Apologies for the messy forward, marketing-list didn't like the size of my attachment so I dropped one, and gmail doesn't have 'edit as new', another reason I need to get my butt in gear and switch back to evo. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Luis Villa <luis villa gmail com> Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:48:25 -0500 Subject: Re: draft GNOME 2.10 press release FYI to everyone, I'm currently completing a new draft of the release, what I have is attached. Murray, I've taken your framework and rebuilt it quite a bit, I hope I'm not trampling on your toes too much. Some notes on John's comments: On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:47:51 +1300, John Williams <JWilliams business otago ac nz> wrote: > "The GNOME architects have worked hard for the past six months, so you > don't have to, fixing over 1200 reported bugs" > > Should be replaced with > > "The GNOME architects have worked hard for GNOME users over the past six > months, fixing over 1200 reported bugs" > > (I suspect that is a made-up quote, i.e. Elijah didn't actually say > that) It is just generally so awkward that I dropped it altogether, and put: "* Continued polish and stability work. GNOME 2.10 will include literally thousands of bug fixes and usability improvements that have been added since GNOME 2.8 was released in September." in a revamped 'feature' list. The entire list in my draft is at the end of this email. > Add to: > > GNOME makes stable releases every six months according to a reliable > schedule, allowing ISVs and distributors to plan their own products with > confidence. > > With: > > Planning and development of GNOME is conducted in publicly available > electronic forums, such as open email lists, WWW pages and IRC channels. Hrm. I like this, but it just seems awkward in the context of the press release. Maybe in the 'About GNOME' section? My current paragraph on release goes like this: "In keeping with GNOME's 'users first' philosophy, GNOME makes stable releases every six months, which gets improvements to users rapidly, and allows ISVs and distributors to plan their GNOME-based products with confidence. As a result of this predictability, leading distributions like Fedora, SUSE, and Ubuntu have planned to include GNOME 2.10 in the next release of their products, getting GNOME out to millions of users." > Replace: > > "GNOME 2.10's enhancements and attention to detail total to an even > better user experience", said Owen Taylor, GNOME Foundation chairperson. > "The addition of multimedia applications complements that." > > With > > "GNOME 2.10's enhancements and attention to detail deliver an even > better user experience", said Owen Taylor, GNOME Foundation chairperson. > "The addition of multimedia applications showcases that." I'd like to drop this completely in favor of one/both of the quotes appended at the end of this email. > ------------------------------------ > Replace: > > The software includes the GNOME 2.10 desktop interface, file manager, > menus and utilities, as well as the complete set of development tools > and libraries. > > With: > > The software includes the GNOME 2.10 desktop interface, file manager, > applications and utilities, as well as the complete set of development > tools and libraries. Done. Current availability section from my draft: "Availability GNOME 2.10 will soon be available as part of most popular Linux distributions. For those who can't wait, the new GNOME LiveCD (available from www.gnome.org/start/2.10/) will allow users and other interested parties to test the latest GNOME desktop by burning a CD and rebooting- no installation necessary. It is a great way to get a view of the latest and greatest in the Linux desktop, not just GNOME. Developers and advanced users wishing to install the GNOME 2.10 Desktop and Developer Platform now may freely download the software at www.gnome.org. The software includes the source code for the GNOME 2.10 desktop interface, file manager, applications and utilities, as well as a complete set of development tools and libraries." > ------------------------------------ > The "About GNOME" section really, really needs some information on > adoption. An estimate of the number of users, and a few major corporate > and governmental installations, would help tremendously. > > I know estimating users is hard. Most vendors seem to use number of > downloads as a proxy. Can we do this? If we counted only number of downloads, we'd be hosed- the vast majority of our end-users wouldn't and shouldn't know how to download an entire desktop :) > Hope this helps thanks a ton, John. My current feature list: "Key features users can look forward to: * An integrated video player, one-click CD 'ripping', and improved media format support, helping make the Linux desktop's multimedia support more competitive with the leading proprietary operating systems. * More auto-detection of hardware and servers [FIXME: servers? what is the example here?], continuing to demonstrate GNOME's focus on software that 'Just Works' without distracting or confusing users. * Better integration between applications, including improved links between GNOME apps [FIXME: what are the examples here?] and new implementations of cross-platform standards that improve both the user and ISV experience. * The release of version 1.0 of the GNOME Onscreen Keyboard (gok), marking a major milestone for the accessibility of the free software desktop. * Continued polish and stability work. GNOME 2.10 will include literally thousands of bug fixes and usability improvements that have been added since GNOME 2.8 was released in September." I have two quotes I've got in, one unsourced ATM: "This GNOME release is exciting. Not only is GNOME continuing to fix problems for end users, but by working with other free software communities like freedesktop.org, GStreamer, ans GTK, all of which have improvements demonstrated in this release, GNOME is helping drive forward the entire Free Software desktop." I'm thinking it would be great to source this from Jim, Keith, one of the fluendo guys, or (dream world) someone from GuadaLinux or Linex. "We're putting our money where our mouth is", said Luis Villa, GNOME Foundation Board member. "Instead of talking about vaporware that users and ISVs may or may not see in 2005, or 2006, or 2007, GNOME's regular release process is getting visible improvements to users twice a year, something no proprietary desktop vendor matches." Sort of aggressive but I like it ;) Note on the attachment: it is .doc because I opened it in OOo 2.0, which (mind-blowingly) seems to export .sxws which OOo 1.1 can't read. Abi seems to have problems importing the exported version, unfortunately. Yargh. Attaching several versions.... Luis
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press release take 2.doc
Description: MS-Word document