RE: Questions for the candidates - let's start the discussion(s)

[johnp martianrock com]

Sorry for not answering questions sooner but I spent the holidays getting reacquainted with friends and family I hardly see anymore.  Questions answered bellow.

>
>[1] What are your plans to answer the question put forward at the last
>GUADEC about "Why should one become a member of the GNOME Foundation" ?
>Would you be in a position to elaborate on your plans/projects to make
>membership more interesting for the GNOME Community ?

Becoming a member of the GNOME Foundation was a badge of honor for me.  It meant that my contributions were acknowledged as part of the fabric of GNOME.  I want to get this feeling of ownership in the project back.  People who feel they own a part of something take more pride in it, and are generally more enthusiastic about participating.  Being a member of the GNOME Foundation should the badge of honor for a GNOME developer.  I think pushing a marketing campaign and making the board's activities more relevant to the GNOME community at large will make more people interested in becoming a member.  

>[2] What do you think is the most important item on the Board's agenda
>right now ? What will you do more or better than the previous boards ?

Getting more people involved in GNOME.  I'm not just talking about programming.  I believe if the board pushes in the right areas leaders will emerge to cover area's that are lacking in GNOME.  I think a goal of the board should be to see the bigger picture in GNOME and distribute resources to the right areas in order to be the catalyst for greater things.  One example of this is the resources given by the board to create the event boxes for displaying GNOME at trade shows.  This greatly helps the exposure of GNOME at trade shows.

>[3] How do you manage your time and that of others ? Are you good at
>working with others including those who might have a differing opinion
>than yours and try to reach consensus and agree on actions ?

I think my tenure as D-Bus' maintainer is the best example of me managing my time and that of others.  I helped stabilize D-Bus to 1.0 and managed different groups who had different ideas on the direction D-Bus should go.  During my time as the maintainer we even saw KDE jump on the D-Bus bandwagon.  I can't take total credit for that but I like to believe that my people skills, including being welcoming to many ideas helped bring KDE on board. 

>[4] How are you going to manage your current contributions to GNOME once
>you become a Board Member ?

Some of my responsibilities will need to be passed on to the next generation of GNOME enthusiasts including my roll on the release team but for the most part my contributions to GNOME include being a liaison to different groups such as the LSB and KDE.  That will continue as a part of my foundation duties if I am elected.

>[5] What do you think is the most important market for GNOME over the
>coming year and what do you feel you can do to help GNOME achieve better
>presence ?

I think embedded and targeted devices is en exciting new area where GNOME has been going to in the last year.  From the 770 to the OLPC and gps devices GNOME tech is being spread well past the desktop.  The cool thing about these areas is that they allow for more focused development than a general desktop does.  What this does is make the general desktop better because tech developed in the embedded market is in many cases huge wins for the desktop.  We need to make sure we don't fork GNOME but instead create an environment where embedded developers contribute back to upstream and where upstream is open to the stuff the embedded developers and offering.

>[6] What are your plans to encourage and mentor contributions to GNOME
>from Latin America, Africa and Asia ? How would you increase community
>participation ?

Well we are already doing that at OLPC.  The sugar desktop environment is built over GNOME technologies even though it doesn't look like GNOME and we want kids from nations who get these laptops to start hacking with those technologies.  I think if I was elected I would extend this by identifying leaders in those countries who are part of GNOME and supplying them with resources to evangelize GNOME.  From starting small conferences akin to the Boston Summit or just providing web space for region specific GNOME material.

>[7] What areas do you see lacking currently in a complete Free Software
>Desktop ? What would your role be (should you be elected) in addressing
>the issues ?

Multimedia, ISV support, marketing, you name it...there are tones of areas which need help but the board can't do it itself.  It is the boards job to identify individuals and groups who can and provide them resources.

>[8] What are your planned activities to promote use of GNOME in small
>and medium business environments which potentially deliver many users to
>GNOME ?

Businesses talk best to businesses so we need to provide a way to build an ecosystem of GNOME centric businesses where other companies can go to find people who support GNOME.  This can include setting up a better home page which prominently points, in an organized fashion, business that support GNOME.  It could also be a simple as providing a service which puts GNOME support companies' business cards in the event boxes.

>[9] What sources of funds do you as a Board Member (should you be
>elected) try to establish ? What areas do you think require most fund-love ?

I think creative marketing can provide both opportunities to pimp GNOME and make money for funds.  We could have fund raising events at trade shows or web raffles.  If elected I would like to look into the legal aspects of what we are allowed to do to make money and try to find creative ways to raise funds.

>[10] Please rank your interests:
>
>	* GNOME evangelizing to government, enterprise, small business and
>individual
>	* GNOME marketing and merchandising of branded items (nationally and
>internationally)
>	* GNOME legal issues like Copyright and Patents
>	* GNOME finances and fund raising
>	* Alliance with other organisations

1) People (you forgot this)
2) Alliance with other organizations
3 GNOME marketing and merchandising of branded items (nationally and internationally)
4) GNOME legal issues like Copyright and Patents
5) GNOME evangelizing to government, enterprise, small business and individual
6) GNOME finances and fund raising

>
>[11] How much familiar are you with the day-to-day happenings of GNOME ?
>How much do you follow and participate in the main GNOME mailing lists ?

I'm on the irc channels almost every day during the week, I follow blogs and read the mailing lists.  Most of my mailing list activities are confined to the specific projects I work on and I unusually talk to people directly on specific issues.  I am in constant contact with many people who are core to GNOME.

>[12] Can you elaborate about your plans to provide the Board with a
>focus that steers development choices and works with allied
>organisations in order to define and adapt (and or adopt) standards ?

I represented GNOME at LSB meetings and at the last KDE conference.  I am in constant contact will people in other organizations who are leaders who have the power to back standards.  I also go the opposite direction and voice GNOME's concern's with standards processes which are not beneficial to GNOME.  Standards are a double edged sword and you need someone who can weigh the pros and cons so that they push good standards while arguing against the bad ones.  As a board member I would identify people in the community who understand this duality of the standards world and help to send them as representatives to various standards meetings.

Thank you for putting together these questions.  I hope I answered them to the GNOME communities satisfaction.  Feel free to ask me for more details.  I am looking forward to the elections and know whoever wins GNOME will have a great board going forward.

--
John (J5) Palmieri