[Design-team] [OT] GIMP becoming too profi and thus will be excluded from Ubuntu distro

[Paul W. Frields]

On Thu, Dec 03, 2009 at 09:19:08AM +0200, Nicu Buculei wrote:
> On 12/02/2009 07:02 PM, Máirín Duffy wrote:
> > On Wed, 2009-12-02 at 09:21 +0200, Nicu Buculei wrote:
> >> I am worried about this tendency, from both Fedora and Ubuntu, of
> >> dumbing-down the desktop spins: if Windows does not offer any useful
> >> application out-of-the-box,our key to success is NOT to lower to the
> >> same level and also offer nothing useful as the OOTB experience.
> >>
> >
> > What if we offer the art studio spin for F13 though? Then there would be
> > an OOTB experience specifically tailored for folks interested in
> > graphics in particular...
> 
> If a Workstation or Design spin emerges an is at least half-decent, al 
> the news articles published by my local (Romanian) community will stop 
> linking to the Desktop spin and link to that instead. We will also stop 
> handling Desktop live media at local event and promote that instead.

The GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, and other art and design applications in
Linux are superb.  There's no doubt about that -- they're very useful
for people who know, or want to know, how to create great art.  But
they also have learning curves that far exceed the patience of an
average desktop productivity user.  (I speak as a person who's not
much of an artist, and able to do only minimal tasks in any of these
apps.)  So there's nothing wrong with moving those apps out of a
system that's designed for a user like me.  I can always get them
later if I want them.

On the other hand, having those apps in a dedicated Design spin is a
great idea.  Promoting that alternate spin is just as valid as
promoting any other, and it's one of the primary reasons we even have
spins.  We needn't have such a negative conversation about it; it's an
opportunity to create something new to fill a niche you feel is not
currently served well.  I'd prefer if the introduction of that spin is
not colored by hostility toward another part of the Fedora community,
but instead, introduced in a positive spirit of helping a new group do
cool things with the Fedora distribution.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
  irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug