> Hasan Karaboga wrote:
> > Sorry for my late reply. I'd said that I would ask 4-5 questions; but my
> > friends have also contributed, so there are more than 5 questions. If
> you
> > have not enough time, you may not answer all of them. Thank you very
> much
> > for your interest.

> Hi Hasan.

> Thanks for contacting us.  I've forwarded your questions to the Habari
> project team, and have collected their replies, which you will find
> below.  I'm CCing the habari-users mailing list, so that they can see
> our answers, too!  Please feel free to select the responses you wish to
> publish in your article.  If you have any additional questions, or need
> anything clarified, please do not hesitate to contact me / us.

> Cheers,
> Scott

> The current complete list of project members is:
> chrisdmitri   (http://chrisjdavis.org/)
> rbowen2000    (http://wooga.drbacchus.com/)
> smerrill      (http://skippy.net/)
> epithet       (http://asymptomatic.net/)
> randy.walker  (http://randywalker.net/)
> jaypipes      (http://www.jpipes.com/)
> nemo8686      (http://caius.name/)
> brokenkode    (http://www.brokenkode.com/)
> moeffju       (http://www.moeffju.net/)
> lairmail      (http://lair.fierydragon.org/)
> umbrae        (http://www.umbrae.net/)
> sylvermoon    (http://bytehavenwebworks.com/)
> matt.r.read   (http://www.mattread.com/)

> > 1. What is the advantage of Habari's object oriented programming for the
> > end-users?

> * moeffju:
> If by "end users" you mean people who "just" use the software without
> ever dabbling in theme or plugin creation, then there is no direct
> benefit for them. Indirectly, everyone benefits from a clean codebase,
> though: If it's easier to develop for the platform, there will be more
> choice for the end-user, whether it's themes or plugins. A clean and
> modular codebase also makes it easier for new people to join the project.

> * epithet:
> Object-oriented code requires more mental discipline during its
> initial construction than traditional top-down coding.  The result of
> the extra work is more modular code that is easier to understand and
> extend.  End users will never need to know that the code is object
> oriented to reap the additional benefits that developers will be able
> to provide as a result.

> There are other benefits to Habari's coding standards beyond OOP,
> including a commitment to inline documentation.  Something crazy like
> 30% of the overall size of the code is currently documentation.
> Standardizing on the next important version of PHP gives Habari an
> advantage as well.

> * lairmail:
> It depends largely on the type of end user.

> Plugin authors and theme developers benefit from not having to worry
> about global variables and (in my personal opinion) the cleaner
> structure of code in an object oriented system.

> If you just need to run a blog? Then there is no direct benefit; but
> the focus on a design upfront helps bring about cleaner code. In
> theory, at least. How well this works in practice is something you
> should judge for yourself by looking at the Habari code.

> * chrisdmitri
> I would say that average end users will reap the benefits of our object
> model every time they load a page, or publish an entry.  Habari is
> considerably faster than any other blog/CMS I have used and a large
> reason for that is the lean, object oriented code we have written.

> * smerrill
> Object oriented programming provides a lot of flexibility "under the
> hood". While end-users won't directly make use of this flexibility,
> developers can use this to make the end-user experience better.  Our
> object model allows developers to create new post types easily (think
> podcasting, video, etc) and the Habari internals will all _just work_.
> The end user will be freed from juggling some of the more complex
> plugins in other blog solutions.

> > 2. Some of the developers of Habari were contributing to WordPress at
> past.
> > What are the most important reasons for you, for leaving WordPress, and
> > starting Habari Project? Were you bothered because of WordPress team's
> > commercial activities?

> * sylvermoon:
> Personally, my reasons for looking away from WordPress are several-fold:

> 1. While commercial activities aren't bad in and of themselves even in
> supposedly "open source" software, covert commercial activities (that
> is, those which the wider userbase discovers only by accident) are
> distasteful in the extreme.  I have a hard time recommending software to
> clients where anything hidden goes on.

> 2. WordPress migrated from a mostly team-oriented development affair
> into a dictatorship, where only the "name" associated with the software
> makes any decisions, and quite frequently in my view they're the wrong
> decisions.

