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I'm not sure where to go with this so I thought I'd bounce it off this forum. A number of interesting black market downloads for black pearl seemed to be orphaned. The Amazing K2 SmartObject project looks like a good idea, but since it's not supported I would expect the source code to be available so the community could keep it updated. However, even though there are links, they are all dead. I've tried contacting the author, but no joy. There was a project setup for nunit automated testing support that looked interesting too, but there isn't even a file download, and again the project author hasn't replied.

 

So, it seems like the black market is using kind of a open source vibe, but the reality seems more like "I'll upload some code I played with and hope for some love". 😉 If this was more open source like, the source would be required, and provisions would be made so that if the author goes awol, the project could be taken over by somebody else. I like the idea of using some of this black market stuff, but if it truly not maintainable, then I think I would have to walk away.

Thoughts?

As of relese 807, the Amazing SmartObject tool is included with blackpearl.  You can find it in program filesk2 blackpearlservicebrokerSmartObject Service tester.exe.  It is an excellent utility and I use it nearly every day.  I just tried the links for this tool on underground and they worked for me.


Your thoughts about blackmarket are welcome.  However, as an author of numerous projects on blackmaket, I would like to give you a different perspective.  Even though I include full source code and documentation, I receive numerous emails on each project asking me to customize it in some way that is unqiue to the requestor or asking for hours of my time for free consulting.  Never once on any of my projects has anyone ever contributed a single line of code for an enhancement.  There are not enough hours in the day for me to perform these kinds of services.


If you want to improve the process, make a difference.  Volunteer to be a contributor on a project you are interested in, and then contribute.  It can start with one person and I assure you any contributions you make would be welcome.

Actually, volunteering to help with a project in the open source sense was what I was hoping to accomplish. It is also why I tried to reach the project leads. The point here is that in the open source world the supporting sites, sourceforge, codeplex and so on, start out from the start assuming that without source code and a clear license, others are unable to contribute or to make long term decisions about the viability of the code. So make the source available, and make it clear how to make changes and get them included in future releases.


Trying to set up the black market so the project initiator is expected to field ehancement requests for free will never work. Many open source projects make the same mistake. Building a community around each project is essential, and without it, you would be taking a real risk including any of the black market code in your own K2 projects.

I completely agree with you, and love the feedback. I have been struggling to figure out how best to accomplish turning the blackmarket into a codeplex like setup.  We have had great difficulty in figuring out how to accomplish this.  I have in the plans to completely revamp blackmarket in the next 6months.  I would LOVE to get feedback from the community on how best to set it all up.  What would it do, how would it look etc. etc.


 


 

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