Re: latest draft of charter

[Mike Kestner <mkestner ameritech net>]

I'm not very charged about the preface.

> ================================
> PREFACE: Why a GNOME Foundation?
> ================================
> Over the last year, GNOME has grown tremendously.  

Presumably, someone may be reading this charter in 2002.  Relative
references to time periods like this make a document out of date
quickly.

> The technology has matured, 

False advertising.  We're barely adolescent, let alone mature.

> the amount of code contributed has exploded, the number of
> hackers who are contributing to GNOME has more than doubled.  

We are all fond of throwing the term hacker around, but the fact is that
people who will be reading this document to find out what GNOME is about
will think that we're a bunch of crackers.

> The number
> of hackers who are paid full-time to work on GNOME has grown from 5 to
> more than 50, working with hundreds of volunteer hackers.

Why not replace all of the above with a simple reference to the project
growing, and attracting the interest of corporations and investors.  We
need a more structured environment to smoothly integrate new citizens
into the community.

> 
> As GNOME has grown, so have our goals.  Over the next few years, we want
> to make GNOME the desktop of choice for many people who today are not
> using computers because they are too expensive and too complicated to
> use.

Nice thought, but I was under the impression that our goal is to provide
a free desktop alternative to the people of the world.  No timeframe,
but the sooner the better.  Again, avoid relative time references to
make the document stand the test of time.

 
> In short, GNOME is growing up.

To achieve this goal in a timely manner, the project will need more
focus than the current structure can offer.  

> 
> When GNOME was a smaller project, Miguel was able to make most of the
> key decisions.  Today, there is a need for a forum that can provide
> GNOME, and the projects that make up GNOME, with the structure and
> support they will need to continue to grow.  The GNOME Foundation will
> provide this support.  The Foundation will also provide a place to
> resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise between hackers working on
> different projects and with different organizational affilitions.

How about "...the inevitable conflicts that arise in a diverse
community."

> Equally important, the Foundation can voice the decisions and positions
> of the GNOME project, and, therefore, can act as a liaison with the
> press and corporations who want to be involved with GNOME.
> 
> Most importantly, the GNOME Foundation will provide transparency and
> representation.  Whereas decisions in the past have often been made in
> an ad-hoc fashion and in private conversations between a small number of
> people, the foundation will provide a forum that is elected by the GNOME
> hacker community, that is accountable to that community, and that will
> conduct its affairs in the open.

I like the direct tone of above 2 paragraphs.

Mike