Re: SFO call for action - aka questionnaire

["Jenny Minor" <jminor vernier com>]

On Mon, 2009-06-29 at 15:48 +0200, Nils Faerber wrote:
> About you:
> 1. Please describe your background a little bit, i.e. what are you
> working on that made you interested in Gnome/mobile? If it helps us
> understand your background, who are you working for?

My name is Jennifer Minor and I work for Vernier Software and
Technology.  Our Gnome Mobile device is a portable data collection
device called LabQuest.  

> When you first heard of Gnome/mobile:
> 2. What did you think it to be? Please be as frank as possible - what
> were your really *first* thoughts?

That it was a great idea and we wanted to be involved.  

> 3. What did you expect from it? What did you hope to see as a result
> from it?

I was hoping that it was going to help smaller companies such as ours be
able to get up and going on their own.

> 4. Why did you join the group? Do you feel like a "member" at all? If
> not, why not?

I wanted to give back and grow the project.

> 5. Did it match your expectations? If not, why? If yes, how?

A little but I feel it hasn't done enough to make it easy for a small
company to get going.  Let me explain a little better with my experience
working for a small company with limited resources trying to build a
GNOME Mobile device.

In the beginning of the LabQuest process I was tasked to chose the
platform to write our data collection software on top of.  We were very
interest in the GNOME stack but were very leery of taking on too much.
There was no company backing it up and there was no one to get support
from.  So if were not able to pull it off on our own it would have sunk
the project.  (Note: this was before GNOME Mobile was formed.)  

Luckily we were able to find a company to support us and we were able to
proceed forward with the platform of our choice and have been very happy
with the decision.    

So if I was faced with the same situation today.  The fact that GNOME
Mobile exists and all the different devices use it would be comforting.
Just as the Meamo and handhelds.org projects gave me confidence that it
could be done when I was looking for the LabQuest.   

The second thing I would be looking for is some existing hardware that I
could use as a prototype.  If I could have built the whole system,
tweaked it and built a software for it, then I would have felt very
confident that this is platform was going to work for us.  There are so
many options today that allow this.  I would have used either
http://www.pokylinux.org/
or 
http://www.buglabs.net/


> 6. Is there something like a top-three of most important goals that you
> (personally, not thinking of the group as a whole) would like to see
> addressed by Gnome/mobile? (Three would be great, one is enough too)

The fact that GNOME mobile is an open source platform with no one
controller is a huge benefit but at the same time it can be perceived as
a huge weakness. What if something goes wrong?  Who do I go to?  Who is
going to support me?

I am assuming that this is not a new issue to open source but how do you
combat it? I think by.... 
1.  Showing that lots of people are using it with no problem. 
2.  Show that it is an active and growing group.
3.  Make it easy to deploy GNOME Mobile onto new hardware.
4.  Make it easy to build software for GNOME mobile devices.
GNOME Mobile is doing some of this but I am sure more could be done.


> And today:
> 7. How do you perceive Gnome/mobile today? What is missing? What is too
> much? What is / could be Gnome/mobile's first priority goal? And second?

Make it as easy as you can for new users to use it and write software
for GNOME Mobile devices.

> Technically:
> 8. What do you think should qualify a platform for being a Gnome/mobile
> platform? A specific set of components used? If yes, which components?

Maybe a base set of components that have to be on the device. Making it
easier for a software developer trying to write software for gnome
mobile device.  Just a suggestion.

> 9. Or should there be a formal qualification process? If yes, what would
> be your idea about it? If not, why not?

Maybe a test suite that has to pass.  Again insuring that software can
be developed for it.  Again just thinking about pure software
developers.

> 10. What should be the technology goals of Gnome/mobile? Like creating a
> toolbox rather than a product? Or collaboration and information
> infrastructure rather than a development project?

I like the idea of something tangible, like a base system or toolbox.
But it might not be practical.  

> Organisation:
> 11. At the moment the Gnome/mobile group is a pretty loose group,
> everyone interested is welcome and can at once participate. Would you
> like to see this a little more formally structured? Like a formal
> membership, application process, levels of membership, voting processes,
> etc.? Or would like to see it grow as is, a group connected by ideas and
> consensus rather than rules? Other ideas?

Not sure.

> Comments:
> 11. Anything else? Did we forget something? Any additional comments?
> Thoughts?

Nope.