Re: About The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initative

["Thilo Pfennig" <thilopfennig foresightlinux org>]

On 4/22/07, Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org> wrote:

> GNOME is not a desktop project, it's a user experience
> project.

Well then we should start telling the truth. From our front page:
"GNOME offers an easy to understand desktop for your Linux or UNIX computer."

I think this really means that from the content level everything
should be reconsidered (focus of the web pages, content, projects,...)
?


> > yet we are going into new directions without further consultation of the
> > marketing team.
>
> Sorry, but that is an unrealistic expectation. The community will march on
> doing what it does, doing new things, and leaving things behind, without
> consulting the marketing team first. That is one of the unique parameters
> that we must operate under.

Question is what the task of the marketing team should be? If the REAL
marketing is neither discussed nor decided on the marketing team I
rather suggest to dissolve it and officially give the foundation board
the task to do the marketing and then just have action groups for
doing specific tasks. As its clear that marketing is not just action
or advertising but rather the big picture I think a marketing team
that just can discuss only parts of a picture makes no sense just
because everything they discuss will just be shallow and unrealisitic.
And so its just a fake marketing team and just leds people to the
false assumtion that anything on this list or on the wiki gives you a
picture where GNOME is heading. So better remove or hide the marketing
content from the wiki and maybe also kill this list because it just
fetches unnecessary attention. After what I have read from the replies
to my questions I do not believe that the GNOME marketing team would
ever be able to discuss what actually is the real direction. But the
real task of a marketing team would be to be ahead and not behind the
discussions.



> It strengthens our core message about GNOME as a user experience platform
> and development community, and co-ordinates resources around a fundamentally
> important and growing market opportunity.

Well I see a relation. And I also have understood that things have
changed just by the money that came in. But nonetheless I believe that
GNOME should live by a vision and I see this move in addition to the
"GNOME Office is dead" as a major change of focus which indeed means
that some weaknesses where I was waiting for a rather immediate
solution will unlikely to be getting a focus and so I am starting to
worry if GNOME can still become the platform of choice for an office
enviroment. I do not see this coming but it seems that I am not
getting the insight that I would need to make any predictions about
GNOMEs future - but this means I can not depend on GNOME. And this
means that I am thinking about a switch.

How should one depend on GNOME in the future? How is GNOME planning to
answer the demands of an office enviroment? I have my doubts now.


--
Thilo Pfennig
http://issues.foresightlinux.org/confluence/x/R