fedora mission (was Re: systemd and changes)

[Bob Arendt]

On 08/27/10 15:19, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Jon Masters<jonathan at jonmasters.org>  wrote:
>> Again, I feel it is necessary to have a survey of Fedora users.
>> Preferably annually. And listen to the feedback. If they say "yep, we
>> just love the churn, the number of updates" and so forth, then fine. If
>> they say "actually we'd like less than 800 updates after installing",
>> then also fine. I'm sorry to beat a dead horse, I just feel it is very
>> important that we finally, clearly articulate who our users are and what
>> they want by treating more like customers and gathering their input.
>
> How would you prevent such a survey opportunity from being dominated
> by a vocal minority that wasn't actually representative?  It's a
> difficult question.
>
> We can't articulate who are users are. We can articulate who are
> target users are. And then we can try to survey that target and see if
> we are meeting their needs. Whether or not there is significant usage
> outside that target group is an interesting question..but not
> necessary the question of most importance.
>
> -jef

Actually I think Fedora *should* articulate who the users are, basically
design and express who and what Fedora is designed for.  If you poll
"users" - people who download Fedora - and cater to their stated desires
for the sake of market share, then market forces will start to drive the
shape of the distro.  Populist market forces would tend to force everything
to a gray mushy mass of similar distros.
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law).

I think it would be much better for Fedora to decide what it *should* be,
specifically what the Fedora userspace should be, and excel at that.
Don't follow the "market" or worry about being the most popular distro
(unless that's really a goal ..?)  Decide the niche, and be strong in
that niche.

Cheers,
-Bob Arendt