About box 2.0

You want to revitalize a dying, inactive free software project. How do you proceed?

1. You write code, contribute, get involved in the community, get in touch with the previous developer(s) to try and join the team or take over the project. Failing that, you fork the project, because this is how free software works after all. Then, once you’ve got something to show, you start talking about it;
2. You set up a new forum, brag about it on the old one, arrange with the previous lead developer to make sure you can use the name and logo, then open a twitter account so users can follow the new forum’s setup process minute by minute.

There’s this saying about opensource/free software that says the logo and about box are the very first (and only) things that work in new/young projects (and sometimes that’s also true for more “mature” projects, as we all come to know).

Choice 2 above is the About Box 2.0. Unfortunately, that’s the way a handful of people choose to revitalize mt-daapd/Firefly Media Server. Of course, not one among them can code or has actually got a clue about the current codebase.

FAIL of epic proportions. Facepalm.