I wrote in my last post that I would continue to monitor the IRC and mention any worthwhile conversations. As in past examinations, the channel was relatively quiet; however, this time people were asking more software oriented questions. It is clear that most information is contained within the forum because many questions about specific software features are addressed in setup "how-to"s and FAQs. A user who asked about the latest additions in XBMC v11.0 Eden Beta 2 was given a link to a forum post. The IRC rules state that questions should only be asked once informative resources, like the wiki or the forum, have been exhausted. Even though this particular user technically broke the rules, another user was nice enough to share a link to the answer. This behavior suggests that the community is more open to new users and contributors than some other software communities. I feel more comfortable introducing myself in the IRC now. I have already registered for XBMC's forum and its wiki-page, and I will provide an update my next post with the details of my introduction to the community.
I met with my group Sunday 22 to discuss our intentions for this project. Our first contribution should be a bug-fix; therefore, our efforts should be focused there. XBMC has a bug-tracker that here. There are a small number of tickets that are active and being addressed in the next patch. It might be best to start a forum post in the developer's topic and ask which particular tickets and/or problems should be addressed. Contributors with more experience could point us in the right direction. Our plans after the initial bug-fix are focused mainly on plug-ins and/or scripting. I suggested developing a simple plug-in that adds a functionality that is not contained within the base XBMC framework. One such possible plug-in could be a "shutdown after playback" option in the video's option menu; Windows Media Center Classic: Home Cinema has this option by default, and it is a great way to save energy.
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