| Home | Introduction | Ratings Viewer | Open Source |
| The concept of Open Source development in the software world has
been around for decades. Go to Google, type in Open Source, and read about
the number of projects that were developed in this fashion. Everything from
operating systems, web browsers, spread sheets, word processors and much more have been
developed using Open Source methodologies. The concept is simple. Allow virtually anyone to contribute to the project by feeding their contributions (in the case of software it means pieces of code) into a controlled central location. In the shuffleboard world there aren't many programmers, but I know of at least 2. One is me and the other is Eugene Peach, who from what I've heard, will be working with the TSA and Bowers to develop rating database software. Joining forces, whether it be just Peach and me, or others that may be out there would greatly speed the process. The concept of Open Source not only applies to software, but in this case, applies to the ratings, themselves. In recent years there has been a movement to "protect" the ratings so that people could not easily put them into digital format (specifically, in Excel format). In 2005 I was asked to encrypt the ratings used in Computer Peas in an effort to prevent others from obtaining the ratings in a format that would be conducive to (1) making tournament registration easier, and (2) running statistical analysis applications (which can be done by a non-programmer using tools like Excel). Although I complied with the request to encrypt the ratings, I made my opinion clear from the very start that I did not agree with this strategy. The point is, in order to move ahead as quickly as possible, and use computers to their fullest potential in the world of shuffleboard, we must do so in a cooperative fashion (as opposed to a competitive fashion). We, as a community, do not have the funds to approach a software development company to commission them to analyze and develop the tools we should be using. We do, however, have at least 2 programmers, and many non-programmers who could be contributing to these efforts. Non-programmers include anybody from web designers, to Excel users, to anyone that may come up with an idea. People will come up with ideas if they are allowed to view the information as demonstrated in the prototypes in this presentation. Please contact me with any questions or comments. Eddie Brayman EMail: etheb@aol.com Phone: (209) 825-9291 |