[kde-community] Request to join the Kde incubator for GCompris

[Albert Astals Cid]

El Dijous, 13 de febrer de 2014, a les 21:59:03, Jaroslaw Staniek va escriure:
> I of course welcome vital projects such as GCompris. GPL3 topic will
> be hopefully resolved. Relicensing  to v2+ would be a solution, anyone
> is then free to set GPL3+ for her copy.
> 
> Another question arises from the GNU copyright assignment [1]. 

Wait, does GCompris require for copyright assignment to the FSF?

Cheers,
  Albert

> This is
> a precedence for me, correct me if I am wrong, but KDE has no code
> that's assigned to the (USA) FSF. For example I can imagine the above
> relicensing would require consent of FSF. It's unlike other KDE
> projects I know.
> 
> This is like a hybrid, one leg in KDE, one leg in FSF so far and
> really, a distraction or me. If this is mostly work from scratch, I
> hope relicensing would be possible.
> 
> [1] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html
> 
> On 13 February 2014 04:48, Bruno Coudoin <bruno.coudoin at gcompris.net> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I am the creator and main developer of the educational software GCompris
> > (http://gcompris.net). It is released under GPL V3+. It contains about 140
> > activities for children 2 to 10 years old.
> > 
> > I am sorry for the length of this email but in order to let you take an
> > informed decision and for the future of our collaboration it is important
> > that you get the full picture of the GCompris project.
> > 
> > I started this project in 2000 and at that time selected Gtk+ for its
> > graphical toolkit. It became a must in its category and is probably the
> > most popular educational software with KdeEdu and TuxPaint.
> > 
> > GCompris is available on GNU/Linux through the package manager of most
> > distributions. I also distribute the binaries on Windows and MacOSX as a
> > direct download on gcompris.net.
> > 
> > It is important to mention that the Windows and MacOSX version are
> > distributed as demo ware. These binaries have only a limited number of
> > activities and the users are invited to buy an activation code through
> > paypal. The activation system is very simplistic, it does not require a
> > network connection and is included normally in our code. An average
> > developer can understand the activation system and create valid codes. I
> > have no way to know if a buyer use the code on one or more computer and I
> > don't care. Even if the money I get through this is encouraging, it is not
> > enough to work full time on it so I also have a day job. All the money is
> > officially declared and I pay taxes to the French government (I live in
> > Toulouse in France).
> > 
> > This is an unusual practice for a free software, I took this decision to
> > make sure schools, teachers, parents who choose the GNU/Linux path get an
> > advantage over the ones staying on a proprietary platform. To my surprise,
> > it has been very well received by users and by the free software
> > developers. More than this, the duality of the project, commercial and
> > community allows it to benefit from the best of both worlds. I won't
> > explain you the advantage of a community behind a project. For the
> > commercial part, to my surprise, I have numerous examples where GCompris
> > was selected in a school _because_ they could buy it.
> > 
> > As a community project, it was part of the Gnome community, and the Gtk+
> > version will still be there until the Qt version is on par. We got
> > numerous
> > contributors coming from Gnome, especially the translation team who does
> > an
> > excellent job. We also managed individual contributors all over the years.
> > Many come, create an activity and leave when their children does not use
> > GCompris anymore. I usually integrate the contributions and handle the
> > maintenance of this code. At some point in time there as been other
> > commiters and it was working fine.
> > 
> > I am also a GSoC mentor since 2011 under the Gnome umbrella. I really
> > appreciated doing that. It helps the project, the community, the student
> > and myself as I like to share my knowledge. For this year I registered
> > GCompris as an independent organization since I expect to get students
> > working on the new Qt Quick version. Of course, if we work together, I
> > will propose next year GCompris under the Kde umbrella.
> > 
> > Enough history, lets talk about our future.
> > 
> > Nowadays, more and more users are requiring us a tablet version. By far,
> > Gtk+ is not ready in this area . After reviewing different possibilities,
> > I
> > had HTML5 and Qt Quick on my short list. I made a test and ported a
> > GCompris activity in HTML5 and a few one in Qt Quick to be sure to make a
> > wise decision.
> > 
> > I am happy to tell you that I have been more than surprised by the ease of
> > development and the quality of the code I wrote in Qt Quick. Yes it does
> > not run on the web but for GCompris there are many reasons to stay off
> > the web anyway.
> > 
> > So I have now published a beta version in Qt Quick and used it to announce
> > the world that I bet the future of GCompris on it. It has been well
> > received in the GCompris community. Of course it deceived the Gnome team
> > and I am sad for them but I had to take this drastic decision to make
> > sure GCompris stay relevant in the years to come.
> > 
> > On the development side, after looking at creating a compatibility layer
> > to
> > run old GCompris activities on a new Qt Quick framework. It proved to be
> > difficult and the the result would be ugly in term of code and in term of
> > user experience. I decided to go the hard way and to make a full rewrite.
> > We will reuse the graphic, sound, voices, data and of course the concept
> > of each activity of the Gtk+ version to create the new one. I expect the
> > port to last one or two years.
> > 
> > So this is a brain new project with just a demonstrator of only 4
> > activities on 140. I think it is a good time frame for GCompris to join
> > the Kde community for different reasons:
> > 
> > - We need the best skills to create a solid framework
> > - This is easier to jump on a new project and more interesting for a new
> > contributor
> > - Wehave no on line development tools to migrate
> > 
> > I hope my request did raise your interest and I'll be please to answer
> > your
> > questions.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Bruno.
> > 
> > 
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