Re: Questions for the board election candidates
2012/5/22 Richard Stallman : > How does each candidate propose to make use of GNOME and its > communication to build support in the user community for free software > and the freedom it provides? > > The free software movement practices pragmatic idealism. Our ideal is > freedom for those who use software. We say that all programs should > be free, and our practical goal is to bring that about. > > The open source camp is pragmatic too, but mostly not idealistic. The > promoters of open source generally don't aim to make all programs open > source. They recommend a certain development methodology, presenting > it as a practical issue and not as an ethical requisite. > > You could imagine someone saying "ethically, all code should be open > source", but that's not the views of the open source camp. > > The idea of the GNU system follows from the free software movement's > ideals. If you want to escape from nonfree software, pragmatically > you need a free system to escape to. It has to be 100% free software > in order to do the job; 99% free software doesn't get you all the way > out. > > That's why we launched GNOME. In 1998, KDE was free software, but in > order to use it, one had to use nonfree Qt as well. Thus, KDE was > leading to a system that couldn't be 100% free software. We had to do > something about that, and what we did is GNOME. > > (Nowadays Qt is free software, so KDE doesn't have this problem any > more. Part of why Qt is free software is that GNOME put pressure on > the developers to make it free.) > > GNOME's usefulness as a software package is independent of how we talk > about it. However, the use of GNOME provides an opportunity to > educate the users about this issue, in philosophical and political > terms -- to teach them the idealism of the free software movement. I don't think we have a duty or even a right to "educate" users in this fashion. Regardless in my personal experience having given presentations on the subject, trying to force a political ideology along with the topic generally leads to glazed over eyes and dismissal at best. I am happy to talk about such matters if requested but I am certainly not in favor of using GNOME as a platform to force such views on people. I am here to present a great modern desktop (and eventually OS) not an ideology. There happens to be a number of appealing effects of being Open Source and some limitations created by the state of affairs (DRMed content, software patents, redistribution restrictions, e.g.) that I will happily highlight when relevant but I reject that I have a right to educate people beyond that extend. > Thus, my question: how does each candidate propose to make use of > GNOME and its communication to build support in the user community for > free software and the freedom it provides? In short, I have no plans to use GNOME as a platform to spread support for Free Software. David Nielsen > > -- > Dr Richard Stallman > President, Free Software Foundation > 51 Franklin St > Boston MA 02110 > USA > www.fsf.org www.gnu.org > Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. > Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question for the candidates
2012/5/25 Allan Day : > Hi all, > > Thanks to all the candidates for stepping forward. It's fantastic that > you are interested in doing this important work. Thank you. > A question for you: > > Sometimes it can feel like the Board of Directors is a bit divorced > from the rest of the GNOME project. Is this a problem, in your view? > If it is, what do you think can be done about it? I think the Board could be more visible, currently being on the outside I recently spent 3 weeks with non-communications with my board contact (Karen) during the late stages of planning a hackfest. Not knowing what to do or what the protocol was proved fairly distressing and I suspect not helpful to GNOME overall if such situations proves widespread. There are some minor things I would like to see, if you contact the board list, getting an acknowledge that your question was received and notification of when the next meeting where there will be time to debate it, if needed, is scheduled would help a lot. Likewise I don't think I have seen breakdowns of how Board members have voted on issues anywhere which I would personally consider valuable in terms of selecting a candidate to vote for (or to hold someone accountable). That being said, I think I would like to observe the Board more closely to see where it can do better in feeling as a more organic part of GNOME before making any big promises or suggestions. I only have some limited personal experience and haven't heard any reports of widespread problems. Perhaps it is an area where we need more input to identify our problems, so I would like to encourage people to step forward and tells us where it hurts. David ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
