eulife’s meaning and the role of the developer

eulife is not just about developing software and far from just another repository!

eulife is about IT. eulife is about promoting IT to the local society. eulife is a reminder to developers that are not just engineers but *scientists*.

eulife is a wake up call for developers. Developers should realise that their role is far more important for IT. They are held responsible for educating and enlightening the community about what IT can offer them and their businesses.

Unless developers approach society in a direct manner, IT will not thrive enough.

eulife believes that opensource can aid in the above due to its nature of sharing, collaborating and distributing free knowledge and that is why opensource development is so important.

Through the use of the eulife map developers should form groups with other individuals or IT companies in order to promote IT in their local community. Available eulife projects can help those groups to achieve their goal.

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What qualifies as an eulife project?

An eulife project should derive from the needs of a local community and though abstract it should be fully functional.

It should not be developed while having in mind specific "customer" needs but rather provide the foundation so that it can easily be tailored to address them.

Its user interface should be simple, clean, elegant (following the KISS principle) and pretty straight forward to use by people who know how to use just a keyboard and a mouse.

The project should be under the LGPL licence and each source file must hold a copyright notice

Some example projects could be a reservation system, a stock management (a catalogue framework can aid you in the development of both).

Projects that could derive from the above could be a library management system, an e-shop, a booking system.

The later do not have to be eulife projects per se, but rather applications developed by individual developers for their customers.

What you can do!

Are you an analyst?
Perform a research on your local community and identify what software application would help it thrive.

Come up with a software design for a framework which will support this application and could also act as a common ground for other software applications the community is in need.

Are you a developer?
First get in touch with other developers in your local area (why you should register). You can either provide an implementation for the available proposals (TBA) and design specs or you can start your own project based on what you think is required by your local community.

If you already have some code that you believe can help eulife you are more than welcome to donate it.

You can also contribute on the existing code base on any of the available eulife projects (hosted under sourceforge). Just get in touch with the corresponding project admin to take part in the development process.

Are you a lecturer?
As a lecturer you should urge your students to get involved with eulife as it will help them get acquainted with the software development process and improve their communication skills. It will also give them a hands on the latest technologies used across IT.

You can hand out group assignments by either using existing project proposals (TBA) or by coming up with your own that is relevant to eulife’s mission.

Are you a student?
If you are a senior you can compose a final year project proposal with its research focused on how IT can support a local community or on how IT can be promoted in the local community.

Undergraduates and high school students can form a group and use the available projects as the foundation for building a software application.

A catalogue framework can get you started in building a library management system.

Are you a designer?
With eulife you can make yourself known by showcasing your talent through its various projects. Create a portfolio and be widely recognized by the community.

You can offer your skills in already developed applications to give them visuals. eucatalogue could use some skin!

Are you an IT company?
eulife could use your services! If you believe your services can help in the adoption of eulife this could prove to be for your benefit as well!

How YOU as the developer can benefit

Through eulife you can,

forge partnerships

Get in contact with other developers and collaborate in order to develop new software or work on existing projects. You can use the eulife map to find developers in your local community.

attract customers

Being part of eulife makes potential customers feel more secure and confident when doing business with you. eulife also gives you the recognition you need to start as an individual.

make deals with IT companies

Through your involvment with eulife you will most likely need to seek services or hardware support. IT companies trust the eulife brand and will be more open to discussions.

benefit from existing code base

Use the eulife projects to your benefit. Download them, install them, distribute them, promote them. They are opensource!

The eulife map

Use the eulife map to pinpoint your location which will allow

1. Other developers to find you
2. Your local community to contact you

eulife IS NOT meant to be just a repository

Although eulife is heavily relied upon the idea of open source, there are many things that set it apart from being just a repository or another community.

The ultimate goals for eulife are,

1. Promote IT and educate people

eulife encourages developers to go out there and talk to people! Let them know what IT is and how it can help them in their daily lives or with their businesses.

Visit your local shops, listen to their requirements and address their needs! A catalogue is something to start with.

Talk to friends and relatives and identify how IT could make their lives better!

2. A software application in every store

Software shouldn’t be a luxury and should be given for free in its base form. Most people are under the impression that software is expensive, tedious and not worth it. Prove them wrong!

You can start by installing a catalogue in every store.

3. Support students and graduates

eulife is the ideal place for students to familiarize themselves with software development and work with real world examples.

Graduates can start their career with eulife and shouldn’t wait until they get a job to start doing some serious coding!

eulife helps them know the process involved in developing software, the technologies behind it, as well as the latest trends thus making them fully aware and ready when hired later on by an IT company.

eulife philosophy

eulife is based on already established ideas with open source greatly in mind.

Take for example the average developer who is trying to become an independent.

This developer can see that although there is a plethora of stores in his local community, none of them has an online shop. He decides to make one. He designs and implements a catalogue framework thinking that it should also prove useful in the process of making a library management tool later on.

Even though he has no problem developing the software, he sure knows well its hard to make it on his own. He is also aware of the fact that he will need a graphics designer to accompany his programming skills.

He also realizes that in order for the eshop idea to work out he has to come to an agreement with a hosting company. Most likely he will need to install a PC in each store for administration. Good thing one of his friends has a computer store. Most likely he could score a deal. But what about hosting? It will be difficult for him to get in touch with all of the hosting companies and get a good deal on his own.

But hung on for a second. There are many others troubled by the same issues here. Why not support each other. Surely we can achieve a lot more if all individuals become as one. If we can all work towards the same goal. We could make partnerships easier, find instant solutions and finally make what is needed to uplift IT!

Going forward in time. Eulife is a global organization now. Well respected among the community because of the developers supporting it. It has achieve great deals not only with IT companies but others as well. All these because developers decided one day that we should take matters in our own hands!

This is eulife.

eulife has currently released a java catalogue framework which can be found at http://sourceforge.net/projects/eucatalogue (currently accessible only through CVS)

open letter

Dear Developers,

In a time where most of IT projects fail due to limited human resources, low budget, ambiguous requirements and tight deadlines we need to move IT to the next level where us, developers will work closer with society, extract requirements from daily life and promote IT.

Instead of relying on outsourcing, take a look at your local community and identify what is missing that would make life easier. Approach small to medium sized businesses in your local area and address their needs.

It is our responsibility as developers to give the means that will make our lives better.

Welcome to eulife,
Markos Charatzas
Founder