[TYPO3-dam] dam_downloads - future and features

[Karl-Ernst Kiel]

Hi!

Recently I mentioned that I´m working on a modified version of 
dam_downloads and immediately some people asked me not to upload another 
extension for dam download files to the TER.
They are right! So I´d like to start a discussion about the future of 
this extension or even more general about a "standard FrontEnd plugin 
for DAM".

These are my points:

- DAM is a great and important aspect of TYPO3
- dealing with DAM 1.0.x felt like building a house on sand
- DAM 1.1 is on the way - giving me the hope that "building on a rock" 
will be possible (which leads me to the question: What about the FE side 
of DAM?)
- there are already many DAM FE-Plugins in the TER (dam_downloadlist, 
dd_dam_gallery, kdo_dam_photogallery, sici_damdl, mm_dam_filelist, 
hl_dam_gallery, devable_gallery, dam_downloads, ...?)
- dam_downloads is the one that meets my needs in many projects
- I don´t know if Daniel Thomas is going to continue development of 
dam_downloads
- I know some people who were/are doing their own extension/version of 
dam_downloads

The question is:
Wouldn´t it be great to have a stable, well documented, "fully featured" 
(whatever that means - maybe meeting 95% of the amount of our demands) 
and extensible (to add the missing 5%) frontend plugin for galleries and 
download-lists using DAM?
(OK I know that all of you will agree...)

So the better question is how to get there?

To be more precise (I´m trying to get the "big picture"):

@René Fritz
You provided some helpful sample plugins in DAM 1.1(beta01). Are there 
going to be more examples? Are there any plans regarding this kind of 
"standard DAM FE plugin"?

@Daniel Thomas:
Do you have any plans regarding dam_downloads development?

@Everyone who modified dam_downloads (or similar extensions):
What is the status of your project? Is there / will there be anything 
published in TER?

Hmm - I was just on the way to ask for features (@everyone), but I think 
  this would go beyond the scope...

So I´d like to open the discussion sending special thanks to René Fritz 
for "doing that DAM thing" and Daniel Thomas for the current 
"dam_downloads".

Greetings,
Karl-E.