Desktop Proposal

[Mike McGrath]

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, Toshio Kuratomi wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 05:28:53PM -0500, Mike McGrath wrote:
> > On Mon, 12 Oct 2009, Jesse Keating wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, 2009-10-12 at 17:18 -0500, Mike McGrath wrote:
> > > > Agreed, it should be the page that directs our contributors.
> > >
> > > Yes, we agree on the above.
> > >
> > > > To create a
> > > > usable, general purpose desktop.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > No we do not agree on this.  The Fedora Project's mission isn't just to
> > > create a general purpose desktop.  Not by a long shot.  By saying that
> > > at a /project/ level you basically tell every person out there that
> > > wants to work on making servers better, or wants to develop good
> > > documentation for software, or wants to create artwork, or wants to do
> > > anything that isn't a "general purpose desktop" to piss off and find
> > > another project.  I don't think that will result in more contributors
> > > coming to Fedora.
> > >
> >
> > So lets leave the other missions in place, as suggested in the paper, and
> > just add one?  Is there anyone else on the list that thinks trying to
> > build a usable, general purpose desktop is not worth being a mission of
> > the Fedora Project?
> >
> Yes.  I agree with Jesse on this one.
>
> The Fedora Project should be about attracting contributors to make the
> Fedora Community better.  This can include a lot of things that have nothing
> whatsoever to do with creating a distro, let alone a desktop distro.
>
> However, some subset of our contributors are interested in creating a
> desktop distro.  Those subprojects (right now this work is focused via spins
> but it doesn't have to stay that way in the future) should carry the
> creation of a general purpose desktop as part of their mission.
>
> As part of our (The Fedora Project's) mission to build a better Fedora
> Community, promoting the various spins is one way to reward contributors for
> a job well done and to try to retain and grow the contributor base.
>

Here's the part I get confused on then.  Where does the operating system
that almost all of our contributors show up to work on fit in to the
project?  Is the only reason we have an OS because a bunch of contributors
showed up and happened to want to work on it?

	-Mike