potential action items from GNOME 3 & F15 drama

[Max Spevack]

On Mon, 20 Dec 2010, Bill Nottingham wrote:

> Max Spevack (mspevack at fedoraproject.org) said:
>> == Giving things the most accurate names possible ==
>>
>> Revisit the (IMHO wrong) decision to not call the "Fedora Desktop" the
>> "Fedora GNOME Desktop" and correct this naming for F15 and onward.  Do
>> this in time for F15 Alpha.
>>
>> This is entirely separate from the decision of which spin is featured as
>> the default Fedora download, and I'm *not* trying to re-start that
>> conversation.
>
> This has already been discussed/voted on in the Board a couple of 
> times. Are there any new arguments or data points here? (The board is 
> certainly free to discuss/vote again, of course.)

I think the new data point is *this current situation*.  *IF* Fedora 
wants to highlight is commitment to and close relationship to upstream 
GNOME, especially around GNOME 3's release, then maybe it makes sense to 
call out the GNOME-ishness of the Fedora Desktop by calling it the 
Fedora GNOME Desktop.  This highlights GNOME and builds awareness, and 
it has a positive side effect of (IMHO) giving a more clear and 
consistent naming process to our multiple offerings.

>> == Wallpaper ==
>>
>> Decide a simple yes or no to the request to make F15's GNOME wallpaper
>> the same as upstream.  If yes, make it clear that this is a ONE TIME
>> exception to our normal processes.
>>
>> Similarly, decide that all the other F15 spins will feature a custom 
>> wallpaper as always, and that this will be the plan for *everything* 
>> down the road.
>
> 'custom wallpaper' should probably be explicitly defined, as it can be 
> read to mean different things (especially if there are desktops with 
> *no* default artwork.)

What I mean is "any deviation from the standard practices of the Fedora 
Design Team related to GNOME and F15 is limited only to F15, and only to 
F15's GNOME spin."

>> == Marketing & PR opportunity ==
>>
>> GNOME 3 and F15 is an opportunity to create some mutual wins.
>
> ... snip ...
>
>> NOTE THAT THE ABOVE DOES NOT PREVENT FEDORA FROM DOING VERY SIMILAR 
>> THINGS WHEN NEW VERSIONS OF OTHER DESKTOPS ARE RELEASED.  IT IS NOT A 
>> ZERO SUM GAME.
>
> ... well, resources *are* sort of zero sum. Especially given the 
> current state of spins (if someone shows up to maintain, help, etc. we 
> ship them, if they don't, we don't), I don't think it makes sense to 
> commit to this as something we'd do for arbitrary desktops. Now, if we 
> change the policies around spins, it may make more sense.

I completely agree that resources ARE a zero-sum game.

What I meant by the statement above is that if you think about the 
*opportunity* presented around F15 and GNOME 3, there is nothing 
administrative or governance related that could prevent a future version 
of Fedora from similarly highlighting a major new release of some other 
high-profile piece of software.

--Max