[Justin]

Bravo!!! I think this is probably one of the best solutions to the scoring software "problem" I've heard yet. Let's face it there are several people already in the FIRST community that have already written their own version of the scoring software for one reason or another. I think this idea would have several key benefits. One it would open the algorithms to those in FIRST, no more wondering how thing X or Y is computed. If teams have issues they can go in and audit the code themselves. In addition if done right the software will be very modular and componentized and broken up into several teams. In theory things like rankings, GUI, shouldn't change much from year to year. Basically what will change is the way the score is calculated. Now this is something that would be "game specific" BUT I think that this could easily be handled by FIRST by recruiting Alumni and other "teamless" members of the community and getting that team under an non-disclosure-agreement.

I think this is an idea that could happen. To say "that would never happen" why? This is an idea that FIRST should seriously consider and that deserves some debate and honest thought. I think there are a lot of pros here. Just because there a pieces of the scoring system that need to remain private from teams doesn't mean that this isn't a feasible idea. Someone recently said that the route to power lies in giving some of it up, perhaps Dean and could learn from another Dean who made that observation. The FIRST community is full of rich resources and usally egar to help, they need only ask.

My 2 cents for what its worth,

Justin