Re: Tuxmagazine

[Luis Villa <luis villa gmail com>]

On 5/2/05, Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net> wrote:
> On Mon, 02 May 2005 10:00:12 +0200
> Dave Neary <dneary free fr> wrote:
>
> > But it doesn't measure people using a free desktop at work, or in
> > telecenters, or atr school, who may not know they're using linux, and
> > certainly don't browse those sites that run online surveys on whether
> > you're using GNOME or KDE.
>
> True.
>
> On the other hand, are there really that many 'uninformed' GNOME desktop
> users compared to the worldwide amount of geeks who also don't vote in
> online polls?

Well, the world's most popular linux distro defaults to GNOME, and the
largest deployments in the world (spain and brazil) use GNOME as well.
So, yes, there is a strong suggestion that we are actually the choice
of the silent majority. But yes, we have to learn to turn that into a
non-silent majority, since the only hard data (besides those ones I
just mentioned) are these damnable online polls.
  
Luis

> Does GNOME come preinstalled on usual PC's? Are companies using Linux on
> a lot of office desktops or isn't it used really for development, system
> administration, and servers?
>
> And what will companies install? Will they really test different
> desktops to see what's better for their users, or will they trust the
> recommendation of their system administrator who is likely to be a geek?
> Or will they just use what comes installed by default?
>
> Additionally, numbers such as these have a tendency to create their own
> truth: People may start using what they percive as the most used
> platform, and thus the platform will get the most used.
>
>
> > I don't know if there's anything that we can do to change that image,
> > or  redress the bar, or even start changing that trend in online polls
> > to  get it closer to 60/40 or even 50/50.
> >
> > It is a little worrying that an online magazine is almost ignoring
> > GNOME...
>
> There are lots of things, depending on what you mean by 'we' and 'do'.
>
> However, the facts are:
>
> 1.) We can't influence what kind of people start testing Linux and
> GNOME. The market of computer newbies is (nearly) unreachable right now.
>
> 2.) We can't change the way potential switchers judge GNOME: They will
> first note what beloved features are not there anymore. That is, they
> will first note what's wrong, in their opinion. On the other hand, it
> took me about a year to find out what's cool about Linux.
>
> 3.) There no way to reach a decision, and delegate tasks, unless
> prominent GNOME developers lead and organize these efforts.
>
> With this in mind, the following stuff seems possible:
>
> Web page:
> ---------
>
> - update the 'user' section of the GNOME homepage with an inviting text.
>
> - a screenshot walk-through on the webpage with proper explanations.
>
> - make the webpage multi-language
>
> - make bugzilla easier to use (Elijah is working on this, AFAIK)
>
> - integrate Davyd Madeley's GetFootware page into the offical pages.
>
> - start posting inviting (encouraging) opinions/ success stories on
> planet.gnome.org and/or GNOME journal instead of worrying stuff - Miguel
> de Icaza is a master concerning this, IMHO.
>
> - in general, move potentially worrying discussions away from
> planet.gnome
>
> - what about a 'news collection' team for Footnotes: Things I missed
> there in the last weeks, for example: GNOME is preinstalled on medium
> super computers via RedHat, and GUADEC got a one page advertising in
> some Linux journals.
>
> - present GTKmm more prominately as a viable C++ alternative (there
> seems to be a grown interest in GTKmm in the last year, did you know
> that?)
>
> - present other bindings more prominately as an alternative to 'old'
> toolkits, for example Perl-TK, TK, etc...
>
> Development:
> ------------
>
> - make GNOME (the project) more attractive to power users (geeks) - the
> Power toys package idea might help
>
> - help third-party developers to migrate to GNOME technologies
> inofficially.
>
> - concentrate less on unreachable markets such as people that buy OS's
> preinstalled (that is: less emphasize on advanced usability) and
> more on reachable markets (system adminstration, web page designers,
> semi-professional musicians, or scientists, for example.)
>
> - make it easier to distribute and test GTK/GNOME apps by using
> autopackage
>
> Social:
> -------
>
> - Instead of doing-yourself, find ways to delegate work (split larger
> tasks into small pieces that can be done by less experienced developers)
>
> - given the number of user made distros with GNOMe as default on Davyd's
> GetFootware, where are their users? Do they read GNOME web pages? Are
> there any ways to improve contact, and collaborate?
>
> Cheers,
> Claus
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