On Fedora's goal - is it to build an OS people can use, or to build a free as in gratis OS that people can use, or is it to build a free as in libre OS that people can use?

[Ankur Sinha]

On Fri, 2015-05-29 at 14:13 -0400, Josh Boyer wrote:
> On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 12:26 PM, Ankur Sinha <sanjay.ankur at gmail.com
> > wrote:
> <snip><snip>
> 
> I like those ideas.

Ah, that's good to hear :)

> 
> > In conclusion, the community seems to be forgetting that our goal 
> > is to
> > spread FOSS and the OS is a tool to achieve this, and I would very 
> > much
> > like the council to think about this and how this needs to be
> > rectified.
> 
> So, speaking only for myself here.
> 
> I don't believe the community is forgetting that our goal is to 
> spread
> FOSS.  However, FOSS has become so prevalent in technology today that
> shouting "FOSS is better!" is often met with blank stares and replies
> of "Yes... we've known that for a long time."  Ten years ago, that
> certainly wasn't the case.  The success of Linux, Red Hat, Fedora, 
> and
> Canonical (to name a few) has proven FOSS is a superior way to build
> technology.  They have paved the way for Docker, and CoreOS, and all
> the shiny new things that are coming out today.
> 
> So yes, the OS is a tool to promote FOSS, but doing that promotion is
> no longer a simple act of turning on a light switch and illuminating
> the benefits the people might not be aware of.  Today we have to 
> fight
> against much harder problems than mere education.  We have to fight
> apathy (which has always been present), we have to battle content
> consumption, we have to battle "it just works."  If we don't tackle
> these tasks, we're limited to the niche of people that are willing to
> do without.  That market is already saturated.
> 
> Much of the effort around making the OS better, easier, faster
> (maybe..), is targeted at these problems.  How do we create a FOSS OS
> that is capable enough  for every day use for _today's_ computing?
> The industry and public haven't stood still waiting for us to catch
> up.  Taking our FOSS OS and making it usable with today's users is 
> not
> easy.  If the Workstation PRD fails to mention FOSS in it's mission, 
> I
> don't think that's a slight or a change of direction.  FOSS is such a
> huge assumption in our daily lives.  I think it's an oversight while
> focusing on the actual difficult problems to solve.

I understand this. I was just worried that we've begun to focus so much
on solving these problems that we're slowly forgetting the main goal.
This happens in culture - there are things everyone is assumed to know,
and generation after generation, people don't speak about these things
because everyone "just knows", until eventually, these things are
forgotten completely. This is all that I'm concerned about, but I have
received assurances that make me believe that we're not in such a
situation yet :). I still think it is important for us to speak about
FOSS more, and things like the essay contest should help us do so.

> 
> Does that mean we need to include proprietary software?  Personally, 
> I
> don't think so.  But I'm also pragmatic enough to realize that people
> are going to use it anyway.  I don't think Fedora should include said
> software, but I also don't think we should go out of our way to
> prevent people from getting their tasks done and using their 
> computers
> as they see fit.  Education on FOSS is a wonderful thing, but
> screaming it at them when they're frustrated and can't accomplish
> something is going to quickly lead to a negative connotation of FOSS.

I agree, and I'm completely on board with making things easier. Since
the thread on the desktop list, for instance, I have:

- written appdata files for all packages in the third party
repositories and submitted packages for their consideration - this wil
make it easier for users to install packages from there
- cleaned up questions that document these common tasks and placed some
of these in the sidebar on the front page of Ask Fedora to help people
find the required information quicker.

I'm always happy to help with "making things easier for users", but
there is a line that I'd like not to be crossed, and I tend to get
nervous when the significance of line itself comes into question.

> 
> I do love your ideas though.  I think we should write more about 
> FOSS,
> and come up with innovative ways to continue educating people on it's
> benefits.  More importantly, I think we need to educate people on
> contributing to it to accomplish some of these harder tasks.  It's 
> the
> only way we're going to actually sustain a FOSS OS in the long run. 
>  I
> look forward to seeing the output of these ideas and participating in
> my own way.
> 

That is great to hear. We'll keep working on it and keep the community
in the loop.
-- 
Thanks for the feedback,
Regards,
Ankur Sinha "FranciscoD"

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ankursinha
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