Re: roadmap status update/update request

["Eugenia Loli-Queru" <eloli hotmail com>]

> Well the secret to open source success is that the users and developers are 
> the same people.

What really disappoints me is this: When comparing closed source to OSS, 
people will just say how "open" and "community-friendly" OSS is. When 
comparing OSS to closed source though, suddenly everything is closed, and 
developers are "working only to fix only their own needs". Sorry, but plain 
users just don't fit on the second model. If users respect themselves, they 
should not use Gnome (as cruel that might sound).

And another thing: some say that "Linux is from developers to developers". 
IMHO, with Gnome is even worse: "Gnome is from developers to themselves 
alone" (according to you). It just doesn't sound right.

> I think that perhaps creating a dynamic bounty page

It might work, or it might not. There were two web sites in the past that 
did that sort of thing (users would pledge money to see a driver or 
something else get developed), and none of the two really worked. Well, bad 
luck, most people are using Free Software because it's free, not because 
it's Free.

Personally, I would not mind paying $30 per year though. Maybe Gnome 
*should* have a price tag, even if it's Free. Paying $30 per year for the DE 
alone, I think it's a reasonable price to get some sort of user support and 
get the right to send feedback/feature-requests to maintainers. How would 
that fare with the Gnome devs? Would the Foundation like the idea and be 
able to distribute the money accordingly if many users pay?

Eugenia