Re: A question to the candidates
On Sun, 2012-05-27 at 11:21 +0200, Gil Forcada wrote: > Hi all, > > First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! > > My question is about hardware and contacts: > > The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system > by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die > together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a > new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. Note that in my view is lack of such a well supported context for businesses in the GNOME community what led to the switch from Gtk+ to Qt during the Fremantle to Harmattan platforms at Nokia. Now its history of course, but reflecting on it wouldn't be a bad exercise. In mobile and embedded is Qt in high demand. Here you can find a Qt job quite easily. I can effectively name 3 or 4 companies that are looking for a C++/Qt developer nearby Brussels and Antwerp. None for Gtk+. Of course with Nokia more or less stopping with Qt is demand for Qt also lower as before. But Gtk+ isn't filling up the gap. I rather notice that commercial activity in mobile and embedded is going back to the Windows platform, to Android and to iOS. Even Flash is more often used on embedded than Gtk+. How bad can it get? You can have all the ideologies about freedom and free software you want, and it seems to be the only though question being asked to the candidates this year, but without enough commercial activity around the GNOME platform like we had during the 770, N800, N810 and N900 will the amount of people working on it, will students lose interest and will future innovation in it be low. I think this is GNOME's bigger-picture problem: its hostility towards ISVs and commercial activity. > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? > > Cheers, -- Philip Van Hoof Software developer Codeminded BVBA - http://codeminded.be ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
On 05/27/2012 11:21 AM, Gil Forcada wrote: My question is about hardware and contacts: The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... Yes, I think that is crucial to spreading of free software. As we don't yet have any kind of image with a base OS, so that is currently up to the distributions. OSTree is a good step in this direction. The KDE Vivaldi initiative seems interesting and something that I think is worth investigating further, but I don't think it's worth doing quite yet until we have other pieces of the stack ready. So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. Our story for allowing ISV's get their software in the hands of users currently sucks (say I want the newest GIMP on release day, but...no). Things like glick, extensions.gnome.org and Xan's webapp work is a step in the right direction and I think it would be worth some foundation money to do a hackfest around this. - Andreas ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
hi Gil; On 27 May 2012 10:21, Gil Forcada wrote: > My question is about hardware and contacts: keeping good relations with ISVs, OSVs, and even OEMs is a fundamental part of a complex software project like GNOME. we obviously need to propose GNOME as a viable alternative to iOS, Winphone, and Android on the mobile form factors - just like we propose it as an alternative for Windows and Mac on the desktop. obviously, we need a platform to actually propose, and though we're getting closer to that point, we're still far away from actually going to a manufacturers conference and say: "just go on gnome.org, download this disk image, and try it on your rooted Android phone". or to a software vendors conference and say: "just go on gnome.org and download our virtual machine image with all the development tools to write and deploy your code". those two are the prerequisites for actually gathering hardware and applications; our desktop offering is enticing, and it's a showcase of not only what we can do, but also of what the free and open source software development model can achieve - but it's not enough. try to bootstrap an entire GNOME environment on a tablet; try to create something that can be QA tested; try to provide a Developer Experience that can match our User Experience. those are goals that need to be achieved, along with cultivating relationships with hardware and software vendors - with the end goal of having more freedom in all our computing devices. ciao, Emmanuele. -- W: http://www.emmanuelebassi.name B: http://blogs.gnome.org/ebassi/ ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
2012/5/27 Diego Escalante Urrelo : > Hi Gil, > > Perhaps this link is relevant: > http://makeplaylive.com/ > > I would add this questions to your thread: > Do you think a similar venture for GNOME would make sense? > How do you think this, or a similar project, can happen without > leaving us bankrupt? The success KDE has had with their tablet offer does indicate that there is a demand for such hardware and that it is financially viable once we can deliver a certain level of functionality. However I doubt that GNOME OS is currently really ready to be deployed to users on tablets, general users that is. So any big push like e.g. doing a Kickstarter campaign to fund it is likely going to build high expectations with a group of users that we cannot currently serve well enough, a situation I foresee would harm GNOME longterm. However it is important to get some test hardware into the hands of our developers, how to do that without bankrupting GNOME is likely going to be tricky. I would love to do it and I think it is important that we find a way to make it happen. First I would love for someone to examine how many units and what hardware specs, would be desirable, and what that would cost. If we have an idea of the budget for getting a tablet into the hands of our developers it would be easier to figure out a way to make it happen. - David > Thanks! :-) > > Diego > > On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 4:21 AM, Gil Forcada wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! >> >> My question is about hardware and contacts: >> >> The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system >> by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die >> together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a >> new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... >> >> So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them >> and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. >> >> Is that something that you both find important and also will try to >> pursue if you are elected? >> >> Cheers, >> -- >> Gil Forcada >> >> [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer >> [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network >> bloc: http://gil.badall.net >> planet: http://planet.guifi.net >> >> ___ >> foundation-list mailing list >> foundation-list@gnome.org >> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
