Re: No Flags "Policy"

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Jens Bech Madsen">

> I wasn't aware that Gnome is a commercial entity which relies on sales
> figures to keep it's stocks rising.

It doesn't have anything to do with commerce or sales. Do we want a global
audience? Then we need to respect global issues.

> Yes, it would be sad if Chinese and Taiwanese developers can't use or
> develop Gnome. But I think it could easily become a huge problem if you
> want to cater to any silly law any country in the world comes up with.
> 
> I can't know for sure, but is this suddenly a subject because of the
> inclusion of gswitchit?

No, as mentioned in the thread, we already include flags in GNOME. The thing
that kicked this off was the addition of new flags into gnome-icon-theme;
but the issue needs to be resolved one way or another regardless.

> I find flags a very good way to easily distinguish between keyboard
> layouts. I can see without looking which keyboard layout I am currently
> using because I don't need to read text.  The colours of the flags are
> recognizable and interpretable without focusing on them.

As mentioned in the thread, flags are totally inappropriate for this,
despite being nice pretty colourful icons that can catch your eye.

> If a distributor isn't allowed to ship a flag in a certain location, they
> can modify the product to suit their business or not. I don't see the need
> to have the base product neutered.

Why put the work onto everyone else? Fix the problem at the source. It *is*
a problem, whether you can see it or not, regardless of your politics, etc.

I come from a country where these things are almost completely irrelevant,
but I understand the need to respect these issues, particularly if we want
to succeed globally. We don't have localised versions of GNOME, we have "One
GNOME".

- Jeff

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