Care for an 80% solution?

[Mirage]

My point is that fun (or interest) is very important for an open source project as it gives motivation, including to get "the boring-but-important stuff" done. Without fun it's doomed indeed.

Our goal is similar to what you are writing: build an engine which other people will use.
And we are not ignoring existing solutions. We'll use many of them.

I'm sorry; I have no idea what that means. Would you mind elaborating?

Sure. PGDCE will have modular design and will provide many extension points. This allows to add any specialized functionality if a project needs it.

I really hope you're not taking what I said out of context and thinking that I put zero effort into designing the project.

Out of context? I don't think so. But may be I misunderstood you.