No worries David. The situation is past now. Let me know if you have any questions.
Andy On July 10, 2018 at 4:38:15 PM, David Wright ([email protected]) wrote: > Hi all, > > From reading this and the linked discussion I'm unsure what the problem > is? > > KDE does not in majority of cases ship directly to users, it does through > distros. > > Surely the goal is to speak to distros, even the esoteric ones like > kxstudio and find out what they and their users would like and work from > there? > > On Sun, 3 Jun 2018, 21:24 Andy B, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hello team, >> >> Given recent events and decisions ( >> https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/plasma-devel/2018-June/086117.html) I >> feel it important to bring more to the table. >> >> Martin’s decision is an unfortunate one. Martin has been with KDE through >> thick-and -hin and has earned the respect and love from many members in the >> community. He has also earned my respect. >> >> I can’t help but think that the VDG is a tremendously influential group >> within KDE. I personally take this as a huge responsibility and a call to >> do even better in our approach. We ourselves have also seen the departures >> of many influential members. We have lost leaders one after the other and >> we have tried to cope with that. Martin’s and others’ comments about the >> VDG are welcomed and noted in this regard. >> >> I share the feeling. The VDG has strived to bring design back to the >> table after we started the Plasma 5 cycle, discussing design, debating >> direction, etc. However, the VDG has no leader, no vision, no strong >> direction. I took these thoughts seriously last year when I first attended >> Akademy. I realized that the VDG has a strong voice, but it was just that, >> a voice. >> >> I think we are still feeling the fallout from Aaron Siego’s exit from the >> community. He provided strong vision, made developers excited once again >> for their work, designers rallied behind the visual vision we had. It felt >> as though nothing could stop us because we had a guide to follow. Nothing >> else mattered. >> >> I think the VDG needs vision and guidance desperately. I am guilty myself >> of not providing this. However, I have taken steps to mitigate this >> problem. Last year, I decided to engage myself in revamping System >> Settings. We are still working through it but strong work has been done in >> this past year from me that I have ever done before. >> >> My basic idea was to provide an easier way to interact with the thousands >> of options that System Settings provides. By doing this work, I discovered >> that much more could be sprung up and done for the entire interface. I also >> discovered that I cannot take a hard line on everything that I do. We have >> been able to deliver more KCMs by steering design rather than dictating >> design. My affiliation with developers in the team has been one of the most >> enriching experiences of my life. I feel the VDG will do well in >> approaching our developer team the same way. Don’t be married to a design, >> learn from technical challenges to your work, adapt quickly and move on. >> VDG members will see that by doing this, we open the door to even more >> possibilities than we ever thought. >> >> Our developers are the ones putting out thousands of lines of code, >> reading on a computer screen all day, and Plasma ones do this all night as >> well. They are the foundation of the project. Without our developers, the >> VDG can never hope to deliver anything to the public. Our developers area >> cautious, full of ideas and a guiding voice for contributors. We will do >> well in partnering with a developer as we work and listen carefully to >> their counsel. >> >> I feel that our team in the VDG generally receives many newcomers to the >> world of Linux and Open Source communities. This is a challenge for the VDG >> as we must be open to new contributors but also need to curve contributions >> to the right places. For some, this makes it feel to them that “anything >> goes”. This is simply not the case. We ask that if you are a new >> contributor to the VDG, start small, learn from others and ask questions. >> We cannot take the hard line that our designs are above the project. They >> are simply not. >> >> The VDG also gathers a crowd that is passionate about design but doesn’t >> always provide direction. I will take fault for that. Having been here a >> while I feel it is my responsibility to provide more direction to new >> contributors. I have opened doors, but I have not learned how to shut them. >> If our dev team has anything they want to say, please bring this to me and >> I will work with you. >> >> If anything, I feel that our developer team, the VDG and the Plasma team >> in general currently lacks “visual direction”. I say this very carefully of >> everyone’s feelings. We maintain our software without stretching ourselves >> too far. After all, major changes also mean major work. By the same token, >> sometimes as VDG, we don’t dimension that a graphic design that took us 2 >> hours to make will take 6 months to deliver. We must think deeper, less >> like a graphic artist and more like a project manager. This will bring >> perspective to our work. >> >> I ask that instead of diving into power struggles and control over code >> and design, let’s direct that energy into developing a visual direction. We >> worked hard on this a couple of years ago. We developed “simple by default, >> powerful when needed.” I love that motto. It drives my thinking when >> designing for the project. However, we needed more than that. We started >> working on developing our human interface guidelines and the team delivered >> a strong set. After the advent of Kirigami, the team needed to revise our >> HIGs, a new website container was created for this purpose and every day we >> work to modernize and adapt our guidelines. We need to catch up to the >> great work that is being done in Kirigami. You should start seeing more >> direction from the VDG in this regard soon. >> >> We are working hard toward a visual direction and less ambiguity. >> >> Again, we must all work in this. The entire community. If you want to >> point a finger, do it at me. I am at fault for not guiding sooner. I am >> here to help with that and welcome feedback. >> >> Thank you, >> >> Andy (anditosan) >> >
