Re: The Goal of Gnome
The aim of Gnome is to be a graphic desktop for the GNU operating system. That's the purpose for which we launched Gnome. There is no hard and fast limit for what kinds of programs a Unix-like operating system can contain. (The first GNU Chess came out around 1989.) Likewise, a desktop can contain all sorts of graphical packages. There is no precise boundary for what _can_ be included. But there are essential things that _must_ be included. A Unix-like system has to have a C library, and its desktop has to contain a toolkit library such as GTK+. The desktop would be sort of pitiful if it did not contain a file navigator, system control panels, etc. Naturally, Gnome has them. However, it wouldn't make sense for non-graphic, non-desktop programs to be included in Gnome. It would be more natural to classify them elsewhere. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org) Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html. ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: The Goal of Gnome
Allow me to use an example to show you how I arrived at these questions and how I think this differs from GNU. Going to https://www.gnu.org/home.en.html tells me in the first line what GNU is trying to accomplish: "GNU is an operating system that is free software <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>—that is, it respects users' freedom. The development of GNU made it possible to use a computer without software that would trample your freedom." As a random person, I can understand what they are trying to do: build the components required for an operating system. However, when we go to https://www.gnome.org/foundation/ we see: "The GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organization that furthers the goals of the GNOME Project, helping it to create a free software computing platform for the general public that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and easy to use." So the GNOME Foundation furthers the GNOME Project. But nothing I can find on the website mentions what the GNOME Project is about. I can find the GNOME Project on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_GNOME_Project which lists the project's goals. I will copy them here: The project focuses on: - Independence – the governing board is democratically elected and technical decisions are made by the engineers doing the work. - Freedom – development infrastructure and communication channels are public, the code can be freely downloaded, modified and shared and all contributors have the same rights. - Connectedness – work spans the entire Free software stack. - People – emphasis on accessibility <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_accessibility> and internationalization <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization>. GNOME is available in more than 40 languages (at least 80 percent of strings translated)[11] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_GNOME_Project#cite_note-gnome312releasenotes-11> and is being translated to 190 languages. But this still does not give a definitive, concrete view of the actual programs under the GNOME umbrella. Why does GNOME have gtk+ and desktop UI programs but also a calculator and cookbook? Is a goal of GNOME to support all non-critical software of a computer (that is, pieces GNU is not supporting)? Can a math library be apart of GNOME? Video games? Is there anything keeping LibreOffice or Octave from becoming a part of GNOME? I don't mean for all those to be answered, but meant to be guide for discussion and thought. Thanks! -Josh On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 5:26 PM, Richard Stallman <r...@gnu.org> wrote: > [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider]]] > [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] > [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > > Since a similar question arises for the GNU system as a whole, our > experience > might be pertinent to discuss here. > > -- > Dr Richard Stallman > President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org) > Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org) > Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html. > > ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: The Goal of Gnome
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] Since a similar question arises for the GNU system as a whole, our experience might be pertinent to discuss here. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org) Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html. ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: The Goal of Gnome
Hi Josh, I think this is a great thing for us all to consider and I'm including the Engagement Team so they can see this, especially since they maintain the website. I think this is also a great thing for our new ED to help think through. Best, Nuritzi On Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 4:51 AM, joshbaldwin42 . <josh.baldwin...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello! > > I'm not sure the correct group to contact with this question, so feel free > to send me elsewhere. > > I was reading all about the GNOME Foundation and tools. But what struck > me is the lack of an overall vision for the GNOME Foundation. > > What is your goal? GNOME supports a wide range of applications and > libraries. What makes a piece of software GNOME? Why would you want a > specific piece of software under GNOME? Do you have priority projects to > fit your vision similar to the FSF high priority projects page? Where > would you like GNOME to be in 5-10 years and why? > > Of course I am interested in these answers, but ideally it would be nice > to write up something nice and publish it on your website. Such answers > could conjurer up inspiration in soon to be GNOME contributors since they > would know what direction they are marching. > > Thanks! > -Josh > > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list > > -- . *Nuritzi Sanchez* | +1.650.218.7388 | Endless <http://endlessm.com/> ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
The Goal of Gnome
Hello! I'm not sure the correct group to contact with this question, so feel free to send me elsewhere. I was reading all about the GNOME Foundation and tools. But what struck me is the lack of an overall vision for the GNOME Foundation. What is your goal? GNOME supports a wide range of applications and libraries. What makes a piece of software GNOME? Why would you want a specific piece of software under GNOME? Do you have priority projects to fit your vision similar to the FSF high priority projects page? Where would you like GNOME to be in 5-10 years and why? Of course I am interested in these answers, but ideally it would be nice to write up something nice and publish it on your website. Such answers could conjurer up inspiration in soon to be GNOME contributors since they would know what direction they are marching. Thanks! -Josh ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
