[Members] jabber.org website mandate

[Kevin Smith]

On 25 Aug 2006, at 10:48, Bart van Bragt wrote:

> Alexander Gnauck wrote:
>> i agree that Pandion is an awesome and easy to use client. I don't  
>> think we should recommend one or more clients here. This will end  
>> in a big discussion and every (client) developer wants his  
>> software listed here.
>
> :) And this is exactly what I was talking about. If we can't get  
> the user up and running in a few minutes we shouldn't focus the  
> site on the end user and leave that to others that do want to point  
> the enduser to a suitable client.

I think Psi's one of the clients in a pretty strong position for  
consideration (obviously I'm not even slightly biased) for  
recommendation for a variety of reasons, but I'm really not sure we  
want to go down the route of recommending some clients above others.  
Clients change, often quite rapidly (no sniggers about Psi's release  
rate please) and that's something that needs to be kept current. I  
don't like the thought of Jabber clients fighting for recommendation  
- at the moment the Psi devs are collaborating in one way or another  
with the devs for four or five other clients, and I'm sure the same  
is true with other teams. If we start recommending some clients over  
others, might we not run the risk of setting up walled gardens  
between development teams? (I'm sure I've heard that phrase before  
somewhere...)

I agree, however, that new users need guidance, so I suggest client  
reviews in a similar manner to Amazon \textit{et al.} when buying  
products. Some blurb from the developers themselves, then perhaps a  
jsf-members review, and the ability for users to add small reviews  
for the clients.
This is not the least-effort approach, and I appreciate that, but it  
does seem to avoid discriminating between clients, and the dangers  
that entails. It does, however, advertise the current state of  
clients, which might, itself, be enough to spur on development.

This is my £0.01065 for today, I may have changed my mind by tomorrow ;)

/K

-- 
Kevin Smith
Psi Jabber client developer/project leader (http://psi-im.org/)
Postgraduate Research Student, Computer Science, University Of Exeter