[Owncloud] Re: Time to reach out to other projects?

Mon Jul 25 09:19:11 UTC 2011

On 25.07.2011, at 10:55, Aaron Reichman wrote:

> 
> 
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:11 AM, Frank Karlitschek <karlitschek at kde.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 25.07.2011, at 09:53, Aaron Reichman wrote:
> 
> > Agreed, I just wanted to give people a reference point to make it easier to understand what we're trying to do. What if I changed it to this:
> >
> > "...trying to create a personal cloud server that starts at the same point as services like iCloud/MobileMe & Dropbox but grows from there to whatever we want it to be."
> 
> 
> Great :-)
> 
> 
> > Also, I'd be interested in your thoughts on how closely we should tie ourselves to KDE.
> 
> Do you mean KDE the community or KDE the Desktop? ;-)
> ownCloud is clearly not part of KDE SC (The Desktop) because it is server software and not client software. So it doesn´t make sense to bundle it with other KDE software.
> But we should integrate with the KDE Desktop as good as possible. This doesn´t meant that integration with GNOME, Windows, Android, iOS, ...  is less important of course. In a perfect world ownCloud works perfectly with every Desktop, Mobile. and Tablet
> 
> But ownCloud is clearly part of the KDE community. We share the same ideas. we use the same infrastructure, we go to the same conferences. So I think that ownCloud is part of the KDE and free software family.
> 
> What do others think?
> 
> I don't have any problem with that as long as everybody is aware that it will make it more difficult for us to convince other people to join us. A project that lends itself to desktop integration being part of a community that has a desktop gives the impression of a self-contained entity. Nothing wrong with that, I just think we should be aware of it.
> 
> Personally, I like the idea of strengthening our ties to other projects by being a separate entity that interacts equally with everybody like Apache, Wordpress and other server based projects. I think we run the risk of becoming the KDE cloud otherwise when we could be the open/free cloud. Nobody else is doing the things we're doing in the way we're doing them and I think we should make the most of the situation we find ourselves in. Nothing stops us from being just as involved in KDE as we are now while becoming more involved with gnome, XFCE, enlightenment and whoever else wants to help us out.
> 
> That being said, I have no problems with being a KDE project, either. KDE is an amazing community and we should be proud to be a part of it. I just think we can maintain a great relationship with KDE without sacrificing other possible relationships. Whatever the group decides I'm fine with, just wanted to put in my $0.02.

Thats a good point. It would be indeed bad if ownCloud is seen as "The KDE cloud solution". People might think:"I don´t use a KDE Desktop so I don´t need ownCloud"
We should discuss this at the Desktop Summit. You are also coming right?  ;-)

> 
> 
> > On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:28 AM, Frank Karlitschek <karlitschek at kde.org> wrote:
> > Sounds great!
> >
> > Only one remark. I don´t think we should describe ownCloud as a competitor to iCloud or Dropbox. This sounds like we try to imitate others. Our goal is not to reimplement existing solutions like other free software projects try to reimplement existing proprietary software. Our goal is to become the market leader, create something completely new, be innovative, dropbox or ubuntu one have to copy us in the near future, not the other way arounds. ;-)
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Frank
> >
> >
> >
> > On 25.07.2011, at 08:43, Aaron Reichman wrote:
> >
> > > Hello everybody,
> > >
> > > I've been thinking about the best ways to build up the ownCloud community and I'm very interested in sending feelers out to other projects to try and get them to join. What follows is a draft of an email to send to those projects that I wanted to get feedback on. I also wanted to address the idea of how closely we want to be tied to KDE. I personally love the project and think the infrastructure they provide has been great for us. But now, we're at a point where we should decide if we want to move deeper into KDE (move to extragear instead of playground, perhaps?) or become a separate project with ties to many desktop environments. I'd rather consciously make this decision than follow the path of least resistance. At least then we can justify it if we need to. Also, it very much impacts how other people and projects view us and thus directly affects the recipients of this email.
> > >
> > > Thanks everybody,
> > > Aaron
> > >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > My name is Aaron and I'm involved in the ownCloud project that's trying to create a personal cloud server to compete with services like iCloud/MobileMe & Dropbox. We think that this project will give free software a way to reach out to all the people who are taking their files and data into the cloud without bombarding them with ads or making them give up their privacy.
> > >
> > > ownCloud is a desktop-agnostic project that (of course) uses open standards like webDAV, cardDAV, calDAV and syncml. Because of this it already integrates well with most desktops environments. Right now we have basic functionality. File uploading, downloading and viewing/playing of some file types (images and audio) work in the web interface and it can be accessed through Nautilus, Dolphin, Finder & Explorer very easily. We're also working on lots of great features like LDAP integration, a media player, server-server syncing, PIM syncing and basic document editing.
> > >
> > > But so many features combined with a relatively small group of programmers makes for slow going so we're reaching out to other projects we hope will benefit from ownCloud. Because there is no desktop specific code, just HTML, PHP & JS, it's very easy to get started. And, like every other project, lots of different skill sets are necessary, from translators to usability experts to coders and testers.
> > >
> > > Anybody who wants to see what we're all about can join #owncloud on freenode or email owncloud at kde.org. To make it easier to get started I can give a limited number of accounts on my personal owncloud server to people who want to try it out.
> > >
> > > I know this email has gotten long but hopefully it conveys how excited we are to be creating a personal cloud server. More and more of our lives are moving into the cloud and the open source community needs to be a part of that future in a way that stays true to our principles. This is a way to do that and we'd like to bring together as many different communities as possible. So, if nothing else, please take a look at the website (http://www.owncloud.org) and send an email to the list requesting a test account. Lots of things work now but there are many more things we can accomplish by working together.
> > >
> > > Looking forward to hearing from you,
> > > Aaron
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Owncloud mailing list
> > > Owncloud at kde.org
> > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
> >
> >
> > --
> > Frank Karlitschek
> > karlitschek at kde.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> --
> Frank Karlitschek
> karlitschek at kde.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

--
Frank Karlitschek
karlitschek at kde.org