[FLOW3-general] General maturity of FLOW3

[Robert Lemke]

Hi Christian,

Am 27.04.2010 um 14:26 schrieb Christian Lerrahn (Cerebrum):

> We are planning to build a project that is built on top of a PHP
> framework. We have been using TYPO3 for years and therefore immediately
> thought of using FLOW3 as our framework. However, our research into the
> maturity level of FLOW3 did not come up with satisfactory results.
> According to what we found, there should be a number of pilot products
> already but there is hardly any documented trail of those.

To be honest, I cannot say who's using FLOW3 already because I only got 
some hints here and there that x or y stumbled over problem z while they
were working on their intranet application.

Apart from my blog there's no publicly available project based on FLOW3
that I know of.

> 1. Is the FLOW3 API mature enough to build a full-fledged production
> system on?

yes and no. Being an alpha version, there's still a chance that the API changes.
However, maintaining a few sample apps ourselves, it turned out that migration
was relatively easy in the past. And we haven't planned any big refactorings
anymore - the essential parts like Object Manager etc. are stable.

If you decide to use FLOW3, we can offer you commercial and non-commercial
support. If you let us know how you're using FLOW3, we can make sure to
include a smooth migration path for your app in case we need to change
something.

> 2. Is there a proper roadmap for FLOW3 that also gives an indication of
> when the first release is due?

We have basically three open fields currently:

 - content security
 - translation / localization (that's a GSoC project)
 - refinement of the validation mechanism

Our policy for releasing a first beta version is that we want to have at least
two "serious" applications running on FLOW3. Naturally that is a hen-and-egg
problem because people won't start using an alpha version for a serious project.

Therefore we have two apps in the pipeline which we need and build ourselves.
Currently the goal is to have them until end of this year.

If you're building a FLOW3 app with our support, we could even have a beta
version earlier in time.

> 3. Are there completed projects (no matter how small) with full access
> to the source code and possibly even some documentation?

Not that I know of.

> 4. Are there any resources amongst developers to assist with questions
> about FLOW3 API issues and the like? (In other word will technical
> questions on mailing lists most likely have a reasonable response times)

If you're serious with building a FLOW3 app, we can give you quicker responses
and provide tech support or even develop certain parts of your app.

> I'm deliberately not disclosing what the project we are planning is all
> about. My theory is that we require the kind of maturity and stability
> that implies insignificance of the details of the project. In other
> words, if FLOW3 isn't mature enough to be used for any kind of project
> it is officially intended for now, we might be a bit wary of touching
> it already.

You'd be an early adopter, for sure. But if you ask for my opinion: If you plan
to do it all alone, wait until fall. If including Karsten and / or me in the
project, go for it.

Cheers,
robert