[pp.int.general] Pirate Party of Germany replaces proprietary software with FLOSS(?)

[Sebastian Nerz]

 On Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:13:27 +0200, Mirco da Silva wrote:
> Am 02.08.2011 13:47, schrieb Sebastian Nerz
>
>> 3) The federal board of the Pirate Party Germany would have loved to 
>> use
>> FLOSS.
>> We would glady support the development of a FLOSS-alternative
>
> So, do you support an application to the national board and the 
> national
> convention to charge the FLOSS-Workgroup with the replacement of
> proprietary party administration tools with FLOSS-Solutions?

 No, why should I? You don't need the approval of the board or the 
 convention to
 start the development and there is no reason for asking it.
 (Neither is there the possibility to wait the time it will take to 
 develop a new
 solution)

>> So far not a single team and/or developer has contacted us wanting 
>> to
>> develop a solution.
>
>
> I've done a call for participation two and a half hours ago - via
> status.net/ident.ca of course ;) - and until now three (german) devs
> showed up their interest and asked for the specs.
>
> BTW, here are the specs (in german)
> 
> http://wiki.piratenpartei.de/wiki//index.php?title=IT/Buchhaltungssoftware/Lastenheft

 Please contact the treasurer for the specs of the current solution

>> The Pirate Party Germany exists for 5 years - so far
>> we haven't produced a solution.
>
>
> We are working on it. Now. ;)

 That's very reassuring seeing that you knew for a couple of years that 
 there is a need. Its not as if the search over the last months and years 
 was secret ;)
 
>
>> But we need one and we need it *now*. So
>> right at this moment we don't have any alternative to using
>> closed-source software.
>
> We are 12K pirates in DE since 2009.
> OMG, how did we survive in the last two years?

 Going from crisis to crisis, thanks for asking. And you know that the 
 auditors critized last years report.

> Dear Sebastian, please help us to replace the current proprietary
> solution with FLOSS - step by step - but asap.
>
> One step would be/have been an export-function for the data to 
> migrate
> to FLOSS some day, that I cant find in the specs so far. :-/

 As we do need a DATEV-export in order to get an audit this is already 
 taken into account ;)

>> I'm looking forward to seeing a FLOSS that can handle membership,
>> finance controlling, donation-controlling (and certified donation
>> receipt-building accepted by the tax authorities) usable by 
>> non-nerds.
>
> I guess the state administrations that we demands to use FLOSS have 
> way
> more higher standards that must be fullfilled.

 And they have much more money ;)
 
>> But you will excuse if I dont believe in it.
>
> So, how can you support something, that you dont believe in?

 I do believe in FLOSS. I just don't believe that (at this moment) we 
 are capable of developing a party-wide accounting tool. We simply dont 
 have the manpower - and we have much more important things to do (e.g. 
 politics because we are a party and not a software-company ;) )

> Referring to our political agenda, too?

 Please stop ad-hominem discussions. You are already using far too many 
 on the national discussion list.

>> 4) In order to keep this list in workable conditions I invite 
>> critics to
>> discuss internal affairs of the Pirate Party Germany on our own 
>> lists.
>
>
> In order to make the developement of a FLOSS to adminstrate pirate
> partys everywhere, I invite you to make this an international pirate
> party issue, and count on the support you've pledged here.

 If you want the ppi to support your development please contact the 
 board of the ppi - I am a member of the national board, not the 
 international. Easy mistake to be made ;)
 
>> Its annoying that
>> we spend more time discussing tools then we spend discussing e.g. 
>> the
>> european plans to monitor bank accounts and flight-plans...
>
>
> ACK, so lets go ahead and solve these issue asap.
>
> How many (german pirate partys) money can we exspect from you (the
> national board) to get the international developement started?

 First order of work: Get the team together and started.

 regards,

 Sebastian