"Red Hat Releases Fedora 18 Beta"

[inode0]

On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 3:26 PM, Robyn Bergeron <rbergero at redhat.com> wrote:
> On 11/27/2012 11:32 AM, "Jóhann B. Guðmundsson" wrote:
>
> "Subject: Red Hat Releases Fedora 18 Beta"
>
> What the hell is going on here last time I checked it was Fedora's community
> that released Fedora.

I would like to see these say "Red Hat Announces the Release of ..."
instead but perhaps that is only because I have historically been
rather sensitive to this stuff as well. Red Hat is proud of Fedora and
that comes out in virtually everything Red Hat releases if one can
read through the announcements with a clear head.

> ..

> I do my best to share those lessons learned, and even point to "how we do
> it," as far as "how Fedora's interactions with internal Red Hat departments"
> go.  Perhaps in this case it would be worthwhile for marketing to document
> some tips and "things to remember" as far as working with the Fedora
> community for the Red Hat PR folks - in conjunction with Anna - so that it
> isn't something that is known by "just one person."  Things like - where you
> can always find Fedora's mission statement, the schedule, etc., as well as
> "please don't do this" type of stuff - such as the case that instigated this
> mail. :)

One thing I noticed in this announcement as well as something similar
in a fairly recent Red Hat blog post is some emphasis on Fedora's role
as a place where new technology is developed and tested for possible
inclusion in Red Hat's commercial products. While that is true and it
is a motivation for many Fedora contributors it isn't the universal
view of Fedora even within Fedora. Fedora is different things to
different people and unfortunately one of the persistent, although
perhaps waning, issues we deal with promoting Fedora is people put off
by the impression that is really all Fedora is. So I'd like to see
some care around dealing with this. I don't want to discourage Red Hat
from saying *this* is why Fedora is important to us entirely. I think
that message is important too. But maybe we can boilerplate something
that also emphasizes other reasons people love and contribute to
Fedora so it is *one of many* reasons Fedora is important.

> All that said - and in spite of my "tinfoil hat" comments - I do appreciate
> your calling out of things like this, Johann, as well as anyone else who
> sees things like this - there is always opportunity for further education
> and refining of processes, and really, it just keeps things honest and
> frank.

Yeah, although it makes our community look a bit insecure when the
calling out is done on LWN. Having a discussion internally is great.

John