On February 3, the world wide community of Koha users and developers launched a temporary website to provide improved access to project knowledge and to facilitate the sharing of information about project developments. The new web site is at http://koha-community.org. The launch was announced by Galen Charlton, Release Manager for Koha 3.2. The domain is held by the Horowhenua Library Trust and the base WordPress MU installation was kindly set up and is hosted by Liz Rea from the Northeast Kansas Library System.
For some time there has been community concern about lack of access to koha.org . That domain is controlled and managed by Liblime, a US company that was a significant contributor to Koha, but which last year closed access to its (software as a service only) version of Koha and ceased to maintain koha.org as an up-to-date repository of project information. Liblime has announced it is to be purchased by PTFS, another US company that has been a contributor to Koha for the last year or so. If this transaction proceeds to completion, PTFS will gain control of the koha.org domain. Koha community members hope that full access to koha.org will be restored. In the meantime, koha-community.org will provide a temporary home for Koha information.
Already available on koha-community.org are links for downloading the koha software and accessing documentation and information about community forums as well as companies providing commercial support. Links exist to the Koha wiki, Koha gitweb and to bugzilla (where Koha bugs are reported and managed and as well as enhancements). The Koha Newsletter and event information is also available, including information about KohaCon 2010, to be held in Wellington NZ in October this year.
The launch of koha-community.org is a sure sign of the strength and vibrancy of the world wide Koha community.
Bob Birchall
