[oc] Opencores Front Page

[John Dalton <john.dalton@bigfoot.com>]

I've just been engaged in a brief discussion on Slashdot,
refuting a claim that OpenCores is an industry front.  The
poster accused the site of just being a bunch of links to
advertise proprietory products.

That got me thinking that the complainant may have been
confused by some of the 'success story' links in the 'news'
section of the front page.  (eg. three of the five
current news items refer or link to external companies).

It is is a good thing that OpenCores has these
success stories and is letting others know about it.
At the same time, perhaps we need to be careful that the names of
the companies involved do not overshadow the opencores
name?  Perhaps 'success stories' should make sure OpenCores
and the list of cores used gets higher billing then the company
name?

An example might be:

The <a href="http://www.opencores.org/projects/or1k/">OR1200</a>, <a 
href="http://www.opencores.org/projects/uart16550/">UART</a> and <a 
href="http://www.opencores.org/projects/ddr_sdr/">Memory Controller</a>
OpenCores have been successfully applied by XYZ Corporation.  Read <a 
href="http://Link_to_more_info">more about it.</a>.

It's a subtle difference, but it places the emphasis on OpenCores
rather than company XYZ.  In (English) grammatical terms, it means 
making OpenCores the subject of the sentence rather than the predicate.

If stored on the opencores site (where we have control over the 
document), perhaps case studies should also have the opencores
logo in the most prominant spot?  As it is, when the user
opens the two PDF files currently being used as success stories,
they get hit immediately with the logo of the company concerned.
Opencores isn't mentioned until well into the text of the article.
I'm not saying the company's logo should be removed, as they
deserve credit for using opencores.  Rather I'm just saying
OpenCores should get at least equal billing.  Success stories
should be an ad fro OpenCores as well as the company.

These suggestions are not meant to be negative criticism of
those who write 'success stories'.  Rather, they are meant
to highlight criticisms which others have made to me.  As
such I hope this email will be helpful.


On a slightly different topic, I have also noticed some strident
criticsim of OpenCores on Slashdot, with little or no factual basis.
(Hint: Do a search on slashdot for the term 'OpenSores'.)
Either I am paranoid, or there are those out there actively working
to sully OpenCores' name.  Perhaps eveyone should keep an eye
out for such postings in all public forums, and post refuting
messages wherever possible?  If every false posting is accompanied
by a refutal, it should stop such 'FUD' in its tracks.  If
such criticism addresses a valid point, maybe pass the criticism
bask to this forum so the problem can be addressed and corrected?


Best wishes
John


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