Re: Friends of GNOME campaign

[Oliver Propst <oliver propst gmail com>]

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 2:06 AM, Tobias Mueller <muelli cryptobitch de> wrote:
> Heya :)
>
> On 04.10.2012 00:43, Oliver Propst wrote:
>> In what way do you feel it is detached?

> Simply because WebKit is not GNOME. And I can imagine people being
> confused why they should donate money for "WebKit".

The campaign would not be about improve WebKit (the rendering engine)
but rather about improve the WebKit[2] GTK+ port. A good way get an
idea of the difference and what define the GTK+ port of WebKit2 is to
read this informative blogpost about the topic [1].

WebKit GTK+ as a library is becoming important for all users and to GNOME
as a platform. This is because as previously mentioned more and more apps
(beside browsers) are starting to use and relay on WebKit GTK+ to render the
user interface (or parts of it) this includes, Rhythmbox ,Evolution,Yelp and
others.

>Sure, it's about
> bringing WebKit2 to Epiphany, but I feel it's harder to communicate than
> other things more GNOME related. And I think raising funds works better
> if you don't have a hard time to communicate.
> In contrast, I feel that the Security and Privacy thing is much easier
> to communicate.

It could be a challenge to communicate, but I see that as our job do to. I
don't think we should base the choice of what campaign we run based
on what is most easy to communicate about but rather what is most
relevant to users and where extra resources are needed most. There
are few things that is more relevant to users of a OS today then good
implementation/support of the web.

It is also about not give walkover and only let third party browsers
like Firefox and Chrome define the web experience in GNOME.
A  WebKit2 /Epiphany campaign would thus be a opportunity
to promote GNOME as a platform among users and community
members.

I don't see a contrition between a Security/Privacy and a WebKit2 GTK+
campaign, but again its a question of timing. Right now there is a lot
of efforts around WebKit2 GTK+/Epiphany but a lack of resources.

1. http://blog.kov.eti.br/?p=110
-- 
-mvh Oliver Propst