I voted for the first option, but what I really think is something between the first and the second. I’d like Cyan to move towards releasing open source Uru as quickly as possible, but with “as quickly as possible” understood in a sense that does not imply “quickly”. As quickly as possible, but no quicklier, so to speak. I have no particularly demanding expectations as to what quickness is possible and would have no problem at all with waiting a few more years. Getting it right rather than rushing is included in that.
I would however prefer them to have releasing the source code take priority over things like fixing bugs or getting fan ages onto the MOULa server. I think that would lead to faster progress for everyone in the long run – the sooner they tap into the work force of the fans, the better.
When Rand says, “a little bit from them and a little bit from us”, I accept that, even if it’s not what I expected, seeing as Cyan is struggling to do even a little bit, while the fans are frustrated at being able to do only a little bit. From the original open source announcement, the impression I got was that the motto is “nothing from Cyan, for the time being (except the bare necessities, i.e. source code and a data server), lots from the fans”. But I completely understand the reluctance to let go of their baby (I was very suprised that they were willing to do it at all), and I think starting their own server first was a good move to get the community together again.
I see no connection or exclusion between “having the resources in place to monitor their server properly” and “releasing open source Uru”, apart from the fact that the two activities are competing for the same scarce spare cycles (my preferred outcome of the competition stated above). I want them to do both. I have no preferences about whether they should let “any poor quality or non-canon Ages slip through the net” around their own server, or the other way around – that is completely up to them and I’m fine with any decision they take about it, as long as they don’t put any nets around servers run by others.
Sudre wrote:
C) Client code (which is not needed at all. Some may try and say otherwise but it's not)
Who defines what is needed? Most of the bugs that I’m itching to fix are in the client, so that’s the source part that I’m looking forward to most and will probably work on most (if I find the time to do anything at all, that is).