Re: Requesting Approval of Release notes general structure

[Dave Neary <bolsh gnome org>]

Hi,

Claus Schwarm wrote:
> Yes, most amateurs think like that, too. However, this is very unlikely
> for two reasons. First, because we should write:
>
> 2.16: Feature Enhancements
> 2.18: New Features
> 2.20: Feature Improvements
> 2.22: Many New Features

<snip>

> So we should slightly variate the headlines, but keep all the topics:

<snip>

Rather than say the same thing in different ways, I'd like to see us
saying a different thing for each release which is a stand-out addition
or evolution.

> For example, the last release was about eye candy, this one might be
> about a development suite, the next one might be about tracker and
> searching. What was GNOME 2.12 about? Or GNOME 2.10?

I think that this is a better approach.

2.16: Eye candy (although I personally would have preferred performance)
2.18: Developer suite (although we still have a good chance to talk
about performance)
2.20: whatever is the top-billing feature in 2.20

The point is, the journalists writing the GNOME release articles will
have to come up with the headline anyway - we should give it to them.

> Nothing wrong with a _short_ section, ie. a sentence that has a link to
> our 'About' web page. Or maybe a two sentences. However,
> including a whole page directly at the beginning -- like in the last
> release notes -- is a clear mistake done by amateurs.

Most people coming to GNOME 2.18 will be first-time GNOME users.

Saying that GNOME is a developer suite, development platform and basic
desktop environment for Unix and GNU/Linux is not a bad idea.

> Well, I don't mind, really. There's just one suffering when every
> marketing newbie introduces changes without good reason or
> understanding, and that's GNOME. :-(

I am sensing anger here, and I don't understand why. Perhaps I missed
something, and you can explain to me what your problem is.

When you do, please bear in mind that I'm pointing out that you're not
really in disagreement with Gervais - and the only place where we
disagree is that you're saying we need to concentrate on the delta, when
I think it's worthwhile mentioning the ways in which GNOME was great
before 2.18.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
bolsh gnome org