KOffice Sprint 2008 Starting

Some 20 KOffice developers have gathered at the KDAB offices to discuss and prepare the upcoming release of KOffice 2.0. Read on to learn about what the meeting is for and what is on the agenda to be sorted before the big release.

Saturday morning, 9 o'clock. Some 20 people have gathered at the gate before the KDAB offices to discuss and prepare the upcoming release of KOffice2.0. They are excited. This release will be a big step for the KOffice project. The community has worked on this for over 2 years. Much thought has been put into an architecture ready for the new millennium. After all, computers are becoming more and more important. Expectations are rising. Yet progress seems slow. There has been an almost complete lack of innovation in the Office space between 1995 and 2005. There has been a little movement lately, but nothing incredibly special. KOffice has a clear vision: build an architecture capable of supporting every crazy idea out there. Create the freedom to be creative, and allow it to happen.

The purpose of this meeting is twofold. First of all, the current state of KOffice will be discussed. The parts of KOffice which will be released should be put under scrutiny. The KOffice developers choose those applications which are mature enough to benefit from feedback and input from the larger community. They might not be entirely ready for the end user, but they must be ready for at least some light use. That way users can give some meaningful input, and steer development in the right direction. The workflow in the application needs to be analysed and optimised. A list of issues needs to be compiled. What are showstopper bugs, what areas are in urgent need of resources?

The second goal for this meeting is to discuss how to introduce this new release. Recently the website, logos, release announcements and other marketing related topics have been discussed. The team needs to come to conclusions, and start preparing. We need release notes, an announcement, a better website and a more general strategy. Yes, we are growing up: Free Software is thinking about strategy these days.

Saturday morning, 9 o'clock. The doors open, and we are welcomed by the KDAB employees. Up the elevator, into the offices and on to work. There is a tight schedule and a lot of work ahead of us. Of course, the developers will blog about what happens. And you can expect an article with the first results and some impressions tomorrow!