Re: GNOME now

[Brian Cameron <brian cameron oracle com>]

I think one of the most significant challenges for any free desktop
that is trying to reach the "average user" is how to deal with the fact
that most people like using computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. to
interact with non-free multimedia.  Not just viewing movies and
listening to music, but also creating content in increasingly
collaborative ways.  Tools that use non-free technologies like Skype or
Vonage are not just popular, but a requirement for many people who pay
for such services.  How many average people would purchase a device
that did not support such tools?

Proprietary companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft coordinate
sophisticated agreements with media companies and often go along with
nasty DRM agreements required by those who own the rights to popular
media.  Even some popular artists, like The Beatles, are very
controlling about who can access the media they control.  If you avoid
DRM, you probably have to avoid such popular artists - including pretty
much anything released on a DVD.

In certain markets, not being able to access non-free media may not
be a problem.  The device the FedEx employee uses to collect signatures
or a Point-of-Sale system might be good examples of devices that
do not need much media support.  Such markets might be an ideal focus
for a free desktop environment that, perhaps naturally, lacks
strong DRM support.

But, if the "average user" is the target, how does GNOME plan to
provide access to non-free multimedia that the average user tends to
access and create?  Is the community working to make GNOME attractive
to some big company that can negotiate the expensive licenses needed to
provide access?  Or is GNOME focusing on users who do not have an
interest in using, accessing or creating non-free media?  Is GNOME
just waiting until relevant patents expire and these issue hopefully
just go away?

I always thought that GNOME more appealed to hacker types because
hackers tend to be more agreeable to figuring out how to work in a
DRM-free environment.  For example, a hacker would likely be more
willing to rip their audio in OGG format.  But this advanced
UNIX-hacker type does not seem to be the primary user GNOME is focusing
on anymore.

Brian


On 11/14/12 11:08 PM, Sriram Ramkrishna wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 8:10 AM, Seif Lotfy <seif lotfy com
> <mailto:seif lotfy com>> wrote:
>
>     Quoting Stormy Peters comment on a recent blog post concerning GNOME:
>     " We haven’t shared our vision or our roadmap for the future. Where’s
>     the product going? What problem are we trying to solve? How are we
>     going to do that?"
>
>     Good question.
>     As a member of the board of directors I can't really answer this
>     question at the moment either, without having to organize my thoughts.
>     So many different point of views and ideas in the community that are
>     not well discussed. The first thing that pops up in my head is GNOME
>     OS. But then I am kinda lost. Maybe this is something we need to
>     discuss here on the mailing list.
>     Lets try to answer those 3 questions. What about one sentence per
>     question for a start?
>     I am avoiding a blog post since I am not sure its the best way to
>     reach most of our contributors.
>
>
> For me, it's our byline right?  A distraction free desktop.  Our designs
> are all based on being able to write a desktop that allows us to get our
> work done, multi-task with whatever interruptions that we have in our
> daily life.
>
> Where are we going?  Are you talking about development or user land?
>
> What do other people think?
>
> sri
>
>     Cheers
>     Seif
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