Mike and Chieko –
Unfortunately, I am not surprised that this GREAT project
has reached this point. The fundamental problems are twofold, as Mike has
suggested. First, and I feel the most important, is the lack of funding
(regardless of the source). From the beginning I emphasized that without funding,
the organizations and small businesses (like TPG) who see the incredible value
of ACTF, could not afford the luxury of allocating developers, technical
writers, and training staff to make this work. Second, most of these same
organizations are already resource thin and going through reorganization and restructuring,
much like many good friends and colleagues are experiencing at IBM.
As former co-chair, I fully respect and support the decisions outlined
below. I hope that a move to the Linux foundation is a safer and more productive
haven for the IBM ACTF team. Your work and your research is without parallel.
Your colleague,
Mike
Mike Paciello
Founder & Principal, TPG
Tel: +1 603.882.4122 ext 103
Cell: +1 603.566.7713
e-mail: mpaciello@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: www.paciellogroup.com
Twitter: @mpaciello
Facebook: Mike Paciello
Skype: tpg_mike
From:
actf-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:actf-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Michael A Squillace
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 2:16 PM
To: actf-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Mike Strack; Chieko Asakawa
Subject: [actf-dev] Proposed restructure of ACTF
All:
In order to
ensure the advancement of the Eclipse Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF)
project to graduation and the related requirement to provide a project plan and
release schedule together with recent resource limitations and shifting
internal priorities at the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center
(HA&AC), Kentarou Fukuda and I, as co-technical leads and Chieko Asakawa as
project lead, are proposing a restructuring of ACTF.
The HA&AC
will no longer actively participate in this project and, therefore, our
contributions, which consist entirely of work done by IBM commiters and
contributors and have no down stream dependencies or consumers of which we are
aware, will be removed from the ACTF project. In discussing this proposal
with the Eclipse Technology Project Management Committee (the PMC of our parent
project), two approaches have been recommended:
1. Wayne
Beaton, the Technology PMC Lead, recommends dividing ACTF into subprojects [1],
presumably so that all HA&AC-contributed componentry will reside in one
subproject, that subproject then being archived according to the Eclipse
development process.[2]
2. Also from
the Technology PMC, Konstantin Komissarchik wrote, "There is really
nothing stopping a project from throwing away chunks of the code base for a
variety of reasons. There is no formal archiving process as there is for
projects. You just delete the source in CVS and that's that. Just make sure
that you have involved your entire project in the decision and have
communicated your intentions accordingly to any potential downstream
consumers."[3]
Given the above
recommendations by the Technology PMC, we are proposing the following:
1. Remove from
the Eclipse CVS repository the ACTF Java Validation Componentry (Javaco)
feature and its related plugins and resources. Because contributors and
commiters to this project have been solely from the IBM HA&AC, the
HA&AC will maintain control over decisions about the project's future
reactivation or enhancement (should further requirements arise and resources
permit. The last release of this componentry (v0.4.0), both its binary and SDK
versions, will remain on the Javaco downloads page) with a notice that the
componentry is no longer actively developed or supported.[4]
2. Remove from
the Eclipse CVS repository the ACTF Web Validation Componentry (Webelo) feature
and its related plugins and resources. Because contributors and commiters to
this project have been solely from the IBM HA&AC, the HA&AC will
maintain control over decisions about the projectthe 's reactivation or
enhancement (should further requirements arise and resources permit. The last release
of this componentry (v0.2.0), both its binary and SDK versions, will remain on
the Webelo downloads page[5] with a notice that the componentry is no longer
actively developed or supported.
3. Remove from
the Eclipse CVS repository the ACTF Accessibility Probe (AccProbe) RCP
application as well as its related plugins and resources. AccProbe will remain
an Eclipse RCP application but further development and enhancements will be
directed by the HA&AC and by the IAccessible2 community residing at the
Linux Foundation [6] and in a code repository designated by that organization.
The last release of AccProbe (v0.4.4), both its binary and SDK versions, will
remain on the AccProbe downloads page[7] with a notice that the new home
of AccProbe is the Linux Foundation.
Of course, any
plugins or resources that are shared between our components and components thus
far developed by other teams within IBM or by external committers will remain
in the Eclipse CVS repository hosting ACTF and these can be developed as their
leads see fit.
We would like
feedback from the members of the ACTF community and other interested parties
regarding this proposal. The proposed time table for the restructure is
as follows:
1. host a phone
conference for the ACTF community and other interested parties regarding this
matter by the end of January 2010.
2. receive any
concerns or questions about this proposal within four weeks of the date of this
proposal being posted to this list
3. alert the
ACTF community of any changes or updates given feedback to this proposal
4. alert the
Technology PMC of the final proposal
5. assuming
there are no objections, implement the above restructuring
We suspect that
the restructuring will be complete by the end of February 2010. We look forward
to your feedback and to speaking with you at our upcoming teleconference.
[1] http://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/technology-pmc/msg02202.html
[2] http://www.eclipse.org/projects/dev_process/development_process.php#6_2_6_Ar
[3] http://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/technology-pmc/msg02204.html
[4] http://www.eclipse.org/actf/downloads/components/javaco/index.php
[5] http://www.eclipse.org/actf/downloads/components/webelo/index.php
[6] http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/accessibility/iaccessible2
[7] http://www.eclipse.org/actf/downloads/tools/accprobe/index.php
--> Mike Squillace
IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center
W:512.286.8694
M:512.970.0066
External: http://www.ibm.com/able
Internal: http://w3.ibm.com/able