> 3. WordPress, instead of being continued in development in one direction
> has now two branches.  The "old" branch in my viewpoint should have been
> made as solid as possible rather than the developer chasing the newest
> toys simply because he's far more interested in web20 than necessary -
> all that "web20-ness" could quite well be done within the plugin
> community rather than bloating the code with it and forcing it on those
> for whom it's of no use whatsoever.  The only reason I'm still using WP
> on client sites is that the 2.0 "old" branch is still being supported -
> presumably through early 2010 if the dev can be believed.

> * epithet:
> Being so involved in WordPress for the years prior to Habari makes
> this a difficult, involved, and somewhat political question to answer.

> Primarily, Habari is a group of people I like to work with.  Working
> within the Habari community feels like the early days of my
> involvement with WordPress.  I expect that Habari, like WordPress,
> will have pains as it grows, but I trust that the people I'm doing
> this with share my ideals for creating a truly open blogging platform,
> and will help evolve the project in the direction that is best.  It's
> really the compact that Habari works with and the community that
> agrees to it that makes Habari superior.

> If WordPress could do anything that would have me consider them again,
> it would be to release the WordPress code to the community under a
> neutral custodial organization, rather than Automattic holding it
> hostage for their own commercial use.  The irony is that without the
> leadership that Automattic provides, a truly open source WordPress
> might not survive, for many of the same reasons that a fork of
> WordPress would find it difficult to survive.

> * chrisdmitri
> As with epithet, this is a hard, messy question to answer.  I was very
> involved in the WP community for a number of years and still have a lot
> of love for the community.  As I have said before, I came to a place in
> my understanding of OSS development that made it necessary to leave WP
> and find something new.  I wanted to develop in a community that was
> open to everyone's input and rewarded hard work, regardless of who you
> were.  That is why I helped start Habari.

> * smerrill
> I was not bothered at all by the commercial activities surrounding
> WordPress. If I had been, I would have argued strenuously against
> Habari's use of the Apache Software License, which is arguably much more
> business-friendly than the GNU Public License.

> In my experience, WordPress is open source in name only.  More
> precisely, the WordPress code is, for most people, read-only.  As time
> goes by, the number of people who are able to meaningfully add new code
> dwindles. Moreover, it seems to me that WordPress, as it gets older, has
> developed an aversion to experimentation.  It was for these reasons that
> I was so excited to join the Habari team.  We want to encourage (and
> reward!) participation and experimentation.

> > 3. There are lots of blogging systems in the world. What are the
> > differences
> > and advantages of Habari, and why people should use Habari instead of
> > WordPress and other blog software?

> * sylvermoon:
> 1.  Habari is a built-from-the-ground-up blogging system.  Other systems
> seem to have been tacked onto over time without consideration of where
> the software started, where it's been in the meantime, or where it's
> going.

> Habari's coders are longtime blog software users.  They spent many
> months discussing what a "pipeline" schematic of a good blogging program
> should look like, and that's what they're providing - unlike the "DIY
> plumber" sort....

> 2.  Habari uses state-of-the-art technology/backend programs rather than
> relying (except for html4.0 *sigh*) on programs which if not already
> dated will be soon.  Forward thinking/forward moving is inherently
> preferable, since "the internet is a fluid non-living organism which
> changes on a micro-milliseconds basis" (I made that one up myself) -
> which means no one's going to keep up with or on top of it, but living
> in the past (php4 etc.) isn't wise....

> 3.  I won't say "people should use Habari instead of WordPress" etc.  I
> will say that people should have a better choice of options from which
> to select.  And that I believe Habari is a better choice for many even
> now in beta, and will be much more so in the future.

> * moeffju:
> Habari starts with a clean slate, is lean and mean and modular and
> "agile". This gives us a chance to closely follow our users wishes and
> current trends and letting people pick and choose their functionality
> instead of just forcing a big, monolithic app on them.

> * epithet:
> Unlike anything already available, Habari was conceived after blogging
> for