Re: The noninclusion of Gaim

[Miguel de Icaza <miguel ximian com>]

Hello,

> I have no problem being part of GNOME (nor does Rob), as long as we get
> to preserve the control we have over the project.  A lot of the Gaim
> developers worry that being part of GNOME would sacrifice this control;
> that we'd have to abandon our own release cycle, that we'd have to
> abandon our Windows port, that we'd be forced to use gnome libraries,
> and other such stuff.
> 
> Is there a good write-up anywhere of exactly what it means to be "part
> of GNOME"?  Rob and I would certainly be interested in reading it.

There seems to be some miss-communications here. 

I want to tell the Gaim developers that they should not fear loosing
control over their software, because nobody in the Gnome world does
loose control over their software. Maintainers in Gnome retain the
control of their modules until they decide to appoint someone new.  

There is no requirement to drop your windows port of any sort.  That
would be insane (Gtk+, hosted on the Gnome CVS has a functional Windows
port, and is not getting dropped at all).

What the Gnome people would probably request from you is:

	* Try to work with the release time tables of Gnome to deliver
	  a stable product.  But hey, if you miss the deadline, you can
	  always ship the *last* stable version.  No problem there.

	* They would encourage you to add accessibility support (being the
	  best IM in the world wont get you into the US government, you need
	  to be accessible).

	* You would be working with a highly motivated team of translators that
	  would make your technology usable by tons of people who do not speak
	  English.  You would be surprised to see where Gnome is being deployed
	  in the world, and you can help people around the globe get these new
	  high-tech solutions by working together with the team.

	  The requirements are simple, and more or less:

		* Before a release, freeze your strings, so translators can
		  work from a stable code base.

		* Notify people of last-minute urgent changes.

	* HIG-wise: I personally find GAIM to have a major problem, that am 
	  sure can be fixed.  Most of its notifications happen with a dialog box.

	  Now the dialog box would be fine, if gaim was not a background application,
	  but typically am typing emails, or writing code, or typing on irc, and
	  a window pops up, asking me things like `approve this file request', `add
	  this dude to your list', `connection closed'.

	  And the problem is that when you are typing, you will have spacebars in the
 	  middle.  When you press the spacebar, you will activate the default button
	  on one of these popups, and there is no way of knowing what you just did.

	  Did I allow someone to add me to their buddy list?  Or did I ditch them?  

	  It should use a non-instrusive communication system like MSN
	  Messenger does on Windows, and for any tasks that require confirmation, queue
	  the questions, maybe on the IM window have a list of pending requests. 

In short, making your product part of Gnome is not very complex, it is
just a matter of having the interest in working with another group.
Gnome is not any more complex than the interactions you already have
with your user base and your developers, and it might help you reach
more people.

Miguel