>Stevedore > Blog >Stevedore > Blog
...because email is not the solution
Stevedore -- DocWorker for the heavy lifting
The website julianlocals.com/stevedore has a new free hosting service, heliohost.org.
The web site now has actual Screen Shots. They cover the major user actions:
The web site main page has been redone so that the Blog now has its own page. The Deployment Notes have gotten a major overhaul. Also, the Firefox Add-on has been updated so that it works using the local file system rather than requiring the Stevedore server system to have a web server. The code in LaunchPad is functional. We are just waiting on instruction for placing the new version in the Mozilla Add-on site.
Stevedore code has been placed into the launchpad.net Stevedore Project. This allows the code and documentation to be accessed freely. This web site has been established at julianlocals.com/stevedore for the user documents. Also, the site specific info has been removed.
The Samba share stevedore is now the place for internal documents. Documents will be migrated from email attachments, the various other silo-ed Samba shares, user home folders and thumb drives. There will be individual training on the use of Stevedore and on the process of migrating documents into Stevedore.
The first release of Stevedore has been installed. Stevedore v1.0-11 provides access by users to view documents. Editor access is limited. Documents are accessible on Samba share stevedore. A few early adapters will be accessing the documents with Stevedore as viewers.
A colleague has sent me a link to an on-line book, Getting Real, which discusses how to quickly deliver and succeed with new software products. One of the driving ideas is that a software product should be very lean-- it should not do everything. This limit on its features makes it easier for users to understand, for it to be deployed, and for it to be developed and maintained. This lean approach makes it possible to get the first release out the door quickly. The first release will meet just a fraction of the product's final goals. It will be very limited and may even have a bug, but the sooner users get a hold of it, the sooner feedback will be available.
A new document management system for internal documents is underway, "...because email is not the solution, Stevedore -- DocWorker for the heavy lifting". The user will need no new applications. Just click on Firefox CheckOut button and edit files normally with OpenOffice. Check the document back in by a click on the OpenOffice CheckIn button.
Based upon a rapid release cycle, it will soon be ready for its first use. Numerous documentation management systems have been reviewed. None of them are lightweight enough to meet the requirements for a simple enough system. Stevedore became a reality because of an insight into a relatively new feature in Linux that came to light. This allows a system in which users will not need to learn a new application. Linux is the operating system behind the scenes of the Samba shares. In the same way that the user has no need to learn Linux to use a Samba share, so too Stevedore's undercover use of Linux will be invisible to the user.
stevedore_product_blog.html 31-Jul-2014 C.W.Holeman II Webmaster