Re: Hildon on MeeGo

[Cornelius Hald <hald icandy de>]

Stormy Peters wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 2:48 AM, Cornelius Hald <hald icandy de> wrote:
> > I realize that I惴 too late for this discussion, so I don愒 really have to
> > right to judge it now. Still I feel like I should put my thoughts out here.
> > Because I really disagree with this plan. Sorry :(
>
> I don't think it's too late. I'd really like to see other people
> proposing things. If you have a proposal, please make it.
>
> We need people with knowledge and understanding of this space to make
> proposals, rally for them and lead.

Sorry for the long delay.

It´s good to know that it is still possible to influence the plan, 
because I think it needs some adjustment. My proposal is basically what 
I´ve already said and it seems that it´s similar to what Murray is thinking.

To me the number one priority should be: Getting GTK+/Hildon to run as 
good as possible on MeeGo/Handset. Therefore I think the Nokia money 
should be used for that. If after that something is left, it can be used 
for things like documentation etc.

The recent discussions here and on the Maemo and MeeGo lists have shown 
that mostly application developers are interested in having GTK+/Hildon 
on MeeGo/Handset, but that they are no experts in platform coding. The 
platform experts however, don´t have time and/or interest in doing all 
the work.

What we need (also pointed out by others) is a leader. Someone who 
organized the problem domain, creates small work packages and keeps an 
overview of the project. This is something that takes time, not just a 
couple of weekends.

Because of this, I propose, to hire someone for about 20h/week. This 
could be an employee of Openismus, Igalia, etc. or an individual with 
good GTK+/Hildon knowledge.

The tasks for this person should be something like:
* Setup a wiki and document the problem areas
** Divide work into small packages and advertise them there
** Shortly describe what has to be done in which area
** Describe how to get started with the development
* Advertise the project, try to get volunteers
* Keep contact with the Maemo and MeeGo community
* Help new volunteers to get started
* Keep an eye on the overall progress
* (And finally) do some implementation work

I think it would be good if the focus of this job would be more 
management than implementation, but of course someone needs to start.

An approach like this could help to get some new blood into platform 
development, which could also benefit the whole GNOME community.

Again, I think there are people willing to help out (including me), but 
the task, like it is now, is just too big and scary. And because there 
is no one volunteering to lead this project, and you have the Nokia 
money, I would go for "buying" a project lead.


About creating a working group, I´m not sure that we will get better 
results there. Two options: Only people with the same idea are joining 
the WG, then the outcome is clear. Or we have different opinions there, 
then nothing will get decided.

However, if there will be a working group, and you think I´m qualified 
for it, I´ll join.


Sorry for the long mail, I know, I´m repeating myself a bit :)

Cheers,
Conny

P.S.
Regarding the technical discussion: On the 30th June a first developer 
release of MeeGo/Handset with UI should be available. Then it should 
(hopefully) be easier to actually try GTK+/Hildon on this platform.