Response: PHP website - OS Convention - ThoutReader - Screen shots

Derick, I don't know what part of my messages with Goba you may have received. Please allow me to summarize 6 months of threaded messages about what we wish to do. PHP documentation sets the standard in the open source community for functionality and ease of use. That is NOT the case for other applications. Linux consists of literally hundreds of different files and Perl dozens. All of this is frustrating for developers who must open the right file to find what they are looking for. We figured, "what if there was one standard format for all open source documentation and references (books) that would allow developers to browse, search, bookmark, and append all of their content at one time?" On July 27th at the OS Convention, we release our open source product, the ThoutTReader. The ThoutTReader is a document platform that takes documentation and books, converted from HTML, CHM, Docbook, and .PDF and renders it in one common, XML displayed format. From the attached screen shots, you can see how incredibly convenient this is for developers. All internal and external links are functional and documents can even be linked together. The ThoutTReader saves time and increases productivity. Best of all, the ThoutTReader is open source and it's free. Here are some key developments that you should know about: On Monday, we were approved by MySQL to have their documentation converted to and listed on their website in the ThoutTReader format. They are very excited about the opportunity the ThoutTReader provides them. At the MySQL convention in April, representatives from Zend had the opportunity to see the pre-release version of the ThoutTReader and mentioned that they would endorse the idea of providing PHP documentation on the PHP website once the Reader was done and we had vertical content. We now have vertical content with our release on July 27th and are prepared to move ahead. The value of this is huge. For example, when a user searches for the term "preg_match", not only would they get the results from your documentation but also from the other PHP related books that show tips, tricks, screen shots, etc. We have signed a contract with Wiley Publishers to release a number of their top selling books including PHP5 and MySQL Bible by Tim Converse and Professional PHP 5 by Steven Nowicki et al. We are in discussion with other publishers as well. We have been approached by a number of top web hosting companies in the US to provide the ThoutTReader in their control panels for their clients. They believe the ThoutTReader will reduce tech support calls, save money, and provide great value to their clients at no cost. This gives the ThoutTReader visibility to missions of new users literally overnight. Novell is interested in using the ThoutTReader for converting their Eclipse documentation into one standard format. The list goes on. Nearly every day we make contact with people and organizations who wish to take advantage of our open source product. Just yesterday one of the most respected authors in the open source community has committed to write and distribute a book exclusively in the ThoutTReader format. Our permanent website is almost completed. You can get a sneak peak at it by going to www.osoft.com/store. We need to add our graphics and finalize the style sheets but the important information is there. Our major world-wide launch commences at the OS convention on July 27-30 in Portland, OR. Like Zend, we will be there: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/29/exhibitors.html (we are on the exhibitor list right above Pearson). Our goal is to distribute the unaltered PHP documentation in the ThoutTReader format and give users of PHP the ability to browse, search, bookmark, and append ALL of their documentation in one common format at the same time. We already have a number of great PHP books lined up. Obviously, the PHP documentation completes the process. We would also like PHP.net to offer your documentation in the ThoutTReader format. We will volunteer to convert all of your documentation for you. The ThoutTReader was written in Java, is cross-platform capable, and supports multiple languages. We would like to accomplish this prior to the OS Convention. The ThoutTReader will make a significant contribution to the Open Source community and the acceptance by PHP will give it the push it needs. Derick, I hope this gives you enough information to evaluate and approve our proposal. One of the OSDN executives told me at a private meeting that the biggest problem OSoft will have is "getting people to believe that the ThoutTReader really does what it does." Well... it really does and we have the industry commitments to prove it. This is our contribution to the OS community and your support would be greatly appreciated. My contact information is noted below. Please contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you or Goba. Mark Carey ============================================ Mark D. Carey President OSoft, Inc. 2511 S. Hood Street Tacoma, WA 98402 253-284-0475 mcarey@osoft.com www.OSoft.com "Mind Altering Software" ============================================ -----Original Message----- From: Gabor Hojtsy [mailto:gabor@hojtsy.hu] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 4:38 AM To: Derick Rethans Cc: webmaster@php.net; mcarey@osoft.com Subject: Re: PHP website - OS Convention - ThoutReader >>Probably only systems@php.net people could help you get a file into the >>documentation distribution space, I have no sufficient rights to help >>you in this. It is sometimes not easy to get some quick action done >>through systems@, since they are busy people. So if nothing else works, >>we can put up a new format column and links to your site to download the >>manual in different languages. Are you going to provide the manual in >>non-English languages? If no, then a separate column might not be that >>good an idea at all. > > Hmm, I don't like providing docs in some arbitrary format, especially > when I never heard of it. Derick, if you would have posted this to the Mark (also CC-ed), maybe he would have some chance to convince you :) Goba