Work-mates at opposite sides of the earth!

I was introduced to Sascha by an Australian friend who met him while holidaying in Germany.

When I say 'introduced',  I mean I sent Sascha an email and said something like 'Hi, I am David, maybe you can help me set up a web site?'. There was a quick reply. Sascha introduced me to some new technology - Zope and Plone - which create and manage dynamic Web sites. I was pretty impressed with his thoroughness and his commitment to elegant workflow and structural design, you know what I mean, I'm talking about solid foundations.

Actually, Sascha has introduced me to lots of things, probably the most amazing of all is the concept of open source, and the open source community itself (which I now regularly access through various websites and IRC chat rooms).

 I'd had just a little experience with making websites when I first hooked up with opensource-consult.com, these were very basic and static. I was using simple HTML, and wanted to do something more live and dynamic. 

It wasn't long before I was downloading chat software, this enabled me to communicate with Sascha in real-time. Pretty soon, he was talking me through some fairly challenging stuff.  But it was all very exciting, because with Sascha's help, I was able to create a very powerful website in a short time.  I haven't gone in much for the graphic design, I've been pretty happy with the design that comes with Plone out-of-the-box. This has enabled me to spend more time creating content. But I'm getting ready to look at integrating more visual elements in the near future. Structure and content have been fun.

It all started with www.thefreedomtactory.org  -  I've just migrated this site onto a new machine running the latest versions of Zope and Plone, and contained in my own virtual host. Now, I am using Unix commands in a terminal window to install and manage software to run 3 sites. In the past I've mostly been interested in content, being basically a writer and an artist, but I like the power and freedom that controlling the underlying machinery gives me. So that is why I am learning more of the server-side stuff now.

The great thing about working with Sascha, has been his way of working. I suppose it is not the same with every customer, because they will all have different needs and levels of experience. What has suited me though, has been Sascha's willingness and passion for sharing, period. Most especially I have enjoyed and benefited from his sharing of skills and knowledge, so that I can be more independent in the management of my sites. Only the other day it was all getting a bit too hard and Sascha was there encouraging me when I was seriously ready to give up.

It's like I have a real live workmate, a friend who I can have a beer and a chat with after work - even though we have never met, except in cyberspace.

This technology is enabling.

I guess we've been putting it to good use!