2012/5/27 Gil Forcada : > Hi all, > > First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! > > My question is about hardware and contacts: > > The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system > by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die > together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a > new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... > > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. > > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? With the provisio that the board doesn't actually have a say in the technical direction. For GNOME OS to become a success we definitely need to get ISVs on board. To do that though we still have a long way to do. We will need a compelling, well documented SDK, development tools (MonoDevelop e.g. would be a nice place to start) and likely a whole bunch of additional tools like emulators. Aside that we'll need a means of deployment such as an app store and good packaging tools (glick and bockbuild seem close to being able to provide this, I know Banshee has used it to create deployable bundles on Linux and OS X). Relying on GNOME OS to package and make available every single application on a scale that can compete with the iOS App Store or Google Play would simply be madness so enabling ISVs to do that, and do it easily, would definitely be needed. This is going to be radically different from the model we are used to and I suspect we will have a lot of learning to do as well as some new friends to make to succeed. I think we still are years from deploying GNOME OS in any state that ISVs will be able to work with, but we can cultivate relationships already and get input as well as help to build all the foundations. So yes, I would start talking to select ISVs to get buy-in for deploying on GNOME as well as input to the kind of tools they would like to see. ISVs are also not just going to deploy on GNOME OS but across a range of systems and luckily we have friends that have experience with these challenges such as Xamarin, I think it would be wise to learn from them how to form a strategy that will ensure success long term. We are still a long way from competing with Android or iOS in this respect and I think it is to early to start a massive push. I would also happily raise funds to run more hackfests towards building the required foundational elements. I think it is important that we get an idea of what exactly it will require of us to become big players here and how we can get there. I think this is the most exciting part of GNOME right now and I would love to invest myself in making it happen to the full extend of the boards mandate. It's going to take years but I think GNOME is in a great place to offer a superior experience to users and ISVs alike. - David > Cheers, > -- > Gil Forcada > > [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer > [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network > bloc: http://gil.badall.net > planet: http://planet.guifi.net > > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
2012/5/27 Diego Escalante Urrelo : > Hi Gil, > > Perhaps this link is relevant: > http://makeplaylive.com/ > > I would add this questions to your thread: > Do you think a similar venture for GNOME would make sense? > How do you think this, or a similar project, can happen without > leaving us bankrupt? The success KDE has had with their tablet offer does indicate that there is a demand for such hardware and that it is financially viable once we can deliver a certain level of functionality. However I doubt that GNOME OS is currently really ready to be deployed to users on tablets, general users that is. So any big push like e.g. doing a Kickstarter campaign to fund it is likely going to build high expectations with a group of users that we cannot currently serve well enough, a situation I foresee would harm GNOME longterm. However it is important to get some test hardware into the hands of our developers, how to do that without bankrupting GNOME is likely going to be tricky. I would love to do it and I think it is important that we find a way to make it happen. First I would love for someone to examine how many units and what hardware specs, would be desirable, and what that would cost. If we have an idea of the budget for getting a tablet into the hands of our developers it would be easier to figure out a way to make it happen. - David > Thanks! :-) > > Diego > > On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 4:21 AM, Gil Forcada wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! >> >> My question is about hardware and contacts: >> >> The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system >> by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die >> together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a >> new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... >> >> So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them >> and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. >> >> Is that something that you both find important and also will try to >> pursue if you are elected? >> >> Cheers, >> -- >> Gil Forcada >> >> [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer >> [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network >> bloc: http://gil.badall.net >> planet: http://planet.guifi.net >> >> ___ >> foundation-list mailing list >> foundation-list@gnome.org >> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A new Membership status: Emeritus
