[gnome-desktop-testing] want to help

[Bryce Martin <bryce martin gmx com>]

Hi,

My name is Bryce Martin. I'm Australian; a Maths and ICT teacher living
in Abu Dhabi. I've been using Linux on and off since late 2001 when I
first installed Redhat 5 (I think) via a CD that came with a book that
I bought especially for the purpose of learning about Linux. At the
time I was studying SmallTalk programming at university. I later
studied Java and C++ programming, but mostly Java. I'm not a developer.
Unfortunately. I'm just a teacher.

After dabbling with Redhat for a few weeks/months I decided I needed
something easier to use and installed Mandrake and used it and SuSE
alternately for a few years until I stopped my interested in computing
for a few years and just used Windows to do what I had to do for my job
and nothing more.

Until about a year ago. I discovered the Raspberry Pi and re-discovered
my love of computing as a hobby. I've since discovered Gnome for the
first time, never having used it before since both Mandrake and SuSE
use KDE (if I'm not mistaken). 

Anyway, I'm amazed and blown away by Gnome. How good is it? It's got to
be the best windowing system in the world of computing today. Its ease
of use is breathtaking. I just love it. And I'm committed to it now. I
recently installed KDE5 to have a look. What a mess! I could take no
more than 3 or 4 days of using it before I had to get Gnome back. KDE
is a disaster of design and function. It has two great applications
that I use which are Krusader and Konqueror. But otherwise KDE is a
mess.

Gnome has it worked out perfectly. The way it functions in terms of use
is sublime. Gnome must go on. It is the best. 

I use Ubuntu-Gnome. That is good for me because I can understand it and
I find it easy to work with. I'm not the greatest technology guy in the
world and I like to be able to get things done. But I also like to have
a good dig around and try applications out and understand them and how
to use them better.

I would like to help out with testing Gnome and take a long term view.
Edward Snowden and the rest of it has made me realise how vital non
-proprietory systems are to our freedom. I will not walk away from
Gnome. It's too important.

But the central reason I want to use (and help) Gnome is because I love
using it and, learning about it is great fun. It's a hobby for me.
Unfortunately I'm quite a busy person, so I won't be able to do that
much in a typical week, but I should be able to spare an hour or two to
help out with testing. 

I hope I haven't put anyone off by my long introduction. I really do
admire the people who develop Gnome. It is an amazing achievement and a
vital project. Please invite me to help if possible.

Regards,
Bryce Martin.