Thanks to listening to the #ubuntu-uk PodCast - I came across this little gem.
It's a collection of reusable django apps - all designed to be reusable - together.
What this means?
This project needed a critical mass to get it off the ground. Basically the way things are referenced across all the apps need to be the same. There's no point having two reusable apps.. if they both require different ways of interfacing with the same object. They break if one has 'name' as being fullname, and ther other requires name to have two separate name fields (for firstname and lastname). You've then got to write a way of getting around this problem, which just increases as more features were added.
Well, the neat guys over @ pinax have started up a project on creating re-usalble apps that sing of the same hymnsheet - and they look awesome. Having watched a presentation on youtube, the following phrase (quoted) stood out for me:
"If you want a man to build a boat, do not send him out for wood and nails, but teach him to yearn for the wide and endless sea." -Antoine St Exupery
It's really accurate for these kind of projects - writing reusable apps off some other guys prescribed instructions doesn't fill the heart with glee - but seeing what can be achieved by doing this makes you want to contribute.
So Cloud27 was born - it's a social network, but made up of the componenets developed on pinax - meaning you get to play with what you're about to download an integrate into your own project.
It looks really good, and there's a project I've been meaning to do which has been yearning out for a kickstart - I think this may have just done it!