[software] Call for evaluation of Donor.com

[Josh Berkus]

Bradley,

> Donor.com should make a release under a FLOSS license *first*, then the
> steps you suggest can happen.  I have no interest in participating in a
> process of investing extremely limited time into testing, evaluating,
> receiving demos, and considering software that is not yet been released
> as FLOSS.  By your calendar, we spend September-April using proprietary
> software just to see if we like it. 

Well, then, that's feedback you should give to Mike.  Right now, he's 
just asking for a chance to give a 2-hour demo.

> Anyway, I hope that the resources of this effort don't get spent down
> such rat-holes.  Our message to Mike should be: "Show us the source.
> FLOSS is the standard way of doing software now.  You should do it,
> too.  We'll welcome you into our community when you're ready."

Dude, have a beer or something.  Mike is 100% behind open sourcing this. 
  However, the average age on the board of this organization is 55, so 
first he has to explain to them what OSS *is*.

> This isn't much different than CiviCRM, then?  Technically speaking,
> other issues above aside, I would be hesitant to have a system that
> doesn't have an auditable accounting system already implemented.

Well, unlike CiviCRM it actually tracks finances and is already set up 
to generate a GL feed for an accounting program to consume.  In theory, 
DonorWare has an old GL package which can be updated, but I think it's 
more likely that we'd just set up xTuple or TinyERP to consume 
DonorWare's feed.  Or add our own GL feed.

Also, I'd appreciate it if you followed up on links before launching 
into a critique.  You're obviously writing an off-the-cuff response.

>  This
> is why I have been so pushing toward an existing ERP package (although I
> admit I still haven't read your message on that in detail yet).

Suffice it to day that no ERP system I have reviewed to date is going to 
work for us without 100's of hours of work, generally replacing the 
entire interface for the system.

Unless someone tells me otherwise, I think that most of the Foundations 
will prefer to wait and see if Donor.com gets open sourced (at least a 
couple of months) to funding a from-scratch effort.  So even if you 
don't approve, it certainly changes the game for *me*.  And I don't 
think that the Conservancy alone has the funds to underwrite a 
development effort.

--Josh Berkus