[osg-users] ANN: Reference Manual for v2.2 now available

[Richard S. Wright Jr.]

I rather like the idea of community donated white papers, with two  
"pro's" editing and compiling them. It seems this would be "quick",  
and bring together a wide range of experiences.

I'd be happy to do the chapter "OSG for Dummies"... I'll throw in a  
bonus section on mailing list etiquette ;-)

Richard

A man who is silent appears wise...
The fool who speaks removes all doubt.


On Dec 19, 2007, at 10:46 AM, Paul Martz wrote:

> Thanks for the enjoyable discussion. Bob and I will meet in about 2  
> weeks
> and future documentation plans will be a topic of discussion.
>
> Some random thoughts follow.
>
> Free documentation... I charge for documentation I develop, just  
> like I
> charge for software I develop. I don't think this is unreasonable.  
> If you
> sincerely believe that OSG documentation should be free, contract  
> with Bob
> and I and pay us to write it. Then it's yours, and you can give it  
> away
> free, just like CGSD/Andes did with the Quick Start Guide.
>
> For those of you wishing there was more documentation available, rest
> assured Bob and I do not intend to stop where we are. However, know  
> that OSG
> is large, and documenting all of it will take time. I think we've  
> made good
> progress so far.
>
> Without contracts to develop documentation, Bob and I squeeze in
> documentation development around our (better paying) contractual  
> software
> development obligations. This environment prohibits any large-scale
> dedicated documentation projects, and means that documentation will  
> have to
> come out in small bits and pieces.
>
> The idea of writing separate whitepapers on various topics is quite
> appealing. I see two different approaches here:
>
> 1) Bob and I write them all, release them as they are completed, and  
> after
> we reach some critical mass, we assemble them into the "OSG  
> Programming
> Guide" and release that as a book.
>
> 2) Members of the OSG community all write articles on various  
> aspects of OSG
> and submit them to Bob and I. We edit and assemble them and release  
> the "OSG
> Gems" book.
>
> So I really see those as two different projects. Both seem doable,  
> but the
> "Gems" book implicitly assumes community contribution, and past  
> experience
> indicates the odds for this happening are quite small. (To be fair,  
> having
> Bob and I write whitepapers implicitly assumes we'll have time to do  
> it -- I
> think we will, but the papers might not appear as fast as we'd all  
> like.)
>
> However, I like the idea of a community-written "OSG Gems" book, and  
> I don't
> want to underestimate the community's willingness to contribute. So,  
> I'll
> give this some thought, look into other Gems-style books' business  
> models,
> and see if I can find a way to make this work (time-wise, as an  
> editor).
> Initial thought: rather than "here's how to use some feature in OSG"  
> type of
> articles, it might be better to have "here's how I did this really  
> cool
> thing using OSG" or "here's how my company is using OSG", if you  
> know what I
> mean. I think this is more in line with other Gems books I've read.
>
> Paul Martz
> Skew Matrix Software LLC
> http://www.skew-matrix.com
> 303 859 9466
>
>
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