Response to "Getting Fedora Out of the If-Then Loop"

inode0 inode0 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 18 18:57:30 UTC 2010


2010/2/18 Máirín Duffy <duffy at fedoraproject.org>:
> On Thu, 2010-02-18 at 11:33 -0600, inode0 wrote:
>> Isn't this an example of a false dichotomy? Our choice is not (a) have
>> the board define a target audience for the default spin or (b) stare
>> at our navels.
>
> No ... and I don't think the board is doing the work either. Have you
> seen the page that some of us put together during the interaction design
> hackfest a couple months or so back? We were making sure to interview
> folks from each of the different groups within the entire Fedora
> community and make sure their POV was accounted for as part of the
> process.
>
> There's a whole methodology to the process, and it isn't just folks
> meeting in a room and making a decision in isolation which saying 'the
> board decides' seems to paint a picture of.

Fair point. It does paint a false picture in that sense. But
regardless of the process used once the FPB stamps a seal of approval
on a target audience it will have a permanence that it doesn't have
otherwise. The FPB can change it later but surely is not going to be
eager to revisit this. That may be ok, what I think trickles from it
might be what you find most valuable in it.

>> What if there were spin guidelines similar to the packaging
>> guidelines? You want to be a spin here are the things we need ... and
>> this included a clear statement of the target audience of the spin.
>> Would having that clear statement of the target audience solve your
>> problems? This could be handled through FESCo oversight which seems
>> the more logical place for it to me and it would remove my main
>> concern.
>
> I think that's a good way to make sure the spins are better-defined, but
> it avoids the choice of - 'what is Fedora'? When I go to a conference to
> promote Fedora, must I bring copies of every single spin? If I don't
> know what a spin is, and I'm struggling to grasp what exactly Fedora is,
> what distro should I be handed at an event?
>
> Its the target audience definition for THAT which I think is of utmost
> importance, and I think we need to be in alignment on as a community. I
> think the board needs to make tough calls when necessary to make sure a
> target audience is defined for that.

You would use the target audience for the default spin as the target
audience for that purpose.

A secondary benefit of this in my mind is it creates a framework for
competition among spins to be the default spin and that competition
should promote technical improvements in the spins.

John


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