Re: Need GNOME open source success stories

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi Stormy,

This story is a pretty amazing one, I think:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2008-October/msg00132.html

What free software enables is customisation and differentiation that
just is not possible with proprietary software. On vertical applications
like that breast cancer scanner, or the Vernier LabQuest, free software
gives hardware manufacturers a foot up, providing them with a full
functional stack from OS up to graphical interface, which allows them to
focus on what makes the difference for them and their users, the
applications that differentiate them from their competitors.

I don't know that there are a *lot* of things that we could do - it's
possible to hack up windows to launch vertical applications at launch,
of course, in fact most apps like that are running on Windows (think
about those blue screens in airport terminals). But giving a hardware
manufacturer control over the whole stack, including the toolkit & the
kernel, is what's different about the free software stack.

A nicer example, if we could get them to talk about it, might be the
Garmin Nüvis which are based on the GNOME stack, but with a very
targeted vertical application.

These are still a little prosaic for responding to your manifesto - so
let me reframe the discussion.

The most powerful statement about the priorities of the GNOME project
that I have seen is what Jeff calls Universal Access.

I have elaborated it this way:

The goal of the GNOME Foundation is to provide complete access to
information technology to people, regardless of their financial means,
culture, technical skills, or physical ability.

We work to achieve this goal by concentrating on core values: free
software, internationalisation and localisation, usability, and
accessibility.

So if that's our starting point - Universal Access as our goal - then
stories which support that goal stem from that.

For example, the GNOME based Dzongkha Linux:
http://dzongkha.sourceforge.net/ - in 2005 (if I recall correctly)
Dzongkha went from 0% to 100% translated in under 2 weeks! Having a
government funded, 100% localised software distribution for Bhutan would
be impossible if they did not have that fully functional, fully
internationalised stack ready to be translated.
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9002


Or, related to accessibility - perhaps Willie Walker, Aaron Leventhal,
Janina Sajka or David Bolter might have some real life examples of
people whose lives are demonstrably better because they have access to
IT through GNOME and the GNOME a11y work?

It's a little trickier to come up with those kinds of stories when
concentrating *just* on the Free Software angle, or on usability work,
but I think that seeing those vertical apps being enabled by the full
stack being free software is pretty compelling, if framed in the right
way (say: interviews with kids using the LabQuest?).

You also have a collection of GNOME stories (although not dressed up
nicely right now) in the wiki:
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/GnomeDeployments

Specifically, there are some testimonials here:
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/GnomeTestimonials

Anyway - braindump more than anything else. I hope this is useful.

Cheers,
Dave.

Stormy Peters wrote:
> I'd like to have a couple of success stories that helps explain why it's
> so important that GNOME is free and open source software. I'm not
> looking for all the reasons it should be open, but rather a few stories
> that really make a point.
>
> Does anybody have an example of an application that was able to do
> something really cool on Linux/GNOME that would not have been possible
> on Windows? Preferably an application that does something most people
> would recognize, i.e. a music player instead of a task scheduler.
>
> Or any other types of stories?
>
> I'm thinking these would be really useful to get non-developer people
> understanding the value of GNOME and of free and open source software.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stormy
>
> P.S. I read this last night which gave me the idea,
> http://sashadichter.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/manifesto-in-defense-of-raising-money_sasha1.pdf.
>
>
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-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org