On Sat, May 18, 2002, Amir Tal wrote about "Re: official hebrew in Linux-IL mailing lists?": > this might be a good place to tell you guys about something we are starting > these days. > > we call it LinBrew, and the target is a native Hebrew distro. > we planned on telling people about LinBrew in a few weeks, when we actually > have something to show for, but maybe we should check for some feedbacks on > such a project at this early stage. > the project website : http://linbrew.sourceforge.net > the forums : > http://whatsup.org.il/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=index&viewcat=6
Tal, I hesitated if to answer this on the list, and I decided I will, but please take it as my own opinion only and not representing anything or anybody else. I have read your forum thoroughly. Your intentions, to create a Hebrew Linux distribution, are admirable. You are talking on all the right concepts: volunteering, good management and so on. It all looks very much like the stuff I wrote almost 3 years ago in http://www.ivrix.org.il/announcements/1.html But what is actually happening on your forum right now are big fights on how to call that project [1], how the site will look, and things like that: currently you don't have any real experts and haven't done any coding or translation under that new "linbrew" framework. The question I have for you is why go to all that trouble when you could just take over the Ivrix framework? Nothing in Ivrix's current organization is sacred: The website could be moved, a Hebrew list, nukeof, or whatever could be spun off the ivrix-discuss mailing list and so on, and even the name is open to discussion (but please see [1] before you criticize the name Ivrix. I actually got good reviews on the name "Ivrix" before I decided to use it). For all I care you can even call yourself the "head of Ivrix" if this will do any good of promoting Hebrew support - I am not a control freak, and I hope you aren't either. What you'll get by taking over Ivrix, instead of starting from scratch, is that you'll have on an existing list several dozens of real experts in the field. While coders and people with free time are important (very important, even) people with experience with bidi, standards, fonts, hebrew-fication and so on is also important for guiding these coders to avoid making huge mistakes. I don't see any such experts on your list yet, and if you merge with Ivrix-discuss you'd have those experts in your group immediately. Ivrix also has almost 3 years worth of mailing-list archives on which you can find answers to most questions about Hebrew support you will have. What Ivrix does sorely lack is people who will come forward to organize it (I never wanted to organize it myself, I hoped someone else would do that but that never happened) and do actual coding and translation. I invite you guys to do that, instead of creating yet another stagnant Hebrew Linux project. [1] Just a comment on your choice of project names: The choice of name is an important matter, and it is also important for the person choosing it to be aware of the connotations the names might have, as the makers of the Chevy Nova found out when they tried to market their car in South America (apparently, No Va is Spanish for "doesn't go" :)). The name "LinBrew" is strange for two reasons: first (as people already mentioned on your forum), it is based on the English word "Hebrew". Why English??? Second, the word "brew" has a connotation of something relating to brewing, i.e., to beer (if you don't believe me, look it up in m-w.com). So personally, I'd expect "LinBrew" to be a name of a Linux-supporting beer company (something like "Open Cola" is to cola? :)), not a Linux distribution. The word "Livrit" might be ok, but you should be aware of the meaning this word has in music. Open your Even-Shushan (note that there is no yod after the lamed in that word) if you don't know what this word means. The fact that this word has an additional meaning might be a pro, or a con, but you must be at least aware of it and give it some thought. -- Nadav Har'El | Saturday, May 18 2002, 8 Sivan 5762 [EMAIL PROTECTED] |----------------------------------------- Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |Drink varnish and you'll get a lovely http://nadav.harel.org.il |finish. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
