Re: GNOME OS Goals

[William Jon McCann <william jon mccann gmail com>]

Hi Stormy!

Good questions. It is always hard to balance having a vision and goals that are abstract enough to elicit open discussion and having the type of highly specific details that engineers prefer. I think we're finally starting to converge on the latter.

My view hasn't changed significantly since I presented the idea at GUADEC 2010 in my talk and presentation to the advisory board (http://blogs.gnome.org/mccann/2010/08/01/shell-yes/). My understanding was that it was then approved to be part of the GNOME roadmap but I'm not sure what happened with that.

Allan had a great description already in this thread so I'll just try to condense:

I'm using the term operating system to mean an intended user and application developer experience. The design of which drives the technical choices - rather than the other way around. A complete system that can be thoroughly tested to validate the design and implementation to ensure peerless and enduring quality.

GNOME OS is an effort to create a beautiful, efficient, and powerful client operating system in accordance with the values held by GNOME.

 * Built sustainably, cooperatively, purposefully.
 * Using only free software and a transparent and open process.
 * Supporting a rich diversity of applications.
 * Sustaining an ecosystem where anyone has a fair chance to succeed.

I hope it may be new way of looking at participation and collaboration in free software. But also a codification of our existing principles and practice.

When we start to look at breaking that down into action items we get things like:

 * Make sure we can test our changes (the Testable initiative)
 * Ensure we get feedback from failures (the Problem Reporting initiative)
 * Design the application developer experience (there is a hackfest planned)
 * Figure out how to implement separate and secure applications (sandboxing, install, etc)
 * Reach out to new partners who see value in such a level playing field
 * And much more

Jon

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 11:08 AM, Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org> wrote:

Thanks, Allan.

I think we need to be able to get a lot crisper on what we are trying to do. From your description, it sounds like we aren't trying to do GNOME OS, that's just an internal code name for an initiative to improve GNOME and the development process.

So what are we trying to do with GNOME? Are we saying that we are focusing on GNOME as a desktop? As opposed to GNOME as a bunch of technologies that people can fit into their own products? Is our audience developers or users? What are we trying to deliver to them?

Stormy

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 2:35 AM, Allan Day <allanpday gmail com> wrote:

Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net> wrote:
> On Tue, 2012-11-20 at 08:50 -0700, Stormy Peters wrote:
>> I wasn't at the discussion at GUADEC, but I've been involved in
>> several GNOME OS discussions and I have to say, I still don't know
>> know what GNOME OS is.
>
> It's pretty gobsmacking both that it wasn't explained to you properly
> and that you didn't ask for clarification.

GNOME OS is an initiative rather than a product, and it encompasses a
variety of prexisting goals, covering areas such as:

 * testing (both automated and continuous, and within the community)
 * application development and deployment
 * application sandboxing
 * hardware compatibility (particularly with regards to touch screens)
 * core user experience

What these things have in common is the aim to produce a more cohesive
and robust system. They require looking beyond GNOME itself to how we
integrate with the other parts of the stack. The goal, as is always
the case, is to improve the GNOME user and developer experience, with:

 * system integration and testing
 * a clear set of application developer APIs and guaranteed API stability
 * a robust and performant core system, with a security model that
protects users' data
 * a broad range of supported devices
 * a small set of integrated core applications

(To many, that is the definition of an operating system.)

What we are trying to do is take GNOME the next step of the way. We
are trying to turn it into a product.

Allan

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