Tales from the Evil Empire - All Comments

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Bertrand Le Roy — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:55:32 GMT

@Todd: please calm down, Todd. I'm not offended and neither should you. I didn't mean "accused" in a very strong way (hence the lame little smiley face I included). Maybe it wasn't the best choice of words. Sorry about that.

Yes, Microsoft has walked away from many things, and it bugs me as much as anyone, if not more: some of my projects, which I cared a lot about, got that treatment in the past. So I agree it's a fair thing to ask, and I'm answering you the best I can. Precisely because I've wanted to protect this project from such outcomes, it's been my intention from the start to involve the community in a meaningful and real way. This is not Microsoft losing interest, it's the Orchard folks making sure that if that ever happened (which, again is definitely not the case here), if that ever happens, it won't hurt the project because it's already in a position to continue without Microsoft. It would be sad and difficult to lose their support (we get developer resources, PM resources, Azure instances and money that we're trying to make the best usage of), but it wouldn't kill us. That is what this means.

I hope this helps clarify.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Todd — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:10:58 GMT

Since when does asking a question mean someone is accusing you of something. Have you hever heard of MSFT walking away or stepping back from anything before? I honestly don't see how this not a fair question? You sound offended and that was not my goal in asking.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Bertrand Le Roy — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:05:15 GMT

@Todd: no. Transferring control to the community was the plan from the start. It's weird how if we don't give enough control to the community, we're accused of not understanding open source, and if we do, we're accused of losing interest ;)

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

levinm — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:36:33 GMT

Doesn't withstand scrutiny :)

Thanks for Orchard

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Todd — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:54:55 GMT

Betrand, What I mean is, by transferring greater control to the community does this signal MSFT is stepping back a bit and will not continue to make the same investments in Orchard? It is a question not a hypothesis.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Bertrand Le Roy — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:39:04 GMT

@Todd, that hypothesis doesn't resist scrutiny: Orchard was open source from day 1.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Todd — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:52:44 GMT

While I appreciate the fact we are making Orchard more open by giving it to the community I wonder if this is a sign from within MSFT around the commitment to continue to fund developers working on the project. A bit like a kid sharing a toy because they are tired of the toy.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Bertrand Le Roy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:25:52 GMT

@Anthony: really? Can you give me some pointers? Apart from Rob's post, I haven't read those.

As for the value of open source, well, you're probably not the only one, but that's fine, as there is plenty of choice out there. My personal opinion is that OSS authors are putting themselves (not their company) on the line, and are producing works of love. Closed source on the other hand cultivates a spirit of secrecy and puts their authors in ivory towers.

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Anthony Grace — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:52:45 GMT

There has been a lot of negativity regarding Orchard in the blogosphere lately, not really about the open source aspect. Specifically in relation to its architecture and that it may be "over-engineered" to some degree. Personally, I do not see it as an ideal learning tool for someone coming to MVC for the first time.

That Microsoft is opening this up to the community is commendable. But I've never been a fan of open source. By its very nature there is not the same accountability and sense of ownership as when developers have to answer and account for their work contributions and design decisions.

Not trying to be the party pooper here, but am I the only one who even questions the value of open source projects these days?

re: About Orchard Governance and Microsoft

Bertrand Le Roy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:29:42 GMT

@stromblom: that's because I didn't send notes last week.