by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Tuesday June 30, 2009 @05:04PM (#28534765)
I work in a small shop that makes some use of Websphere Application Server and the Rational development tools. I basically find the entire structure of the IBM software offerings relating to the above technologies incomprehensible. Products are constantly being renamed, discontunued, bundled, unbundled and rebranded. Names are long, generic, and practically interchangeable, and so are the feature lists.
How do you plan to run a community support site based around this hodge-podge? I would assume the volatile nature of IBM's software marketing makes your task something approaching impossible. How do you expect to build a strong developer community based around products that are in a constant flux? I don't see any way around ending up with a large number of granular, isolated communities that spring up around specific products and thrive for a year or two. In short, how do you plan to unify a developer community without IBM first unifying the software development platform that this community is to be built around?
I think you'll find that the communities around the Rational "team tools" (like ClearCase and ClearQuest, and now Rational Team Concert) are somewhat different. In particular, half (or more) of the value around the team tools is their consistency and longevity (so for example, the ClearCase user community has been going strong for a decade or two). So I completely agree with your comments on the importance of consistency and community. That is why when we started the Jazz project to provide a common team
"Spock, did you see the looks on their faces?"
"Yes, Captain, a sort of vacant contentment."
Rational? (Score:3, Insightful)
I work in a small shop that makes some use of Websphere Application Server and the Rational development tools. I basically find the entire structure of the IBM software offerings relating to the above technologies incomprehensible. Products are constantly being renamed, discontunued, bundled, unbundled and rebranded. Names are long, generic, and practically interchangeable, and so are the feature lists.
How do you plan to run a community support site based around this hodge-podge? I would assume the volatile nature of IBM's software marketing makes your task something approaching impossible. How do you expect to build a strong developer community based around products that are in a constant flux? I don't see any way around ending up with a large number of granular, isolated communities that spring up around specific products and thrive for a year or two. In short, how do you plan to unify a developer community without IBM first unifying the software development platform that this community is to be built around?
Thank you.
Re: (Score:1)