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

Máirín Duffy duffy at fedoraproject.org
Fri Feb 19 01:44:56 UTC 2010


Hi Greg,

On Thu, 2010-02-18 at 17:30 -0500, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
> Think of it this way: every Fedora subproject, from the lowest SIG to the 
> loftiest, competes for resources, to a greater or lesser extent.
> 
> Like the homepage, for instance.  The homepage of redhat.com, for example, 
> is the subject of insanely brutal infighting, because everyone wants to 
> see their baby get equal treatment.  Which is fair, btw, and which we will 
> see more and more in Fedora-land as we continue to discuss issues of 
> "focus".
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy
> 
> "Attention", or "focus" if you prefer, is a scarce resource.  If you work 
> on KDE or Xfce, and all of the conversation is continually around "focus", 
> and it seems like that "focus" discussion continues to be "a usability 
> focus on the primary spin," then one wonders "will I have access to these 
> resources?"  In fact, one knows the answer, and therefore doesn't bother 
> to ask.

Those resources are not as fluid or transferable as they seem in the
abstract, though. Adam enjoys working on XFCE. Nobody is going to force
him to stop working on it - it's just not reasonable. I have no QT or
KDE app design expertise. If we suddenly decided to focus on the KDE
spin as the default spin, am I going to be expected to start churning
out mockups for KDE apps or am I going to be prevented from continuing
to work on mockups for GTK+-based apps? 

There's a reality here that's not being acknowledged, and it has little
to do with popularity. I hope folks who work on XFCE or KDE in Fedora
don't come into those projects with the expectation that the same amount
of resources are dedicated to those as the desktop spin - because that's
never been true, and I sure hope they've not been misled into thinking
so. If I go to a Honda dealer in order to buy a Chevy I saw an ad for in
the paper, I do go with the full understanding that they're a Honda
dealership and don't argue with the dealer that he should have that used
Cobalt in red, blue, and silver as well as black.

> I'm not saying that it's an easy issue to sort out, and ultimately focus 
> *is* required, and like it or not, in some cases that means "winners and 
> losers".  But don't pretend those issues aren't important.  They are.

Well wait a minute, isn't this reducing it to a popularity contest
again? Are we working for the love and passion we have for what we do,
or are we working for glory?

~m



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