This is another post (and my first) to directly look at the proposal by the Structure Working group for Joomla. They have proposed an almost completely flat structure and you can read more about it elsewhere.
A flat structure can sound great and incredibly democratic but it is a fine line between democracy and anarchy. So I have a question, well actually I have two questions about the proposals made for a completely flat structure for Joomla as made by the Structure Working Group.
After studying the documents and blog posts produced by the WG, following as many forum and blog comments as I can find and listening to Sarah Watz's presentation at JWC I still haven't heard an answer to two questions. When I say not heard I want to be really clear. I do not mean "heard and disagreed" I mean not heard anything at all.
During the Joomla World Conference I was able to present an alternative proposal for structural change for Joomla. Based on a previous blog post the transcript of my presentation and a video of it together with the slides is below.
You can find a transcript of all three presentations and the Q&A session here - thanks to Marijke for taking the time to transcribe everything.
I have just returned from the third Joomla World Conference and I think it is positive to reflect on the event - the good and the bad. In my JoomlaIgnite session I said it is "good to fail" because that means you are trying hard and that the challenge is to recognise those failures and react quickly.
It is no secret that I was not in favour of creating an event at a beach resort in Mexico. My main objection was that creating an event where people were encouraged to attend with their families would destroy the community feeling.
On Friday night in Cancun, Mexico at the third Joomla World Conference I presented an Ignite session. Ignite is a presentation format where you have 20 slides and only 15 seconds before each slide changes. What I actually said on the night you will have to wait for the video but this is what I intended to write.
This is my family - they are all lawyers and the one in the middle is a judge. 9 and half years ago lawyers like them gave me some advice - Keep quiet - don’t say anything until you have made all your decisions - That was wrong and bad advice.
There is a growing trend for software to automatically update without any notification, authorisation or backup. This sucks!!! Let me tell you why.
I love Joomla. I live Joomla. I love to introduce new people to Joomla. I love to show people how to achieve the impossible no matter how improbable they think it is. We need more people who do this and more people who can do this.
I get excited showing people what they can achieve with Joomla. I get excited meeting people who have never heard of Joomla and Open Source software and showing them the benefits.
A 10 step guide to being a better Joomla lover
On Monday this week I was honoured to be one of the keynote speakers at JoomlaDay Israel. As I stood on the stage in front of a packed lecture theatre one thing came to my mind. Diversity!!!
When I was 13 years old Monty Python released the movie "The Life of Brian". What a pain! All through my teenage years fans of the movie, and there were a lot in England, would walk up to me and shout " Brian, he's not the messiah he is a very naughty boy". (If you've not seen the movie you really should). Trust me on this after the tenth time it really isn't very funny.
The closing scene of the movie is the song " Always look on the bright side of life!" It's a noble aim and is analogous to the concept of the glass being half full instead of half empty. Always look for the positives instead of concentrating on the negatives.
9 years ago today, on 17th August 2005, I was just one of seventeen brave (or foolhardy) people who announced that they were leaving the very successful Mambo project and starting out on their own. It was a snap decision and truth be told if we had stopped to think about how much work lay ahead of us in the coming months I suspect we might not have been in such a rush. We were greatly helped at the time by Eben Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Centre and I believe we were their first "clients".
