Re: [Webware-discuss] Gentlemen, start your engine!

[J.J. D. <jd...@hy...>]

What made me choose Zope over Webware was basically panic. I need to get a
product in the hands of my customers RIGHT NOW, and using Webware I have
some show-stopping issues. Please note that I like Webware very much - this
is not in any way a criticism of Webware itself, but only an explanation of
why, after 9 months and a lot of Webware-based prototyping, I have decided
that I need to use Zope to finish my product.

(Killer Issue) If my product uses Webware, my customers' MS-addicted IT
shops will be trying to run it under IIS, and I know that there will be a
steady stream of terrible maintenance and technical support problems
resulting from that. (Not Webware's fault). If I use Zope, the product will
be self-contained, since Zope has its own web server built in. And that
also means that a Zope-based product will be deliverable as a standalone
app (e.g. on laptops), so I don't have to develop a GUI version.

(Vital Issue) Webware is not yet stable enough to base a _shippable_
product on it. It is not documented well enough to use without "living in"
the source code and figuring out a lot of things for yourself - fun and
interesting, but time consuming. Zope is complete, stable, and shippable,
and - with the three thick books - finally well enough documented for rapid
development.

Both of the above are of much less importance if you are using Webware to
develop your own web site, where you can choose the server environment and
DBMS, and where you can start with a bare-bones site and gradually throw in
more goodies -- or withdraw overnight something that does not work well.
That's why Webware was great for my prototype. But I wasn't able to build
the prototype into a shippable product.

My earlier posting was directed at the "Vital Issue" above. I think that it
would be a Very Good Thing to get a basic core version of Webware released,
complete with documentation and examples, so that Webware can be used more
widely while the discussions of fine points and additions continue. The
suitability of Webware for development of "shippable" web apps may always
be in peril because of the "Killer Issue" above, but there is no doubt that
the basic Webware that exists today would be a wonderful tool for many web
site developers who do not need/want the tonnage of Zope or who want to do
something truly original.

Jim Dukarm
DELTA-X RESEARCH


At 22:59 2001-11-23 -0800, you wrote:
>Jim,
>I agree with you that better documentation is needed and a non-beta 
>release should be cut, but I'm curious what exactly made you choose 
>Zope over Webware if you had a prototype running.  Did you hit a 
>technical wall, was it the general lack of documentation, was it a 
>perceived lack of stability, or was it something else?
>Tavis
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