Move to Alfresco? My conclusion: No

Here is the short version of my considered opinion on the topic of
whether the Docs team should change to using Alfresco for the
production and delivery of user documentation or continue with what
we're using now (ODFAuthors + wiki).

My conclusion: at this time it is not worth making the change from
what we're doing now, although some refinement of our workflow and
file naming practices is necessary and worth doing.

Summary of reasons:

Firstly, we are discussing at least two separate needs:
* Production - what works best for the Docs team
* Delivery - what works best for the consumers (users)

In neither case do I see a clear advantage of Alfresco over our
current setup (ODFAuthors + wiki).

Production: Alfresco has some features that could convey advantages,
but ONLY IF the Docs team use those features consistently and
correctly. Based on past experience, I can't see that happening.
Worse, learning to use those features could well act as a further
barrier to participation. Any time people need to learn a bunch of new
tools to do a bit of volunteer work, many of them are likely to either
do it wrong or badly, do it not at all, or decide it's all too hard
and quit. (This is quite apart from the related discussion on workflow
and file naming.)

Delivery: Even IF the interested and knowledgable people take the time
to set up Alfresco and get it integrated with other TDF/LO services, I
can't see any real advantage to consumers in looking up docs on
media.LO.org vs the wiki and downloading them from either site. Note
that I don't see disadvantages either.

I would still like to hear from other team members who have not yet
expressed an opinion.

Regards, Jean
Team Leader, LibreOffice Documentation

Hi Jean,

Thanks for having taken the time to fully weigh the pros and cons of
the subject. I accept that there is justifiable logic in your
arguments.

As the LibreOffice docs team has been the only real user of the
Alfresco platform, if no opinions to the contrary are expressed, I
propose to take the current platform offline (it's been there for
TDF's use and evaluation since January 2011). I'll consult with
Florian Effenberger about whether to move it to a TDF-operated server.
However, if the docs team is not going to be a client for it, he will
probably decide against that, since Alfresco requires amounts of
memory and disk space that are not insignificant and - preferably -
should run on a dedicated server (such as I've been providing since
December 2011), and the necessary resources aren't really justifiable
if the tool is not actively used.

Before I take that step, I'll wait for any other voices to be heard.

Any other opinions?

I don't use Alfresco if I can help it. I find it very offputting.

Hi guys,

Well, I left everyone space to think and there was no feedback, so I
have terminated the Alfresco platform.

Thus, that is an issue that can be permanently laid to rest. :wink:

I hope I got everything off it that I wanted. Same for others who might have had things there. You know, the end of the northern summer holidays isn't the best time for expecting feedback from people. --Jean