[Gecode] Logo, Homepage

[Christian Schulte]

Dear Denys,

just to clarify: Guido just did a quick brush up, in no means this is the
information with which we will go online. I will also deemphasize groups
(Denys knows that I will never ever again subscribe to a group-based model
of development). Also the license is not that big an issue as you say as it
is BSD style, as liberal as possible. But giving answers to common questions
is a good idea.

Further issues we will resolve:
 - There will be an Overview set of pages conveying the really important
points and the philosophy behind 
   the entire endeavour.
 - It will make a strong point on being open to contributors. The current
group section will be listing main
   designers, contributors, and give additional acknowledgments to people.
As Denys rightly says the model
   to follow is the academic model of acknowledgment used in papers, etc.
 - It will deemphasize C++. That's just the implementation language. It will
make the point that it is designed
   for interfacing and not modelling. It will make a point of a clean,
portable, open, minimal design
   from first principles stressing it also as a platform for academic
development.
 - It will make clear what our goals are: in general and where the future
will take us.

All these points have been discussed while Guido was staying here over
summer, so we have that all worked out.

If time allows, I will try to work most things out over the weekend.

In general, it is fine to start with little information but not with
misleading information.

Christian
 
--
Christian Schulte, http://www.imit.kth.se/~schulte/ 

-----Original Message-----
From: gecode-bounces at ps.uni-sb.de [mailto:gecode-bounces at ps.uni-sb.de] On
Behalf Of Denys Duchier
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:39 PM
To: Technical discussions about Gecode
Subject: Re: [Gecode] Logo, Homepage


Hi Guido,

Thanks for making the changes - the pages are now very readable on my
1600x1200 laptop screen.  Concerning "Development" section: I suggest again
that institutions should be deemphacized.  This software is being developed
by individuals, not institutions.  When we write papers, authors are
individuals: if necessary we add a footnote saying "this research was
supported by grant so-and-so".  Also, it is possible that in the future you
might want to attract external
contributors: an emphasis on institutions makes that more difficult. Of
course, Christian should decide, but this is merely my opinion.

Concerning the license: I have several remarks.

1. it should be more prominently accessible.  Currently, it's just the
   disclaimer at the bottom of the web page.

2. this license is refered to as the "Gecode License Agreement".
   That's an unknown.  Nobody has ever heard of it.  If at all
   possible it should be (1) either exactly an existing and reasonably
   well-known license, (2) or it should state and explain its lineage
   explicitly.  People have become (and rightfully so) paranoid about
   IP and licenses.  It is important to address their concerns up
   front:

   - what is this license?
   - is it compatible with e.g. the GPL?
   - is it possible to obtain other licensing conditions, e.g. for
     commercial applications?

Cheers,

-- 
Dr. Denys Duchier - Équipe Calligramme - LORIA, Nancy, FRANCE
AIM: duchierdenys

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