Re: Discussing genealogy software development

Steve Hayes wrote:
On the Legacy user group and elsewhere various people have discussed
things like using MS Acess to manipulate Legacy data, and various other
things relating broadly to genealogy software development.

We don't all have exactly the same concerns, but I think they overlap
sufficiently to make it possible to have useful conversations and share
ideas. It would therefore be nice if we could get together in a forum
where such discussions would not be off topic, and go beyond the scope (or
remit, as Brits say) of the forum.

I've tried to discuss tuch things in the soc.genealogy.computing
newsgroup, which seems to be the logical place for it, though people also
discuss things like how to do this or that in such and such a program, and
most only seem to be interested in that.

The advantage of having such discussions in a newsgroup is that it is
publicly accessible, and therefore relatively easy for others to find. To
have useful discussions, one needs a critical mass of interested people.
I've tried to start discussions on the relative merits and features of
Clooz and Custodian and there has been no response.

Another advantage of newsgroups is that and such software development
needs input from users as well as developers. It's all to easy to design
software that doesn't really meet the needs of users. With newsgroups, one
can crosspost an idea for a program to various generalogy newsgroups, to
get responses of a variety of genealogists, and set follow-ups back to
soc.genealogy.computing. If those polled on such things are interested
enough, they can easily subscribe to that newsgroup too.

But failing that, perhaps one could start a newsgroup of YahooGroups or
somewhere, and invite interested people to join. An advantage of that,
compared with newsgroups, is that one can upload sample files of code or
datya models etc, which other people can download and look at. One can set
up an online database of interests and projects.

The Legacy user group list isn't really a suitable place for discussing
this, because it sometimes goes beyond Legacy, and some people who are not
members of the Legacy list could also contribute.

The people who participate do not need to be programmers (I'm not), but
people who are willing to discuss what kinds of software would meet the
needs of genealogists, where the gaps are, and how the gaps can be filled.


If this message rings any bells with you, then if possible, join soc.genealogy.computing and respond there, or if you really think there is
a need for a mailing list on the topic, and I'll start one on YahooGroups.

The current newsgroup s.g.computing does seem the appropriate place for such discussion even if there is sometimes not enough response. Personally, I don't myself using yahoo groups or google groups or whatever, they are yet some other system to keep track of. I doubt that there is enough interest to justify a new newgroup.
Perhaps one way to approach the matter would be to adopt a title prefix such as [DEV] within the current newsgroup.
Regards
Peter



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