[ic] Pee-Poor Documentation Rant

[interchange-users@icdevgroup.org (Mike Heins)]

Quoting Jess Van Tassell (jav@vh.net):
[snip]
> cfm wrote:
> >Even if such a chart were purely anecdotal it would be useful to keep
> >people from getting in over their heads.  And fun to read too.  :-)
> >
> >BOFH sez maybe about line 10 of makecat should be:
> >
> >exit 1; # if you find this, comment it out and proceed.
> >
> >;^>
> >
> 
> Ouch! you're harsh!
> 
> I suggested this awhile back, but I think my post was too
> long and nobody read it. Before people download interchange,
> they probably read the "case study for open source ecommerce"
> and of course they read the system requirements stats. Along with
> those, perhaps basic knowlege of linux, perl, apache, html, the
> database the user will implement on, as well as sendmail and
> DNS should be recommended. That's known as a good fair
> warning!
> 
> Many people think this package is an install-and-use nobrainer,
> and approach it as such from a windows background. It would be
> good to give them a little heads up as to what they're getting into.

Have you ever tried to implement a custom VBA application in Excel or
Access? I have, and I will tell you it is not a point-and-click affair.

> RedHat presents Interchange as turnkey, when it's not. Well,
> it is. But not if you want to alter the catalog any. And if you're not
> selling hammers and paintbrushes, you'll probably want to change it.

We would welcome alternate personalities, and even have the
templates/sampledata hierarchy for people to drop it into.

> Ecommerce is full of people who can't tell perl from the knitting
> stitch their grandmother uses, but want to participate in the
> success of online business.

Again, I repeat my call for other programs to emulate. We are happy
to try and improve -- but we need some guidance.

Having written the lions share of the documentation myself, I would be
happy to get more help such as the help given by Ed LaFrance, Dan
Browning, and Jon Jensen.

I do know that there are plenty of people who are willing to give me a
one-liner asking for pages of work on my part. This is a constant in
open source software -- there are a far greater number of people
bemoaning the lack of work than people who actually sit down and do it.

-- 
Mike Heins
Perusion -- Expert Interchange Consulting    http://www.perusion.com/
phone +1.513.523.7621      <mike@perusion.com>

Software axiom: Lack of speed kills.