Re: A question to the candidates

["gnomeuser gmail com" <gnomeuser gmail com>]

2012/5/27 Gil Forcada <gforcada gnome org>:
> Hi all,
>
> First of all thanks for running for this critical role on GNOME!
>
> My question is about hardware and contacts:
>
> The average user is not going to ever install its own operating system
> by itself, for them hardware and software come together and they die
> together, so a new version of Windows means a new laptop and so on, a
> new iPhone OS means a new iPhone hardware...
>
> So the crucial part here are ISV, contacting them, engaging with them
> and finally making them ship our great software to the end user.
>
> Is that something that you both find important and also will try to
> pursue if you are elected?

With the provisio that the board doesn't actually have a say in the
technical direction.

For GNOME OS to become a success we definitely need to get ISVs on board.

To do that though we still have a long way to do. We will need a
compelling, well documented SDK, development tools (MonoDevelop e.g.
would be a nice place to start) and likely a whole bunch of additional
tools like emulators.

Aside that we'll need a means of deployment such as an app store and
good packaging tools (glick and bockbuild seem close to being able to
provide this, I know Banshee has used it to create deployable bundles
on Linux and OS X). Relying on GNOME OS to package and make available
every single application on a scale that can compete with the iOS App
Store or Google Play would simply be madness so enabling ISVs to do
that, and do it easily, would definitely be needed. This is going to
be radically different from the model we are used to and I suspect we
will have a lot of learning to do as well as some new friends to make
to succeed.

I think we still are years from deploying GNOME OS in any state that
ISVs will be able to work with, but we can cultivate relationships
already and get input as well as help to build all the foundations. So
yes, I would start talking to select ISVs to get buy-in for deploying
on GNOME as well as input to the kind of tools they would like to see.
ISVs are also not just going to deploy on GNOME OS but across a range
of systems and luckily we have friends that have experience with these
challenges such as Xamarin, I think it would be wise to learn from
them how to form a strategy that will ensure success long term.

We are still a long way from competing with Android or iOS in this
respect and I think it is to early to start a massive push. I would
also happily raise funds to run more hackfests towards building the
required foundational elements. I think it is important that we get an
idea of what exactly it will require of us to become big players here
and how we can get there.

I think this is the most exciting part of GNOME right now and I would
love to invest myself in making it happen to the full extend of the
boards mandate. It's going to take years but I think GNOME is in a
great place to offer a superior experience to users and ISVs alike.

- David

> Cheers,
> --
> Gil Forcada
>
> [ca] guifi.net - una xarxa lliure que no para de créixer
> [en] guifi.net - a non-stopping free network
> bloc: http://gil.badall.net
> planet: http://planet.guifi.net
>
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