You are right to some extent about the forum. That is partially due to many problems we’ve had with Tiki Wiki, which is scheduled for replacement. While it is true that occasionally a post remains unanswered, it is my feeling that the core development team is quite responsive.

Thanks for your comment and welcome to the community.

Alex

Empowerment. Finally having found a really good tool for my work. Getting more done in less time, while having more fun at the same time. Life is good

Insecurity. Dead community, not much posting in the forums. If something doesn’t work, then what? Search the forums? Hmm.. not much content yet. Post a question? Maybe you get an answer, maybe not. It’s scary.

As for the things you are listing, you’re already doing all of them in some shape. I think that, at this point in time, the main things Poco needs is – persistence and patience. It’s like cooking, or fruit ripening – it’s a process and it takes time. You can not “microwave” it – it’ll be done when it’s done. And that will happen when the word spreads far and wide enough. Majority of people who know Poco love it. But I’ve been at SD West recently and only two people (out of couple of dozen I’ve talked to) have heard of Poco. And we’re talking hard-core C++ crowd here. It takes roughly a decade to build a community that makes a difference.

The moves you guys have done so far, licensing, website and all, are logical. The only thing I’d say is – embedded is nice and well, but make sure you don’t downplay the “regular computing” domain – Poco can and should do very well there.

BTW, your link points to Classical Voice of North Carolina . Here’s the correct: link. Interesting.

Yes you are right. The feelings or emotions are only the surface. Behind that is what matters. I’m going not so far as you and Alexander not to name it, because i think we need a “starting point” a “label” to come into contact, altough it can’t be expressed precisely. I think what is behind the feelings or emotings are the needs. Needs as expressed by Marshal Rosenberg (http://www.cvnc.org) are the vital source, the “heart” of being right and “alive”, if they are fulfilled.

Let me try to argument this on taking your answers. For my understanding now is POCO your choice because you are getting fulfilled your needs of

- a joyful programming experience

- trust, safety and stability in the solution, but i think also being seen as an expert in your organization

- support, if something is going wrong

- community, to share common interests and passions

Don’t get me wrong – this must not be your reality! This is only an imperfect try to interpret your thoughts to understand you and being connected with you. A “deep” understanding can only be achieved by a dialog.

What i wanted to show is that for a tool, a language, a framework, .. – even for common interest in the community, to be a choice on the individul level you need to fulfill the needs of each individual. To do so, you need to know them. Without knowing or “labeling” them, what shall you do? How do you know if you are still doing right ? What should you do if you are not doing right? What should you do attracting others with the same needs?

E.g. lets take the need of a “joyful programming experience”. Maybe there are others out there, who are sharing your need. Because of “labeling” it, in my mind there are now solutions like

- making a newsletter writing small articels showing how easily a program can be build with Poco
- making a video showing the joy of programming with Poco
- getting testimonials, short stories showing some of the joy
- ….

What else ?

As for the emotions, sure, they are the first thing you experience. But then, thinking (i.e. reason) should take over before the decision is made. Asacker mentions it, too: Sense -> Feel -> Think -> Do

But I think what you (and Asacker) are talking about is not emotions – it’s what Alexander calls “a quality without a name” (clearly, I’ve done some reading already). No room to fully explain it here, anyone curious about the whole thing should read the books. But essentially, the quality can not be described with words, yet it is very precise according to Alexander. It can not be described by words exactly because it is so perfectly precise, hence no word can describe it fully. When the design has the quality, forces are in balance and cooperate well with each other, so the whole thing gives you this positive “feeling” of being right and “alive”.

I said long time ago why Poco, but let me now specifically answer your questions:

1) (a) Poco is very, very well designed. It turns programming into a joyful experience. (b) It is carefully crafted and stable – I can trust the thing. Yes, bugs happen, but my overall experience has been very positive and my code runs 24/7/365 in a demanding production environment – just deployed another Poco-based app this morning. (c) Support is good – I know there’s someone who cares about my troubles on the other side and if I have a problem it will be taken care of. (d) If I suggest something that makes sense, it will be accepted.

2) Because of 1), I like it and want to be part of it.

3) Start practicing dirty and sloppy coding or try to lock me in and you’ll lose me.