS6 as our community build server. we leave CentOS5 users in a lurch (NOTE: CentOS5 users would still be able to build AOO 4.2.0 on their own, it's just that the binaries that the AOO project supplies won't work). So we are looking at 3 options:

1. We stick w/ CentOS5 as our ref build system for 4.2.0 but force Gnome VFS.
2. We move to CentOS6, accept the default of GIO but understand that this moves CentOS5 as a non-supported OS for our community builds.
3. Just as we offer Linux 32 and 64bit builds, starting w/ 4.2.0 we offer CentOS5 community builds (w/ Gnome VFS) IN ADDITION TO CentOS6 builds (w/ GIO). (i.e.: 32bit-Gnome VFS, 64bit-Gnome VFS, 32bit-GIO, 64bit-GIO).

Which one makes the most sense? Join the conversation and the discussion on the AOO dev mailing list!

Some people speak because they have something interesting or useful to say.

Others speak because they know everything (or, much more likely, think they do!).

Others speak because they like the sound of their own voice.

And others speak because they want to shut down others speaking.

In general, which one are you?

They say that a sign of depression is when you no longer enjoy what you used to find pleasurable. Yeah, I guess, that could be a sign of depression all right. But it could also be a sign that it's simply no longer fun; that what used to be enjoyable, simply has changed to the point that it no longer is.

That is certainly the case with me.

As you may know, for decades I have poured my heart and soul into being deeply, actively involved in various Open Source projects and activities. But lately, some of the ones that used to be fun, simply no longer are. What used to be a group of like-minded people, working together, valuing each other, collaborating and operating with a common goal has turned for some of these projects and actvities into "putting up" with power plays, soapboxing, petty squables and a dismissive attitude towards basic common tenets and goals that, up until recently, were respected and honored. Life is too short, and my talents (as limited as they are) are too valuable to waste on such things. When an Open Source project is no longer fun to be around, there are plenty to take its place.

My advice when it comes to getting involved in Open Source has always been to Have Fun. The corrolary to that is that once it stops being fun, it's time to shake off the dust and find another place more welcoming and more inviting... and more fun. I give that advice to others, it's time to take it myself.

The positive part of all this is that it allows me more cycles and the ability to work on other things and projects and activities that I've been interested in, but have lacked the time to do. All of us involved in Open Source should do this: take an inventory of what projects you are involved in and seriously ask yourself if you are still having fun. If not, maybe it's time for a change as well.

August 29th is one of the happiest days of my life. It's Eileen and my wedding anniversary and today's day is even more special, since it marks our 30th wedding anniversary, certainly an important milestone (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153904362288511&type=1&l=6578ef1cbd)

The 29th is also, ironically, also one of my saddest, because it was 5 years ago today that my Dad was admitted to Hopkins Bayview hospital with shortness of breath and because he just "wasn't feeling too good." Little did we know then that less that 3 weeks later, we would be saying our goodbyes and planning his funeral. This was especially true since just 5 days before that we had celebrated his 80th birthday.

It is surreal to both celebrate and mourn on the same day; you feel as if you are doing a disservice to both events no matter what you do. But as sad as my Dad's passing was, and is, I have tried to look upon differently. I've tried to see these days as times to celebrate his life, and to honor his memory by enjoying life.

And that means being grateful and extremely happy that I was fortunate enough to, 30 years ago, marry my soul-mate and my best friend.