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README

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+The Venice Web Communities System
+Eric J. Bowersox <erbo@silcom.com> for Silverwrist Design Studios
+In Development, January 21, 2001
+SourceForge Home: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/venice/>
+
+----------
+
+Description:
+    The Venice Web Communities System is a system for supporting online
+    communities and special interest groups.  A single Venice server will
+    support multiple SIGs, and all users authenticating themselves with the
+    Venice server will be able to join any SIG based on that server.
+
+    SIGs support multiple features, the first of which will be Web-based linear
+    conferencing (along the lines of WellEngaged, UBB, and other conferencing
+    systems).  Features to be added thereafter include instant messaging and
+    chat (which will be based on the Jabber open-source instant-messaging
+    system), calendars, link directories, e-mail newsletters, and possibly
+    advanced features such as collaborative databases and content creation/
+    publishing.
+
+Implementation:
+    Venice is written in Java using Java Servlet and JSP technologies, and
+    runs under the Apache Tomcat applications server, release 3.2.  It is
+    written to version 1.2.2 of the Java SDK (Java 2).  It also employs the
+    Sun Java API for XML Parsing, the JavaMail API (and associated JavaBeans
+    Activation Framework), and the Apache LOG4J logging class library.  It
+    uses MySQL 3.23 as a database back end, via the mm.mysql JDBC drivers.
+
+Licensing:
+    Venice is licensed under the terms of the Mozilla Public License, Version
+    1.1.  See the file LICENSE for details.
+
+History:
+    Venice's designed capabilities stem from the requirements for the Electric
+    Minds online community, which originally ran on the WellEngaged
+    conferencing software and was later ported to Durand Communications'
+    CommunityWare online community system (which later became the "WebbMe"
+    portal system of Webb Interactive Services).  WebbMe will shut down at the
+    end of January 2001, leaving the community homeless; Venice is intended to
+    provide it with a permanent, open-source home.
+
+----------
+
+Directory Structure:
+    doc/ - Documentation, notes, and images to be used later
+    etc/ - Configuration files
+    lib/ - .JAR files (this is where the mm.mysql driver lives)
+    setup/ - Files used in setup, notably the database initialization script
+    src/ - The source code itself
+    web/ - Web content and images
+