2012/5/29 Andrea Veri : > The GNOME Foundation Membership & Elections Committee is proud to > announce a new Membership status: Emeritus. > > Introduction > > The MembershipCommittee may receive Membership renewal applications > from Foundation members that provided a good amount of valuable and > high quality contributions in the past but aren't able to provide any > reference about recent contributions. > > The requirements to gain membership (or renew it) are the following: > > "Members of the Foundation are required to have made a valuable, > recent and non-trivial contribution to the project, and should be > planning to actively contribute in the future". > > Some past contributors or long time Foundation members could not have > their membership renewed as they could not provide the needed > reference to recent contributions. For this reason, the > MembershipCommittee created an Emeritus Rank for all the past members > that are not active any more but still want to be associated with the > GNOME Foundation. > > Accordingly, you can qualify for the Emeritus Member rank if: > > 1. you have been a Foundation Member in the past and made a > substantial contribution over a long period of time. > 2. you lost or are about to lose your Foundation membership by not > renewing it in time. > 3. you are still interested in being part of the GNOME community. > 4. your contributions are not recent enough to apply for the full > membership. > > Becoming an Emeritus Member > > If you met all the above criteria, please fill in your Membership > Application at [1] and the MembershipCommittee will process your > application as soon as possible. > > Becoming a Full Member again > > If an Emeritus Member has started contributing again, they will be > able to apply for Full Membership again. The procedure is simple: they > need to e-mail along with their > references (git Commits, Bugzilla, RPM/DEB packaging, translations, > marketing, etc.) and declare the fact that they are interested in > becoming Full Members again. > > Benefits > > Emeritus members do not have all the benefits that are available to > the Full Members, but they will able to keep: > > 1. their existing @gnome.org mail alias. > 2. their existing blog hosted at http://blogs.gnome.org. > 3. their existing http://people.gnome.org space. > > Aggregation on Planet GNOME will be left up to the Planet Editors discretion, > and Travel Subsidy will be handled by the Travel Committee. > > Emeritus members won't be able to: > > 1. vote on Board's Elections and Referenda. > 2. propose themselves as a candidate for the Board of Directors > elections. > 3. request a new @gnome.org mail alias > 4. request a new blog hosted at http://blogs.gnome.org. > 5. request a new web space at http://people.gnome.org. > > For any question, please mail us at . > > cheers, > > Andrea, > on behalf of the GNOME Foundation Membership Committee > > [1] https://www.gnome.org/foundation/membership/apply It was pointed out to me by Jared Jennings that the Membership page nor the acceptance mail actually contains instructions on how to redeem benefits such as the GNOME hosted blog and storage, set up aggregation for pgo nor how to set up the personalized @gnome.org redirection mail. Could that please be looked at? - David ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Report from the GNOME & Mono Festival of Love 2012
The past week we had the pleasure of hosting a week long GNOME & Mono hackfest event at the lovely Microsoft NERD center in Boston. I have collected all the blog posts, photos and media mentions but to summarize we have made a lot of progress. * We are nearly ready to unveil a new Tomboy UX which is heavily inspired by the GNOME3 Notes application mockups, this will initially ship on OS X but once we get WebKit-gtk# bindings on Linux it is likely to land in GNOME3 as well. To deliver this Jared and Robert have been rewriting Tomboy to provide a proper library and separate UX, which will allow us to deploy on multiple platforms. Jared Jennings is expected to share more information on this shortly, additionally if Jeremie failed to sleep on the flight back to Ireland I have been promised an initial Tomboy client for iOS. * We also managed to push out not one but two releases of Taglib# fixing a number of issues and adding support for one new format. * Andreia Gaita demoed a gir2gapi translator which will allow us to generate GObject-Introspection based bindings, however there are still areas where doing so requires guesswork rather than relying on information which gir could provide for us, regardless this is a big step forward. * Banshee has seen a number of improvements, biggest is probably being moved to the Last.fm Scrobbling 2.0 API. * Dbus# has seen a lot of work, having 2 years worth of work merged and we are now passing all of the unit tests. There is still a bit of work left to do in terms of API improvements but Jeremie demoed Banshee using it with all the old ndesk-dbus/dbus-sharp workarounds removed running flawlessly. Getting this deployed should greatly improve stability and allow a wealth of applications to remove old workarounds. * MonoDevelop gain support for the Plastic Distributed Version Control System and more importantly as a result of this we have established good relations with Codice Software which we expect to lead to the Open Sourcing of some of their code, as well as a greater involvement with our community. * Two of our GSoC students attended and had very productive meetings with their mentors, meaning we are on track to deliver the Tasque (Todo application with Remember the Milk integration) revitalization and voice controls for Banshee. This was Antonius's (Tasque) first involvement with Open Source so we are pleased to have given him a pleasant welcoming and lots of good memories. .. and much much more. We had a fantastic time for which we naturally want to thank our generous sponsors Fluendo, Xamarin, Microsoft, Plural Sight and of course GNOME. Planning for next years event has already started and we are looking forward to building on what worked well this year and what needs improvements. A gigantic thank you on behalf of all the attendees, David Nielsen Full list of blog posts, photos etc. can be found here: https://live.gnome.org/Hackfests/GNOMEandMonoFestivalofLove2012/Blogging (List is expected to grow still as some attendees still owe me blog posts) ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
