IT...

This document outline our current IT setup from an internal perspective, identifies core functions we require and explores alternatives.

We currently use:

• Confluence (Using the open source license (free.) https://yunity.atlassian.net)
  • Good: Richly featured, pages (images + tables + bells & whistles) and hides complexity,
  • Bad: Proprietary, bigger than needed, handles white-space terribly,
• Git (Used on various laptops.)
  • Good: OS, very-light, version-tracking
  • Bad: Local install, steep initial learning-curve for people unfamiliar with terminal
• Github (Organization 'kanthaus'. https://github.com/kanthaus)
  • Good: Huge user base, nice UI/X, in-browser editing
  • Bad: Proprietary, must pay for private repos
• Nextcloud (Shared folder and calendar, hosted by Matthias. https://nc.matthias-larisch.de/login)
  • Good: OS, simple, does plain-text, 'rich-text', calendar, contacts and task editing in-browser, different lin-permissions, simple 'syncing'
  • Bad: Self-hosted,
• Slack (Mainly #wupphouse-wurzen. Using the Complimentary Nonprofit Standard plan (free.) https://yunity.slack.com)
  • Good: Richly featured, public and private channels, lots of nice yunity people already use it.
    
  • Bad: Proprietary, bigger than needed,
    
• Etherpad (Temporary pads mostly through instances hosted by https://pad.riseup.net/ or https://pad.disroot.org/)
  • Good: OS, simple plain-text collaboration
  • Bad: Can't comment, no-linking between pads (loads of different links)
• Google docs (Occasionally some forms, spreadsheets and presentations. Rarely word documents.)
  • Good: Richly-featured, plays well with other google docs, fine-grained permissions
  • Bad: Proprietary,
• Foodsaving.world https://foodsaving.world/#!/group/26
  • Good: Everything!
  • Bad: Nothing! Well, if you find something bad write a bug report/feature request/DIY.

Things we need:

• To collectively access/edit/create plain text files
  • "I want to be able to quickly find the current version of the Constitution"
  • "I want to take notes for this meeting and store them where others can find"
• To be able to chat simply without SMS/telephone
  • "Can you send me a link to that site you were telling me about?"
  • "Hi all, meeting notes from this morning can be found here: <URL>"

Things we want:

• To collectively access/edit/create calendar events, contact entries, geo-data, spreadsheets and rich text.
• To see version history of documents (e.g. the Constitution and Collective Agreements)
• To have a semi-public chat-point and not alienate all the nice people on yunity Slack.
• To have a

Aspects that should be optimized:

• ease-of-use (e.g. should be non-nerd friendly, avoid the terminal, nice UX, etc,)
• fewest separate applications,
• OS (i.e. Libre and Open-source,)
• Open-protocol (e.g. email, OStatus, XMPP, etc,)
• free (i.e. $$$,)
• Linux-friendly,
• integrates well with (the) other applications,
• hosted

Applications to consider:

• Gitter.im https://gitter.im/
  • Quite easy to use, OS, Linux-friendly, integrates-well
  • Free: "Limited to 25 users per private room" https://billing.gitter.im/
  • Requires GitHub or Twitter account to log in right now, however "We ... will improve this by adding the ability to login with your GitLab.com account." (GitLab blog, 2017/03/15)
• GitLab (Community Edition, self-hosted) https://about.gitlab.com/products/
  • Quite easy to use, OS, Linux-friendly, integrates-well
  • Free: "Ideal for personal projects or small teams with minimal user management and workflow control needs."
  • Can also easily host static pages: https://about.gitlab.com/features/pages/
  • Matthias notes: Pretty bad experience with Foodsharing code, want to get off it asap. Problems with servers and software probably due to lack of $$$. Self-hosting takes a lot of resources.
• GitLab.com (Free Plan, hosted) https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-com/
  • Quite easy to use, OS, Linux-friendly, integrates-well
  • Free: "Unlimited private projects and collaborators"
  • Matthias notes: Pretty bad experience with Foodsharing code, want to get off it asap. Problems with servers and software probably due to lack of $$$. Self-hosting takes a lot of resources.
• Gitbook.com (Open Source,  https://www.gitbook.com/
  • Free: "Unlimited public books, Unlimited visits and updates, 5 collaborators, 0 private books, Custom domains, Community Support" (n.b. a user it a Gitbook user, not a connected repo...)
• Mattermost (Team Edition, self-hosted) https://about.mattermost.com/pricing/
• Hubzilla
• Mastodon

Proposed maxims:

• If it can be written in plain-text, write it in plain-text. (p.s. incompatible with Confluence.)

Options:

• Conservative
  
  • Stay with Slack.
  • Fully adopt Confluence: move files on Nextcloud and GitHub to Confuence and assign relevant viewing permissions.
• Transitionary
  
  • Swap Slack for:
    • Mattermost, or
    • Gitter
  • Swap Confluence for:
    • GitHub (+ Gitbook) (public) and Nextcloud (private,) or
    • GitLab (public and private) + static page(s))