In response to
N-Wing's Java downvoteappnodelet, a
closed source software project limited to high-ranking members of the
E2 Cabal, some
Python enthusiasts on
Everything2 have decided to write their own
downvote appnodelet in Python, to be made available with an
open source license.
In the past 5 months, considerable progress has been made. The license under which the downvoteappnodelet will be made available, a modified GPL / NPL hybrid, is almost ready (a small group of developers who demanded the use of the BSD license left, bu their project doesn't seem to be making much progress). The whitespace committee has met (via IRC) 4 times already, to discuss what mixture of tabs and spaces should be used to indent the code (indentation is a major issue in Python). And the rest of the developers are still trying to understand if Python variable scope is lexical static or dynamic, and whether and how lambdas can be used in widget callbacks.
All in all, this project has made great progress, proving that the open source model is, at least in terms of rigid process methods, a viable model for software engineering. Expect a pre-alpha release in 3Q2002.