Re: Our next move...

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 21:29:52 -0500
 "Waseem S Bakr" <bakr at MIT dot EDU> wrote:
> 
[snip snip of alot of good points]
>
> QaMoose, helpful as it is, won't be used by someone outside arabeyes, 
> so it's just an internal project.

Well, two things - since its inception it was tailored for Arabeyes'
translation team's whims/demands (so make sure to USE IT :-), so yes its
a bit Arabeyes-centric.  Second, you'd be amazed how many people have
been interested and have downloaded various releases of QaMoose (meaning,
someone out there thinks its useful too - thankfully :-).  But I think
your point is well made -- not to be project specific and be more broad
minded (and we are aware of that pit-fall).

> The rea!
> dm!
> e is clear, so I'm not saying that Nadim should change it, but simply, the 
> whole patching process is the wrong approach. Arabization should be part
> of the vim installation. We shouldn't install vim and then patch it.

The current VIM patching is in fact temporary, as I hope.  Please note the
vim project page and note status entry dated Dec 31,

  http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/vim.php

I'm in contact with VIM's author and am pushing for our patch's inclusion
into their main source trunk.

That was and is the plan for all external project - "that" being the
incorporation of Arabeyes' code into the application's main trunk.  And
per the dreamy "about" page ;-)

    "Arabeyes' goal is not to create new applications (if those
     applications exist), but to incorporate modifications/additions
     to existing common everyday-use applications."

> I think it was Mohammed Gamal who suggested translating Gnome. I think we 
> should focus on one environment at a time. It's much better to provide
> the world with a fully arabiized envionment rather than providing two
> partially arabized ones.

Certainly with enough help and volunteers - various projects can be executed
in parallel and that was our intent.  If we had enough volunteers we'd start
on all our projects at once, but we don't and thus can't.  If Mr. Gamal
(he's THE machine for a reason :-) wants to start on Gnome, then by all
means.  Keep in mind that Arabeyes is by volunteers for volunteers, but there
have to be some ground rules.  We have to establish a number of seriously
committed people to continue working on KDE if work is to start on Gnome
(there is no harm in working on both as long as a true commitment is given
and people's WORDS are given along those lines).  Its certainly NOT my
decision, but in previous exchanges that was what was noted and what was
agreed-upon.

> Most of what I said requires programming... a thing that not all of the 
> translators may be proficient at. Hence, I did not put it under the
> priority list. Translation should be continuous. Even if we finish what
> we have on the list, we can move on to games and docs however silly they
> seem. The Arabeyes project should always be there. It shouldn't stop at
> any cost. If we're done with one project, there are plenty of others to
> transate. What I propose is that the programming projects go side by side
> with the translation efforts, so that everyone who can program writes code,
> while everyone who doesn't, translates. The two things should be go hand
> in hand, and should not be treated as separate items that are to be done
> one after the other.

And they have - "programming projects go side by side with the translation
efforts"; that's why I've committed close to 0 .po files :-)  As noted to
get these 'programming projects' going we need capable volunteers with
programming knowledge and a commitment to finish the required work - and
we unfortunately don't have more than 2-3 people trying to help in those
fields (we can certainly use help there, but NOT at the expense of the
translation work).  This is a fine line between commitment and overwhelming
people :-)  As always, since we're on the topic, it would be ideal and very
helpful if you'all could invite and inform your friends/associates/etc
about this effort and our needs.  We also need a couple of artists (for a
logo and for some font work, etc :-)

> Let's hope for a long and prosperous future for Arabeyes.

We really hope so too :-)  Keep that work coming (and thanks btw), the
only way we can ensure Arabeyes' survival is by being results oriented
and by catering to ourselves and by reaching out to more and more of our
capable brethren (and sister'n :-) for help and support.

Waseem, I truly thank you for your thoughts and concerns (kudos to ya).

Oh uh - waseem "THE thinker" :-)

 - Nadim


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