Re: Eleven good candidates

[John Heard <John Heard Eng Sun COM>]

Hi Everyone,

It seemed to me that it would be strange and inappropriate if I did not say a
few words, being the subject of part of this discussion.

I honestly feel humbled by the endorsements given for me in spite of the
relatively short period of active involvement I have had within the GNOME
project. I also have similar feelings to those of Mike, being concerned and
committed to seeing the principles and objectives of the GNOME project remain
as its core foundations.

Meanwhile, we are all fundamentally focussed upon the goal of having GNOME be
THE free and open user environment platform - with excellence of technology,
openness and freedom as a platform for innovation, usability by everyone, and
adoption by people because of the value it delivers. The role of the GNOME
Foundation board will be to facilitate these objectives.
I firmly believe that the GNOME project can be the forum in which some very
significant foundations for the future of software in a networked world will
be established. I know GNOME will have effects on how Sun does software in
significant ways - it already has! I also know that having the presence on the
GNOME Foundation board by someone affiliated with Sun will be recognized by
ISV's, platform developers and vendors, the media, service providers, etc.
Such credentials will be necessary for the GNOME Foundation to be a recognized
voice - a major voice for the significance of open and free software. This
will be a key role of the board - along with the tasks of providing management
oversight for GNOME.

Like you, I am committed to helping the GNOME community reach these goals, and
being made a member of the GNOME Foundation board will be a significant
message to Sun and the wider industry, that the GNOME community is taking the
leadership in establishing open and free software as the necessary alternative
to proprietary lock-in for a net generation.

Sorry for being long winded and a little evangelistic.

Rgds
John



Havoc Pennington wrote:

> Mike Kestner <mkestner ameritech net> writes:
> > I personally hope that you are in the minority on this opinion.  I have
> > never met or interacted with, nor do I have an opinion whatsoever as to
> > John Heard's skills, commitment to free software, or commitment to Gnome
> > for that matter.  I see this as a strong reason for me *not* to vote for
> > him.  To see his corporate affiliation place him ahead of the like of
> > Elliot Lee is puzzling to me.
> >
> > I'm personally hoping that voters will cast their ballots based on what
> > people have demonstrated to the community.  If a year from now, John has
> > demonstrated his leadership and commitment to Gnome by facilitating the
> > seemless integration of the Sun hackers into Gnome, I will consider
> > casting a ballot for him.  But not this year.
> >
>
> I would say that the value of having someone who can help with the
> integration of Sun into the project outweighs the possibility that
> John will turn out to be a bad choice. I'm voting for 10 candidates I
> know and trust very much; while I can't say that for John, I do feel
> comfortable that the other 10 board members will keep his one vote
> from having any negative impact. So I see little risk in this respect.
>
> Given no real risk, and substantial possible gains, along with a
> positive initial impression of John and his fairly impressive though
> non-GNOME-related resume, I think it's a good idea to vote for him.
> Some others such as Miguel have voiced the same opinion.
>
> Let's face it: if we succeed in grabbing marketshare from proprietary
> desktop software, we will have to have created the largest and most
> ambitious free software project to date, by far. This is only going to
> happen if we have excellent organization and communication so that all
> the involved groups are working with a common vision in mind. The
> board should be a group that will make that happen.
>
> As I've said a couple times before, I consider it a big mistake to
> look at this as an awards ceremony or the like. We're trying to hire
> people for 11 jobs that involve doing a specific kind of work and
> require specific talents and a good balance of people. There are a
> couple hundred contributors that deserve recognition for substantial
> contributions, but this isn't really what we're trying to do in this
> election.
>
> Havoc
>
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