Hi, This thread has clearly jumped the shark but there is one point worth responding to here. (which is a shame because deja dup is really pretty cool. It is too bad the thread was turned on a tangent)
On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Luca Ferretti <[email protected]> wrote: ... > And note, while this is just an example, similar customizations are not > rare in the real world. Preventing people "a priori" (professionals, not > "kids in the basement") to use GNOME as a base to build something > different IMHO means to fail as open source project. As long as we're throwing around Latin phrases to sound fancy we may as well use some French as well. How about: raison d'être. What is our mission, what is our reason for existing? Is it to provide a gummy base for others to adapt, modify, and differentiate? No. It is to create the most beautiful computing experience we can imagine, using free software, that helps provide access to a web of enlightenment, freedom of expression, and connections to people you would ordinarily never have in the physical/political world. Something that, because it is free software, allows anyone to actively participate in the future - rather than simply passively consume. Feel free to call that what you like. I call it an operating system. It is what we've been working to create for a decade now. We (GNOME) have built nearly all of the modern Linux user-space subsystems to facilitate this goal. It is not new or novel. It is why we are here. There is no point in being timid about this. It is brave and it is meritorious. Does our work, by its nature, allow or encourage modification, adaptation, and reinvention? Absolutely. Is that enough? No. We expect more of ourselves and the world expects more from us. Very pointedly, GNOME does not exist exclusively for the benefit of derivatives. The reason people react strongly to that suggestion is that it is profoundly disrespectful to the hundreds or thousands of people working passionately to craft a intentional and exceptional user experience with GNOME. We are building a thing and we've been doing it for a long time and will continue to do so. The fact that you can modify it is an artifact of the methodology and is not our core purpose. We care about what the user sees. We care about user experience and we take design seriously. And to be successful that is exactly what we must do. > Well, of course I've another option. Switch to KDE as base system :) If these goals do not align well with yours, you are free, of course, to do as you wish. But as you know such an exclamation is typically considered, as with Godwin's law, to signal the end of a conversation. And I hope it is. Love, Jon _______________________________________________ desktop-devel-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list
