Re: GNOME now

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi,

On 11/28/2012 02:06 AM, Jeremy Allison wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:51 PM, Richard Stallman <rms gnu org> wrote:
> > GNU/Linux is mostly used on PCs, but we want it to be used on tablets
> > and phones too.  Thus, making GNOME work well on those machines is
> > useful.  However, until the day people prefer to do programming on a
> > tablet, the desktop will remain important.
>
> Is the GNU system for programmers only ? I doubt that is what you
> mean.

What I took from that is that the freedom to modify your computing 
environment is only meaningful in the first degree to programmers. Of 
course, all users of free software benefit from the fact that any 
programmer can modify their computing environment and share that 
modified version.

As long as there are programmers (and I would love to see everyone be a 
programmer) and the dominant programming paradigm is typing lines of 
programming language code (I think there's room for change there), then 
the desktop will be important to programmers. Perhaps we'll go back to a 
world where only programmers have desktop computers or workstations - 
but then how will people learn to program?

The fact that many people have a desktop creates an opportunity for us 
to grow more free software developers, because everyone has an 
environment where they can potentially compile & modify some code.

> I agree with Stormy, the most urgent area for the GNOME
> effort should be to ensure that the GNU system, desktop and all, runs
> well on phone and tablet devices. Unless we can rapidly make this
> change I fear we will be left behind and seen as "old" technology.

I also agree. I do not think that the desktop is any less important to 
us, for all that.

Cheers,
Dave.

--
Dave Neary, Lyon, France
Email: dneary gnome org
Jabber: nearyd gmail com