but are you saying that you think that we should be encouraging more serious software?

-Perry Mowbray (April 18, 2010, 04:11 AM)

Absolutely but the outlook on this may be bleak.

If you read this article writen by mouser published in April 2006:
https://www.donationcoder.com/Articles/One/index.html

I had an account on this site early in 2006 and my understanding was that the article dealt with real-life problems and solutions at DC at the time but more importantly pursuing something (donationware as a concept maybe?) that was obviously larger than the site itself. It looked to me as an experiment pioneering ways to develop donationware sustainably.

Now if you look at DC exactly four years later, it chills you how little had actually changed over this long period...

Back then the site was all about mouser software and support forums (except for some freebies on the site coded by ppl like Skrommel and f0dder). Now look that the site may I say it extended little in essence from what it used to be? If you load up the software download page -- all these actively supported and popularly used software are still listed only under mouser's name, the rest are just either abandoned or forgotten (no seriously most NANYs don't count as software we all realize that). In the case of CircleDock, you know it's only very loosely associatedly with DC and the distance has always been there.

So in the last 4 years, did DC incubate any serious software under the model? I say no. Will it encourage any serious software in the future? Given the momentum and how things are going, very doubtful. Let's face it, the entire gravity of the site rests on things that were created back in 2005/6 and they have been slowly evolving for a few years forming rigid exo-skeletons and bone structrues leaving little room for new creations. And since the site lays on top of these programs it's entering maintenance stage as well, and there's nothing exciting about maintenance rly.

There probably will be a time when mouser himself loses interest in the site and the whole shebang is going to Internet Archives.

We're keen to make NANY a great event for entrants and users alike. Or are you saying it's past its use-by-date?

-Perry Mowbray (April 18, 2010, 04:11 AM)

Don't do it. Let holidays just be holidays, no more "as a DC regular/veteran/supporter/fanboy, you've got to pledge now to make something by NY's day!!" blah blah. It's becoming an annual tradition to embarass, not to enjoy. Just do some market research to see how many coders in there have REALLY got the urge and enthusiasm. I just refuse to believe these proggies are the culmination of weeks of exciting brainstorming and motivated coding efforts leading up to the mug distribution day.

Perry, instead of spending tons of efforts on something as silly as NANY, how about being a manager and get a DC group project rolling this year?

Hmm, have u guys got the feeling that NANY is becoming a yearly drill and to the majority of event participants there is no enthusiasm there?

This is probably an small indication of a bigger problem... that DC is on the decline (in terms of readership, participation and external press) and people are losing curiosity, interest and sense of attachment (for some) that they used to have.

Wakey wakey guys.