Re: [Fwd: Re: gnome 2.21 schedule.]

[Erik Snoeijs <stratos stratos-online nl>]

On Sat, 2007-09-29 at 13:50 +0200, Vincent Untz wrote:
> Le samedi 15 septembre 2007, à 00:09 +0200, Vincent Untz a écrit :
> > [I'm not sure Sven is on this list, so adding him]
> >
> > Content-Description: Weitergeleitete Nachricht - Re: gnome 2.21 schedule.
> > > Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:41:25 +0200
> > > From: Sven Herzberg <herzi gnome-de org>
> > > To: Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net>
> > > CC: desktop-devel-list gnome org,
> > >   Gnome Release Team <release-team gnome org>
> > > Subject: Re: gnome 2.21 schedule.
> > >
> > > Andre Klapper wrote:
> > > > ahoj,
> > > >
> > > > a draft for the gnome 2.21 schedule is available at
> > > >         http://live.gnome.org/TwoPointTwentyone .
> > > >
> > > > comments welcome; silence means compliance.
> > > >   
> > >
> > > I'd like to see the release one week earlier. It would be great if we
> > > could have a small "official" release at the CeBIT (having someone from
> > > the release team and the foundation at CeBIT and sending off the release
> > > mails, maybe giving away press releases etc.).
> >
> > The idea is interesting, and we might be able to change the schedule for
> > this. However, what we really need is the opinion of the marketing team:
> > if we do this, we have to get a really clear and understandable message.
> >
> > We've not always been good at this in the past, but we can manage to do
> > this. If the marketing team is ready to rock, of course :-)
>
> Still no reply from anybody from the marketing team after two weeks?
>
> Here's what we'll do: if there's still no interest on Monday evening,
> then we won't change the schedule. If there's interest, we'll leave a
> few more days to reach a decision (let's say deadline is next Friday).
>
> Vincent

I actually pondered something like this a while back, but more in the
form of a pre-release press-kit to send to tech magazines and other
possibly interested parties that have some sort of tech corner
(newspapers?). But eventually ended up not doing it because it would
take too much time and money.

However i don't think such a plan should have "any" impact on the
official release schedule. If you can communicate that it's a beta- or
press-release, people will understand that minor bugs might be present.
Microsoft and others do this all the time, so at least the
(tech-oriented) press will be used to it. Consumers might not, but if
you can communicate it clearly enough, that might not be that big of a
problem.

If you change the release schedule for a non product improving reason, i
don't know what that would communicate. If i look at the industry that
does this the most; The games industries, they mostly get a bad rap
about it, because it seriously effects the quality of their product.
Of course that's almost a extreme in the way they do it, but i guess it
does set some kind of precedent on how it's viewed by the public.
On the other side, they keep on doing it, so there is bound to be a good
effect from it. 

But i'm going a bit astray, your question wasn't to discuss it. 

What i understand from the post above is that there should be a
supporting document next to the normal release notes, that describe the
release a bit shorter. Perhaps more in the form of a letter describing
that gnome has been released, and that where very happy about it, and
that they should really check it out, signed by the foundation or
something.

Another problem would be making sure the normal release notes are ready
in time. I'm not really privy on how soon the normal release notes
"could" be done. Although i mostly notice that it's a last second sprint
to get it out. Which would mean that a date should be set by someone who
knows how long it takes to start on that, so that it can be ready in
time for ceBit.

Also, just holding a presentation style release and ending it with "it
will be in your favorite distro soon' might be a bit weak, so it would
also be very beneficial to have a live cd ready at the ceBit so people
can actually try it the day it was released.

Which brings us to the following list of items that need to be managed
to ensure they are ready on time:
        - letter 
        - release notes
        - live CD

And if you want to make it even better, you might want to have a ready
made presentation with slides based on the release notes.


Erik Snoeijs