Re: Boxes and 3.4

[Luca Ferretti <lferrett gnome org>]

2011/11/30 Andrew Cowie <andrew operationaldynamics com>:
> On Wed, 2011-11-30 at 14:15 +0100, Luca Ferretti wrote:
>
>> And, in suborder, why can't Boxes be simply a non-core, featured
>> application, just like GIMP or Simple Scan?
>
> Because there's a big difference between an integrated, designed,
> polished, documented and translated GNOME app and something that happens
> to use GTK, right?

Not sure, but maybe you missed the point of that examples. The key is,
in effect, the current integration of Boxes (or the feauture that
Boxes provide) in GNOME desktop. I feel Boxes is just a stand alone
application that allows you to perform tasks unrelated to the audiece
we want to target. On the other side and as example of integration,
the current Vino/Vinagre couple can allow you to share a screen using
our chat application Empathy, a feature useful non-tech people too.
Maybe Boxes will be able to do the same, but personally I don't have
any urge to include it here and now as _core_ module or feature of
GNOME.

> Just because it isn't targeted at core audience doesn't mean that it
> shouldn't be an awesome part of GNOME if you happen to be in an
> alternate space. You know, like IT professionals?

Well, we had many discussions about "stuff not targeted at core
audience" in the past months, and they are still not part of GNOME
design ;)

>
> We're getting *ransacked* out there in discussions in LUGs around the
> world (e.g. [1]) because power users are trying GNOME 3 have found it
> totally interferes with their accustomed workflows. Unhappy campers. If
> people in LUGs have the idea that GNOME 3 is no use for them, do you
> really think they're going to push for its adoption in the wider company
> that they have to support?

I fear power users and LUG people will be more prone to say "there are
too few options to tune the VMs" or "you are forcing us to use the
virtualization framework you like, and it sucks".

However, I don't want too see Boxes as a solution, it's just a tool
that will allow you to use VMs and remote machines.
It could be a plus when we'll release a full GNOME OS, but when this
will occur IT professionists and tech enthusiast people will show more
interest in supported protocols (vnc, rdp, ...) and virtualization
infrastructure than in integrated appearence of a frontend.

BTW: planned protocols? The design page simply says "Connecting to a
work machine from home"