"What is the Fedora Project?"

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 20:19:20 -0400,
  Máirín Duffy <duffy at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> 
> 2) Fedora is a desktop distribution.
> 
> Specifically focusing on #2, I would like to suggest that the target
> user for Fedora the desktop distribution is a person of RHCT or
> equivalent technical skill who would like to check their webmail in a
> browser.

I'd suggest leaving out the check webmail part. I have no desire to access
any email through a web browser. I don't think how someone checks their
email is tied to the definition you give below.

> Points:
> 
> - What is meant by 'RHCT or equivalent' is that this is a person who
> does not need to have 'using a mouse,' 'drag and drop', 'browser tabs',
> and 'right click menus' explained to them. He/she gets it. This is a
> person who feels comfortable installing their computer on their own,
> burning DVDs, and if pointed to instructions, is comfortable opening up
> a terminal and running commands or installing non-packaged software as
> instructed (to work around issues, e.g., adding extra yum repos or
> installing non-free video card drivers from a tarball if provided some
> direction.)
> 
> - What is not meant by RHCT or equivalent: the person does not
> necessarily have to be a Fedora user. He or she could have the
> equivalent level of comfort with Windows or OS X never having touched a
> Linux distro, or Fedora specifically. If this person is a Windows user,
> they're a power user and maybe comfortable with installing some of the
> tweak UI bits for that, or in OS X are comfortable working in the
> terminal or have ports configured.
> 
> So the story I would like to design to, from the Fedora website to
> running the desktop is:
> 
> I am a person who is comfortable with computers. I hear about Fedora. I
> go to the Fedora website. The Fedora website appeals to me and convinces
> me that it's something worth trying. I find a download of Fedora that
> will work for me quickly and without stress. I am able to download that
> file and manipulate it in a way that it is install media I can insert
> into my machine in 10 minutes or less. I am able to successfully run the
> installer on my first attempt and progress through the questions it asks
> me in 5 minutes or less. I expect to have a running system in 15 minutes
> or less. I expect it to boot without errors or crashes on the first
> attempt, and I expect to be in a running browser in less than 3 minutes
> from a fresh boot.

You may need to warn such a user away from some of the spins. The games
spin isn't going to install on a lot of machines in 15 minutes.

How does this mesh with our no patented codecs stance? Are we going to give
people a prominent heads up about why that is and how to mitigate that
situation?