Re: Quo vadis, GNOME? (was: Getting Bugzilla support into Bug-buddy)

[Aaron Weber <aaron ximian com>]

gnome-hackers:
I forgot to cc the list on my reply to Mattias, but I'd like to say
it quickly here too:

If you don't like the direction the project is taking, that's legitimate and 
I understand that.  however, please don't be angry that the core of the desktop
is no longer the central focus of development.  Look at Linux as a whole:
the kernel is no longer the only place that attracts developers.  GNOME
is an entire platform and as such has a much wider range than it used to. It has also attracted a lot more people, and some of the old hands are no longer working on the same projects they used to.  I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing at all. If you dislike things like Evolution or Nautilus, that's another
matter entirely.  But just because there are commercial distributions...

that's akin to thinking your favorite band has sold out now that
other people like them. Yes, you're an old hand, yes, you have a 
greater perspective than many others.  But Ximian and Eazel both have
roots in the community as deep as yours: most of Ximian's employees
come from the free software community, and none of us would be here
without it.  

Linus doesn't seem to mind that Red Hat has taken his kernel,
added some graphics and apps and a free client for the Red Hat Network,
and distributed it.  Far from it!  If he wanted total control over the code,
he would have kept it proprietary.

Sincerely,
Aaron Weber
Ximian, Inc.


> There should be some guidelines enforced by the GNOME Foundation
> laying down what passes as GNOME. To me, a branded distribution of
> patched GNOME packages with different artwork, containing corporate
> ads and free clients for corporate fee-based services, is *not* GNOME
> anymore.