[development] enterprise needs

[Benson Wong]

Hi Ann,

> Dries and chx are really nice people when you talk with them in person.

I met Dries a couple of times. I have a lot of respect for him.

> I agree with you that Drupal's lack of backwards compatibility makes it
> difficult for enterprise users.  One of the biggest enterprise users
> told me he plans to never upgrade.  Other enterprise users I spoke with
> about this  have reached the same conclusion.

I think I have a much clearer understanding of Drupal's nature and
developer side now. A lot of the feedback was constructive and if
anything, has helped me make the big decision of whether choosing
Drupal, or continuing to use it as our corporate CMS is the right
decision.

Before developing with Drupal, I didn't care much about the
development processes behind the scenes. I just downloaded it,
installed it and used it. Now that I've invested a lot of time into
writing drupal code, and had at some exposure to the developer culture
behind it, I actually have opinion about some things.

My boss made a great observation about Drupal. It's too hard to use,
too "techie". That's pretty true on the flip side too. Regardless of
my skills, I find it difficult to make positive contributions to core.

I can "fix bugs", but why when the original authors are the most
qualified to fix those bugs?

I can "find bugs", but I wonder why don't we have better quality
control in the first place. Isn't introducing _more_ bugs with every
new feature a clear indication our processes need to be examined?

I can contribute modules. I have a slick authenticated web service
module but have been waiting on a CVS account for a couple of weeks. I
can host and source control my own module, but there's no way to add
it to contributions on the site. Frustrating.

Take it as a rant or criticism, but being less techie, isn't
neccessarily a bad thing. In the end, I just want to see Drupal do
well. I want to contribute, and I want to do it without having to
spend a lot of time stroking egos and doing grunt work.

Thanks.
Ben.