Mambo News

Meet RicoFlan

Each month we will interview a different member of Team Mambo. This month we're talking to Ric Shreves, better known to most as "ricoflan." He's not only a member of Team Mambo, but also a member of the MSC and the Board of Directors of the Mambo Foundation.

A Brief Introduction

Name: Ric Shreves

Handle on Forums: ricoflan

Age: 44

Location: Bali, Indonesia

Profession: IT Consultant, writer

Homepage: www.waterandstone.com

The Interview

In what ways do you make a contribution to Mambo?

• I serve as the Director of Advocacy for the Foundation. Part of that role includes handling Membership and License Violations. I also serve as a Team Member for the Documentation Team, though I am usually pretty swamped with the other duties to help much on Docs.

When did you first hear of Mambo?

• 2003. I was working on a proprietary CMS for a firm I worked for in Bangkok and in the course of doing research on systems, I spent a lot of time with Mambo, the 'Nuke family and Drupal. I was really impressed with Mambo -- so much so my wife and I decided to build a business around site development employing Open Source content management systems. I quit my job at the other company and started Water & Stone later that year. We've never looked back. The vast majority of our work is on Mambo, with a bit of osCommerce thrown in.

How and when did you get involved in the Mambo Project?

• I originally became involved in the community in 2004 and served for a while on the Docs Team in the 4th quarter of 2004. My community participation levels dropped quite a bit in 2005, then in August I jumped back in with both feet and have been spending a lot of time on the project since then.

Are you being paid to work on Mambo?

• No. I'm a volunteer. Our company has made good money off Mambo for nearly 3 years, so we figure it is only appropriate that we give something back to the community; we do that by volunteering for the project and being active.

How much time do you usually spend on Mambo?

• Well over 40 hours a week. It's kind of out of control right now...

Do you have any specific goals for Mambo?

• I would like to see the system become more suitable for professional users. I would like to see more stability, more deliberateness in our release schedule. Technologically, I would love to see database portability.

What keeps you motivated to work on Mambo?

• I really believe in power of Open Source to act as a catalyst. Mambo illustrates the point beautifully as the system is large and complex enough that companies and individuals can provide a variety of services around the product - support, documentation, extensions, custom development, etc. Having a stable powerful core product makes this possible. I like being part of that.

What is Mambo's killer app? Why? -

• Easy templating. Good content management tools. Ease of extensibility. I also like the fact that I can mod sites like crazy and Mambo just won't fall over.

What is your favorite add-on? -

• I think the new MOStlyCE is brilliant, but now that it's in the core I guess it is not an add-on. Maybe the D4M TransMenu module would be my favorite add on of the moment.

In addition to Mambo, what other Open Source applications do you use regularly?

• I use regularly Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Firefox, and Thunderbird. We've been playing with Zimbra and Sugar CRM and are pretty intrigued by both

What Operating system do you use & why? 

• Our studio servers run on RedHat Enterprise. Our workstations on Windows XP.

What’s your Mambo site look like?

Which section of Mambo is underrated and should get more publicity?

• The Menu System. Most people don't realize how much flexibility there is.

What do you think is still badly missing in Mambo?

• Database portability.

Are there particular opportunities for Mambo in your country?

• Indonesia is still really challenged in terms of access to service and connectivity in general. Sites here have to be fast and lightweight. Businesses here also need sites that have low operating and maintenance expenses and that plays right into the strength of Open Source. 

Personal Questions

Married, partner or still looking?

•  Married to Nalisa.

If you have a partner or children, how do they cope with your Mambo mania?

• I am hugely fortunate -- Nalisa is on Core Dev!

Do you have any pets?

•  1 dog: Java the Mutt (pictured) and 2 cats, Joe and Veronica. We also have more fish than I can count, 3 turtles and recently a very large lizard living in our water garden.

How would you describe yourself?

• I really try not to.

What are you passionate about?

• Open Source software, music, art in general and Thai food.

Which book is on your bedside table?

• "The Zanzibar Chest," written by a foreign correspondent, it's an anecdotal account of his life in Africa in the 1990s.

What’s the worst job you ever had?

• Tele-marketing for Easter Seals.

What’s your dream job?

• I want to be able to make a living from anywhere in the world with a notebook computer and an Internet connection.

What is your favourite place in the world?

• I quite like Bali, but I am also fond of being far away from everything in a canoe.

What's your favourite web site at the moment?

• I read Scott Adam's blog religiously.

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