Hola! On 27.05.2012 11:21, Gil Forcada wrote: > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. > > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? Hm. I think it is important to have a free operating system pre-installed on machines reaching the end user. Even better if it is running GNOME. To be honest though, I wouldn't push that too high on my list. Not because of the importance but because of the feasibility. I see others like OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. in a much better position than us right now. Cheers, Tobi signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
On Sun, 2012-05-27 at 11:21 +0200, Gil Forcada wrote: > Hi all, > > First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! > > My question is about hardware and contacts: > > The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system > by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die > together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a > new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... > > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. > > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? Hi Gil, I find this extremely important. It's what I talked about when I ran for the board last year. Clearly, not much has happened since. I do want to help make this happen, but I'm not sure where to begin. And I don't want to make promises I can't keep. -- Shaun ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
2012/5/27 Gil Forcada : > Hi all, > > First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! > > My question is about hardware and contacts: > > The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system > by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die > together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a > new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... > > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. > > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? With the provisio that the board doesn't actually have a say in the technical direction. For GNOME OS to become a success we definitely need to get ISVs on board. To do that though we still have a long way to do. We will need a compelling, well documented SDK, development tools (MonoDevelop e.g. would be a nice place to start) and likely a whole bunch of additional tools like emulators. Aside that we'll need a means of deployment such as an app store and good packaging tools (glick and bockbuild seem close to being able to provide this, I know Banshee has used it to create deployable bundles on Linux and OS X). Relying on GNOME OS to package and make available every single application on a scale that can compete with the iOS App Store or Google Play would simply be madness so enabling ISVs to do that, and do it easily, would definitely be needed. This is going to be radically different from the model we are used to and I suspect we will have a lot of learning to do as well as some new friends to make to succeed. I think we still are years from deploying GNOME OS in any state that ISVs will be able to work with, but we can cultivate relationships already and get input as well as help to build all the foundations. So yes, I would start talking to select ISVs to get buy-in for deploying on GNOME as well as input to the kind of tools they would like to see. ISVs are also not just going to deploy on GNOME OS but across a range of systems and luckily we have friends that have experience with these challenges such as Xamarin, I think it would be wise to learn from them how to form a strategy that will ensure success long term. We are still a long way from competing with Android or iOS in this respect and I think it is to early to start a massive push. I would also happily raise funds to run more hackfests towards building the required foundational elements. I think it is important that we get an idea of what exactly it will require of us to become big players here and how we can get there. I think this is the most exciting part of GNOME right now and I would love to invest myself in making it happen to the full extend of the boards mandate. It's going to take years but I think GNOME is in a great place to offer a superior experience to users and ISVs alike. - David > Cheers, > -- > Gil Forcada > > [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer > [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network > bloc: http://gil.badall.net > planet: http://planet.guifi.net > > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: A question to the candidates
Hi Gil, Perhaps this link is relevant: http://makeplaylive.com/ I would add this questions to your thread: Do you think a similar venture for GNOME would make sense? How do you think this, or a similar project, can happen without leaving us bankrupt? Thanks! :-) Diego On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 4:21 AM, Gil Forcada wrote: > Hi all, > > First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! > > My question is about hardware and contacts: > > The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system > by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die > together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a > new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... > > So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them > and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. > > Is that something that you both find important and also will try to > pursue if you are elected? > > Cheers, > -- > Gil Forcada > > [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer > [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network > bloc: http://gil.badall.net > planet: http://planet.guifi.net > > ___ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
A question to the candidates
Hi all, First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME! My question is about hardware and contacts: The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware... So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them and finally making them ship our great software to the end user. Is that something that you both find important and also will try to pursue if you are elected? Cheers, -- Gil Forcada [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network bloc: http://gil.badall.net planet: http://planet.guifi.net ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
