Regarding Open Source

[Tom Speirs]

I thought a little communication would help on this, and this is my position.

1. I like open source software, I think it is a good thing. No more explanation needed.

2. I will do my best to not make GameEx become a dead project. If I have a big lifestyle change or get tired with the project I will do my best to let it continue in the hands of others. No worries there, unless I drop dead in 5 minutes!

3. A Big however, I get a lot of fun out of GameEx. It is my creation. I would like to take GameEx as far as I can take it on my own. If I get really stuck, or want it to become something bigger I will allow that to happen by making it open source. I think it would be selfish of others to almost expect me to release the source just because more people could benefit, when it is solely my creation, and when I do so much already at a cost and provide everything for free for people who arn't developers, and just want a good software solution.

4. Its not like things dont happen with GameEx. Most sensible feature requests get implemented, and pretty damn quickly IMHO. In other words its not like making it open source would speed up development a great deal when you include setup time and management required, again IMHO.

I hope that clears it up. Thanks for listening.

[Tom Speirs]

To all: Are there any 'web based (ie not Visual Source Safe etc, but using CVS or similar)' tools out there on the web, that allow shared source code development with security. By security I mean only making source code available to certain developers and not everyone? That could be a possibility.

[djrobx]

What does CVS not do that you want it to do? There are web based management/viewers for CVS. CVS served our project very well, even for our Windows projects.

[acroberts]

Yeah you could just set up a CVS server on a linux or windows box. You get full control of what's accessible to who. This is the same model that sourceforge uses, although on a much grander scale.

/Ant.

[CJ7]

Tom, I sense a little frustration due to some of the ideas being put forth about opening the project up and everything along those lines. I just want you to remember that it is only because you had such a revolutionary idea that others naturally want to be a part of it, especially the people who are interested in emulation. Also, many of the people in this community are used to the concept of open source software especially with emulation. It is very popular among this crowd and I am sure there are many technical people here that see such potential in YOUR idea. They do not want to re-invent what you have already accomplished and copy your idea, rather, following the open source tradition, they simply want to help.

I have a suggestion that I think would work out very well. Firstly, I think this project is YOUR baby and no one elses, and if you feel strongly about this, you should not give it up for others to create other versions of it at their own will. Rather, you should be the master and commander of this software project. Putting all the pieces together yourself, but delegating tasks to others. Open up a repository for others to enhance or build a SPECIFIC part of the application. When those modules are completed, you can integrate it yourself. Or, ask others to research a specific topic and report their findings back to you so that you don't have to do all the leg work yourself (for example, how to best port it to Linux or some other programming technique or best practice). We will be your drones, your "Software Engineering Programming Team" while you are the Manager and Architect of that team. In this scenario, if there is something that will be tedious for you to do and you would rather spend your time on something else, you can simply delegate that task to a few others that are part of your team. Hell, you can even ask for resumes and hold interviews! The setup time to create this is well worth it and will not be too tedious. The benefits greatly outweight the time to set it up and manage it.

I hope this has been a good insight as I would love to see your program grow to its potential. I believe that you should find a way to recruit other great thinkers to help you reach that goal.

[night]

why not leave it as it is and if Tom feels like release the source code im sure he will

else from my point of view if some are eager to help then i would say PM Tom and offer your help in any way possible or well start a new project

as i see it Tom are making alot of changes and are always there to reply people with problems/suggestions/help in any way and he do release new versions quite often i really feel people couldnt ask for more and should be happy with project as it is

[Tom Speirs]

Tom, I sense a little frustration due to some of the ideas being put forth about opening the project up and everything along those lines. I just want you to remember that it is only because you had such a revolutionary idea that others naturally want to be a part of it, especially the people who are interested in emulation. Also, many of the people in this community are used to the concept of open source software especially with emulation. It is very popular among this crowd and I am sure there are many technical people here that see such potential in YOUR idea. They do not want to re-invent what you have already accomplished and copy your idea, rather, following the open source tradition, they simply want to help.

I have a suggestion that I think would work out very well. Firstly, I think this project is YOUR baby and no one elses, and if you feel strongly about this, you should not give it up for others to create other versions of it at their own will. Rather, you should be the master and commander of this software project. Putting all the pieces together yourself, but delegating tasks to others. Open up a repository for others to enhance or build a SPECIFIC part of the application. When those modules are completed, you can integrate it yourself. Or, ask others to research a specific topic and report their findings back to you so that you don't have to do all the leg work yourself (for example, how to best port it to Linux or some other programming technique or best practice). We will be your drones, your "Software Engineering Programming Team" while you are the Manager and Architect of that team. In this scenario, if there is something that will be tedious for you to do and you would rather spend your time on something else, you can simply delegate that task to a few others that are part of your team. Hell, you can even ask for resumes and hold interviews! The setup time to create this is well worth it and will not be too tedious. The benefits greatly outweight the time to set it up and manage it.

I hope this has been a good insight as I would love to see your program grow to its potential. I believe that you should find a way to recruit other great thinkers to help you reach that goal.

Thanks for your thoughts CJ7. It does make a lot of sense. I agree, and am not ruling that out for the future.

[djrobx]

Thank you CJ7. I could not have put that into better words. Speaking of people being "used to" open source-ness, if you port to Linux, you will find find this "frustration" phenomenon that he refers to grow exponentially.

As much as I may wish this project was open-source, I am thoroughly pleased to have it just the way it is. Tom is exceptionally active and helpful and I wouldn't to change anything that might deflate some of his enthusiasm for the project.

-- Rob

[Tom Speirs]

As much as I may wish this project was open-source, I am thoroughly pleased to have it just the way it is.  Tom is exceptionally active and helpful and I wouldn't to change anything that might deflate some of his enthusiasm for the project.   

-- Rob

Hey

Yes, lets wait until I run out of steam a little.