since plasma keeps getting attention despite it's youthful state of being, we've had a fairly consistent inflow of developers appearing on the plasma-devel at kde dot org email list looking to pitch in. it's gotten to the point where there are more hands than really needed.
this obviously shows that there are a lot of interested hackers out there. half the challenge in attracting them is offering something that is, well, attractive. too often we talk to the users only in our public messages, and too often we speak of things in overly complex and unsexy terms. most of software development is complex and unsexy, but there's also something very alluring about it. otherwise most of us wouldn't be here. it's the things that reel us in that we need to communicate.
meanwhile, i'm going to start trying to pawn off these new comers to other parts of kde. the hard part is that many of these people wish to work on kde4 stuff. this is just one more reason to get your apps ported sooner rather than later. as we begin to tell the story of kde4 development to the word, something i expect to start in earnest at aKademy, we will likely find an influx of new developer blood. let's be sure we tell the right story and that we have a home for these new people.
<sound of gears shifting> i was in a brief meeting today with a graphic artist who seems to specialize in art for software. he, like many of our artists in kde, is half-geek / half-artwizard. near the end of the conversation, in which we discussed various bits about kde, he burbled that he loved kde and saw so much potential in it. "the first time i logged into kde, i fell in love," he said, "it's the best desktop i've seen." given that "loves kde, has knowledge of linux" wasn't in the description of the individual we were looking for, this caught me slightly off guard. happily off guard, though. =) it's amazing how many kde users there are in this town these days.
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You make it sound like the plasma team is in need of a good manager, someone who can throw everyone in a certain direction.
management is certainly part of it; at the same time there are only so many new hands one can integrate into the project at once.
it doesn't help that we are right now at a point in the project where there is work for probably 2-4 individuals. in september there will be many more tasks available, but until them =)
i really hadn't planned on doing plasma promo until then, so the slashdottings were a little unexpected and a bit ... early.
This shows how much people waited for changes like plasma to happen. Its great to hear that your project is running well. :)
Aaron, what modules/projects are in need at this time?
Edu got several new devs recently (I'm helping out a bit), and I think edu is slowly being revived. It seems to me that many apps are unmaintained, though. Our games haven't visually changed much at all through the years (KAsteroids, KTron, etc.)
> Aaron, what modules/projects are
> in need at this time?
as you note, games certainly could use some lovin'. kdeadmin is also something of a barren wasteland.
kopete could use help with protocols and some of the UI. lots of cool things happening there too (like the global identity)... so that's a nice project to get involved with: busy, interesting, but could use help.
if you are a bit more of an advanced developer, koffice can always use people as well. that's another very exciting project.
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