A vision statement

[Robyn Bergeron]

On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 6:38 PM, Jon Stanley <jonstanley at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 7:19 PM, inode0 <inode0 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I agree with Colin about replacing users with something more general.
>> We want our work to improve the lives of everyone.
>
> I'll agree but nitpick - how can we improve someone's life if they
> don't use our product? Hence, users seems to be appropriate to me
> here, even if those "users" may not be aware they're using Fedora
> (much like I'm sure many Android users don't know or care that Linux
> is powering the device).

They don't have to use *our product*.

In my eyes, historically, and even now, Fedora has been a platform for
innovation.  Innovation that, yes, gets sucked up by many other
distributions, distributed, and then reused in countless applications
-- innovations that not just touch, but actually improve the lives of
EVERYONE, not just "users."

Virtualization technologies that allow scientific discoveries to
happen at a much faster pace than would have happened otherwise.
Communication technologies that allow people in third-world countries
to actually have things like telephones.  Server technologies that
allow higher levels of uptime.  Creating technologies that would be
patented and locked down elsewhere. Tireless work towards making
software more free.  Every time I pick up my telephone -- every time I
turn on my television -- every time I flush the toilet, take
medication, you name it, I am pretty sure that somewhere along the
way, Linux was involved.  And I know that, many times, Fedora is the
birthplace of some of those technologies, and it makes me damned proud
-- and I know that Fedora is capable of creating many, many more such
innovations in the future.

We do things in Fedora that nobody else does.  That nobody else wants
to do, because it's too hard, too political, or because it's too good
to give away for free when a profit could be made.  We are, by and
large, a philanthropy organization for freedom in software.  And like
many philanthropists, the things we do perhaps go without credit - and
in come cases, get credited to others - and yet, we *plow forth,
continuing to do what we do, because it is the Right Thing To Do, and
because nobody else will do it.  Strategy dictates that you can't be
all things to all people -- but if we don't continue to be the
innovators, who will? And can we be sure that we can continue on with
our mission if nobody else is doing those things?

We should be happy, and proud, that the things we do in Fedora improve
the lives of everyone.  I personally believe that the best way to do
that is to continue to be innovators, to work with people who *believe
what we believe*, to cater to developers who also want to improve the
lives of everyone  -- and those ways are MANY --  and in choosing a
vision, we should really strive to not constrain ourselves in the ways
we can achieve said vision; but above all:

We should not preclude the people who have made us what we are today,
nor should we turn our backs on what we are today - which, in the end,
is a place where people feel like they can make contributions that
make a difference in this world. If we want to improve the lives of
users, or everyone, the place to start where we can touch the lives of
most of those users/everyone is by enabling and encouraging the
development of free software.

I believe that the vision statement Mo presented above certainly does
its part to address what I've stated above, though, like John and
Colin, I believe that the term "everyone" is far more visionary than
the term "users."  Visions should be *visionary*.  If our vision is
all about getting users that are tied to US, then I believe we're
really more concerned with ourselves and our collective self-esteem
than we are with improving free software - and in my mind, that's not
visionary at all.

-Robyn

* That's right. I used the word plow. Boo-yah!

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