Would the Documentation Team be interested in us releasing our end-user docs?

Great to see the positive response from eveyone - it should really help in pursuading the powers that be that open-sourcing our docs would be a good idea.

I’d just like to say 3 things:

1 - I, perhaps foolishly, made this post just before I went on holiday for a few days - I’ll be back on Wednesday.
2 - We think that the docs we’ve written are ok but we know that they need improving - they’re pretty good, but it’s not Shakespeare.
3 - I haven’t spoken to the people at work yet, so I can’t make any promises. They may agree or they may not - I will do my best.

When I get back I will email a few people here copies (in confidence) so they can have a lookand I will attempt to persuade work of the benefits of releasing the documentation.

Thankyou for your support and I’ll keep you posted.

Dunc.

Howe can they say no to give back to something they got for free in the first place.

Tell them the team that has collectively invested tens of thousands of hours—and hasn’t thought twice about giving away the effort with no strings attached but with full expectations for the community and users that benefit to reciprocate in some way—would appreciate it tremendously.

Yes please try and release the end user docs!

I have very basic MS Word documentation but your solution sounds fantastic. If you need a hand just let me know

Quote from: dflock at May 05, 2008, 12:15 PM

they’re pretty good, but it’s not Shakespeare.

That sounds like a whole other project, maybe a bit like this one.

But seriously, I would love to see this happen. And as generous a contribution as it would be to release your in-house docs, I think your colleagues would find their efforts matched by the community in updates etc. With your end-user content and OpenGeek’s plans for DocBook/wiki integration, we could have the foundation needed to get a lot more people involved in the editing. To quote from another thread:
Quote from: smashingred at Sep 23, 2007, 07:13 PM

once ... the community has a stable core to base their writing on then people will be able to get into the WIki to keep it current.

Yum, good, well-thought -out documentation is sorely needed around here. Thanks!

What’s that big deal in publishing an existing doc or not?

Ok - sorry for the delay - I’ve finally got around to speaking to everyone concerned at work and they all agreed to release our docs - we’re good to go!

Now I need to know what to do next and need some advice on licenses.

Ryan & Jason - did you get my email the other day?

I don’t recall getting one, but it’s been a crazy last 30 days... :/

Quote from: dflock at May 14, 2008, 05:55 PM

Ok - sorry for the delay - I’ve finally got around to speaking to everyone concerned at work and they all agreed to release our docs - we’re good to go!

Now I need to know what to do next and need some advice on licenses.

Ryan & Jason - did you get my email the other day?

Yes, I received the documentation. As for licensing advice, well... that’s ultimately up to you, but we’ll discuss and get back to you as soon as we can.