So, this is primarily an e-mail to ask some questions to the two members of the TSG, that I think would not be sufficiently covered in a TSG meeting and answers might be better suited for the e-mail form.
Now, there is currently in the MeeGo project what I've heard described as a 'big reveal mentality' by someone - regarding Handset, Netbook UX, etc. Now, I can understand why the project needs to do this - the press would tear you apart if not done right, so the UX'es are not what I'm here to discuss. What I'm here to discuss is what it does to the project. A big reveal obviously requires a great deal of secrecy for the parties involved. In this case, it's two or more big companies and well, maybe unintended, most of the MeeGo project structure (release management, OBS/repositories, bug tracking, testing, developer documentation, etc.). The secrecy seeps through almost every single aspect of MeeGo and it -is- hurting our idea of public R&D. I have plenty of examples, but this is not important to the topic. We're not working in the open like we're supposed to - even though as has been said - Intel, Nokia and we all know how to do it! But when there's a big reveal mentality active, the mode of the people participating switches to internal/private development, even if you are only tangentially related to the object/UX being revealed. And I think that's the main source of all our so called 'openness' problems - not malice, conspiracy, laziness or whatever. For the near future until UX'es are out, the big reveal mentality will have to stay - and I respect that. I want a blazing start on a good future in this project with big fanfare. It's the future I'm worried about. Finally, my questions to the two members of the TSG are: Would you agree that the big reveal mentality has been hurting the MeeGo project extensively in terms of having public R&D up to now? What will you actively do to prevent the same working patterns where people have not worked in the open due to the big reveal mentality, to continue after the UX reveals? In the future, in case you get another need to do a big reveal, how will you ensure that active, public development/work/process will not regress to not working in the open? Should the work for big reveals be done initially outside the MeeGo project framework? Thanks in advance for your answers. Best regards, Carsten Munk maemo.org distmaster _______________________________________________ MeeGo-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev
