[Catgen-developer] Catgen status Aug 28/00: full speed ahead

[Marc B. <mbe...@ho...>]

First, I want to welcome to the team Eugene Bortsov and Alexey Cholokov, =
both from Western Siberia.  They are very experienced and hard-working =
and I'm delighted to have them.  They are working full-time on =
converting the jsp files from the old system to the new IOB framework in =
time for our September 18 beta launch.  Vasian has nearly finished =
database synchronization code, and has also completed the framework for =
internationaliation, a very important feature of this application of =
course.  In addition, Kurt Kincaid of Springfield Illinois, who is a =
very experienced web designer, is working on a framework for the on-line =
help.  We're looking at an applet with expanding/collapsing menu =
structure that should be as good as any Windows help system.  Finally, =
Joe Coyle of Media, Pennsylvania, Ted Johnson of Peoplink, and Greg =
Schnippel of Kensington Maryland, have offered to assist in creating the =
help system content.  Jason Campbell has also offered assistance.  I =
will try and get in touch with everybody else within the next week, but =
if you are hot to do something, don't wait for me to call!

The new installer works beautifully by all accounts (it installed the =
application in 10 seconds on a Pentium III machine under my own eyes =
just an hour ago), and I also got it working with Microsoft JVM which =
cuts down our install size to 3 MB (important in limited bandwidth =
situations).  The IOB development framework is now complete and it is a =
lovely environment to work in.  The new Catgen is a total re-write and =
adds significant additional features.  As well as installer, =
sophisticated launcher, and help system, we are allowing Stories to be =
associated with any entity (company, producer, or product), Companies =
can have their own logos, we are doing the entire host side with company =
home pages that was not done in previous version, etc. =20

We are actively pursuing partnerships with other organizations, =
particularly with regards to getting the payment and delivery structures =
in place, and we are receiving some very positive feedback.  Blanche =
Brann, one of our consultants through the Rockefeller foundation, is =
developing a business plan and is going to India soon to visit with our =
trading partners there.  All these efforts - the business plan, software =
development and partnership building, are all moving along on parallel =
tracks.

So - hold on to your hats folks, Catgen is cooking. =20

Marc Beneteau