Community Articles: Opinions, Interviews, 分析
25 March 2001
The International, II
Last week, I 要約するd the 問題／発行するs at 手渡す in the 審議 over what has come to be called the "internationalization" of OpenOffice.org. In a nutshell, the advantage of "internationalizing" the 場所／位置 is that we might be able to bring in more developers. The 控訴，上告, that is, is practical, not nationalistic. 対抗者s to this 見解（をとる） point out that success might be a form of 失敗, and rather than bringing people into the 事業／計画（する） who would 与える／捧げる to developing the ソフトウェア, we might only 結局最後にはーなる "balkanizing" the 事業／計画（する） and 最終的に stymie 開発.
The 審議 has been 激しい and 生産力のある. 非常に／多数の community members, from several countries and langugaes, have 参加するd, 長，指導者 の中で them 法案 Roth, Guy Capra, Dietrich Schulten, Éric Savary, Michael S. Zick, and Adam "Goolie" Gould, who 明らかにするd the 問題／発行するs and coined the 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 for this 審議. Each has 提案するd, often in 広大な／多数の／重要な detai (see 特に マイク Zick's comments), 解答s to the problem of not only bringing in linguistically diverse people, but how to arrange communication の中で the さまざまな groups whether English, German, French or Korean, once they have joined the community. (You can read their 介入s in the discuss 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） 古記録s.)
For the fact of the 事柄 is that OpenOffice.org is becoming more truly international. Or, perhaps I should 令状, we are 開始するing an 実験 in which the international 選挙権を持つ／選挙人s of OpenOffice.org will be more fully 認めるd. For, as I 観察するd last week, we already are 極端に international, at least in the 配当 of the community. But that internationalism seems to be 単に an 事故 of 地理学, a 調印する of 法人組織の／企業の reach, and an 指示，表示する物 of the extent to which English, for good or ill, predominates in both technical and 商業の communication.
That doesn't mean, however, that it is やむを得ず the preferred language of everyone, 特に for more general discussions. It may very 井戸／弁護士席 be the 事例／患者 that やめる a few nonnative English-language （衆議院の）議長s feel disinclined to 与える／捧げる their 見解（をとる）s 簡単に because they must 格闘する with a language that, for all its 公共事業（料金）／有用性 in permitting the flow of technical knowledge, is a beast to 格闘する with when it comes to 表明するing いっそう少なく technical things. As a consequence, we may be unintentionally 限界ing the OpenOffice.org developer community to only those developers able and willing to communicate in English.
In doing so, we are not alone. Yes, there are 重要な exceptions (and they should 供給する the 支配する). Of these, Linux 自然に stands out. The paradigmatic Open Source 努力する is by and large やめる international in its 事業／計画（する）s, 実施s, and 使用者 base. But Linux, unlike OpenOffice.org, is not 法人組織の／企業の sponsored; we can't, as a result, easily use it as a model for the 進化 of a 法人組織の／企業の-sponsored Open Source 事業／計画（する）. Recently SourceForge has 発表するd a greater 強調 on 供給するing 場所／位置 航海 援助（する）s to 非，不，無-Anglophone 訪問者s. But SourceForge is a hosting company (類似の to CollabNet), not a ソフトウェア 事業／計画（する） (such as OpenOffice.org or Linux). It makes sense that they would 供給する services to as disparate community as possible.
But, in the 事例／患者 of ソフトウェア 事業／計画（する）s, where 調整 of 成果／努力 is みなすd important, outside of Linux there are precious few 事業／計画（する）s that do what we are 捜し出すing to 遂行する (there may be more; I couldn't find any; but my 研究 was spotty). Thus, for instance, the 事業／計画（する） to which we are often compared, Mozilla.org, is resolutely Anglophonic. Yes, its I18N newsgroup, which 付随するs to international 問題／発行するs (the "18" 言及するs to the eighteen letters in-between the "I" and the "N"), 含む／封じ込めるs 非，不，無-English messages, some of which were wholly beyond my browser's 能力s to 代表する. But nowhere on the Mozilla.org 場所／位置 did I find anything in any language other than English. This doesn't mean that it doesn't 存在する; I just couldn’t find it, and it certainly 示唆するs a strong Anglophone bias, 関わりなく their rather chaotically polyglot and spam-friendly (and seemingly 完全に unmoderated) I18N newsgroup.
So our 実験 is unique, at least for a 法人組織の／企業の-sponsored Open Source 事業／計画（する）. It 示すs a milestone: We have 達成するd the point where there are enough people 利益／興味d in the 事業／計画（する） to create a space for their activities. We are going to create a section of the 場所／位置 for a French 構成要素 and an associated 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）, also in French. The 十分な 詳細（に述べる）s are still 存在 worked out (and the devil is in the 詳細（に述べる）s!), but the 場所／位置 will go live soon. This 構成要素 will not be a 十分な duplicate of the 場所／位置; rather, it will 含む／封じ込める elements of Guy Capra's French 見解／翻訳／版 of OpenOffice.org, and it will serve to encourage Francophone 参加 in the community.
To 強調する, this is an 実験; a first and careful step; but if it is successful, other languages will be 含むd, and the most obvious of those is German. (French has only gotten the step up--if that is the 権利 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語--because Guy's 場所／位置 already 存在するs, can be easily 会社にする／組み込むd into the 存在するing OpenOffice.org 場所／位置, and because Guy 圧力（をかける）d his 事例／患者 hard.) Success, in this instance, will be 決定するd almost by a 欠如（する） of 失敗 (a 欠如（する）, that is, of balkanization) and by the 入ること／参加（者） into the 場所／位置 of more 使用者s, 関わりなく whether they are Francophone or not. For the 創造 of the French 構成要素s, 同様に as the 返答 by Sun to the 提案, is surely a welcome 調印する that OpenOffice.org is a community 成果／努力.
But that 成果／努力 will only remain a "community" 成果／努力--and not a 大混乱／混沌とした mess--if the community stays 焦点（を合わせる）d. On a 機能の level, the places where important 決定／判定勝ち（する）s--what Éric Savary called "the 核心 work"--are 影響d will continue to operate under one language, English. And on a more abstract level, community members need to have a coherent sense of the goals of the 事業／計画（する） (and 事業／計画（する）s) they are working on. That is, a notion of what OpenOffice.org is about, what it is doing, and where it is going. To this latter end, I have 提案するd a new 使節団 声明 and have asked for commentary, but that is but a start. We also need an agreed-upon, up-to-date roadmap.
As always, please don't hesitate to send your comments to the discuss 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） or, if you really want, to me, Louis.
Previous articles
15 March 2001 The International
9 March 2001 Creating the New Open Source
1 March 2001 Interview: やすりを削る人／削る機械 Vesik
22 February 2001 Allchin's Demagoguery, by 法案 Roth, guest contributor
15 February 2001 Interview with Wilfredo Sánchez
9 February 2001 組織するing Open Source
1 February 2001 Open Source and Its Culture
23 January 2001 Community 活動／戦闘
16 January 2001 Quo Vadis OpenOffice.org?
9 January 2001 The 613 build: problems and 適切な時期s
3 January 2001 Sun's open door
