[Ambassadors] Raleigh, we have a problem ...

[Rahul]

Michael J. Knox wrote:

> Hi Rahul,
> 
> Not a conspiracy theory at all, I was in IRC chatting with Mike Harris 
> chatting about this subject, I was there reading the fedora-devel@ 
> mailing lists. I am nor blind nor stupid. To state that I am spreading a 
> "conspiracy theory" is crap. Thanks Rahul.

The conspiracy theory is that we are making things deliberately a black 
art which is not true at all.

> 
> Basically "The conclusion was that the interests of Fedora users using 
> proprietary NVidia modules outweigh the interests of other users who 
> would benefit from this update."[1]

Amazingly bad conclusion. So much for a detailed explanation of the 
process. We might as well as have not discussed this issue and conveyed 
the ideas better. What instead happened was that at the time we were 
discussing this issue, the Xorg maintainer happened to Ajax and he had 
no intention on his own to provide a update and we decided that we need 
to have a general update policy and until then the updates would be a 
maintainer's decision.

> 
> I was also there when everyone was berating Eric S. Raymond for the mere 
> suggestion of RedHat making it easier for end users to add MP3 and DVD 
> support. The sheer notation of doing so, left the fedora-devel mailing 
> looking like a kindergarden play yard (not too mention IRC).Fedora's 
> attitude towards those that do need 3rd party, non-distributable or 
> non-free, is doing it damage. I am just telling you how it is out there, 
> out side your little RedHat office....

First, lets stop with belittling other people. My Fedora work has 
nothing to do with Red Hat. I have been involved with Fedora much before 
I joined Red Hat so what office I am in is completely irrelevant to the 
current discussion. I have spend enough time "out there" too to 
understand the issues that pop up quite often.

ESR didnt merely come up with a polite request to add MP3 support. He 
claimed incorrect things about the patents not covering decoders. The 
mail was full of inflammatory leads.


> Its not a conspiracy when I front up to a LUG and have to answer the 
> whys? of users not interested in using Fedora and then relay that to the 
> ambassador list!!

If some users wont be interested until we include proprietary software 
by default in Fedora, then we are already aware of that. As a 
ambassadors, it would be your job to point out the project's objectives 
politely.

> 
> Instead of telling me I am spreading "unfounded claims" and "conspiracy 
> theories" on what I have just relied to you, based on first hand end 
> user experiences, why don't you make a founded effort to help set the 
> story straight?

Yep. I have already set the stories straight many times and I will 
continue to do so.


  Why don't you, as a member of the Fedora Project Board
> and a member of the Fedora Ambassador Steering commitee, do something to 
> help the Fedora advocates actually advocate for their platform of 
> choice, instead of telling to "stop the silly conspiracy theories" ?
> 
> Or is that too much to expect?

You assume this is not already been done. Suffice to say, this is not true.

Rahul