Thanks Lance_ for your input.
I agree with your analasys, but not with your solutions. XOOPS is a system built to be modular (it is called Extensible and Object Oriented afterall), and thereby enables 3rd parties to use the XOOPS Core as their development framework of their choice.
Now, you say that there should be 'proporietary' modules that are actively developed and maintained by the XOOPS Core Developers. I think that the Core Developers should (as they are now) create a system 3rd party developers can use to create an endless amount of modules, with ease and with many features.
You see, we (as in the XOOPS community) need to pool the resources available. And the scarcity is defined by the amount of resources freely given to a 'public' task, meaning a task not for personal benefit, but for the benefit of all. Core developers are doing just that, they're not adding the features to the core needed to power their own sites, but are building the public framework that enable others to make modules that bring the features they need for their own sites.
So the core is public development, and modules can be more private.
Now comes your problem. Without modules, the core isn't much use. So you propose to create public modules, a proposition I fully support. But you choose to take scarce resources away from the only public pool we have, that of the core developers. Making their resources only more scarce, which is not good for the progress we all want and like.
We (as in the XOOPS Management folks), feel that we should pool the 3rd party development resources available in a public place (dev.xoops.org), and create a new pool of public resources specifically for this. That way we enlarge the common resources pool, enable progress, and get the results you want to see.
It is a common mistake to assume that if something is wanted, someone will step up and actually do it. The motivation of 'I really really really want it made' isn't the kind of motivation 3rd party developers look for (they often ask 'what's in it for me?'). So the problem that needs to be solved is how can we motivate the 3rd party developers to become part of a public pool of resources. And I think that collaboration and the new development framework is part of that.
Hope this helps your discussion
Herko