Re: [orca-list] Fwd: Re: check this out

[Krishnakant Mane <krmane gmail com>]

On 08/24/2012 10:18 PM, Kyle wrote:
> To answer the question of why we have Sonar and Vinux, we need to take 
> a step back and ask also why we have Debian, GRML, Knoppix/Adriane, 
> Ubuntu, Trisquel, Linux Mint, all the other Ubuntu remixes, Fedora, 
> Gentoo, Arch, Slackware and all kinds of other Linux distros. Would it 
> not be better if they all merged, especially all the Debian/Ubuntu 
> derivatives, and gave us a single distro to work with instead of all 
> the duplicated efforts? It seems to me that some of the same people 
> who are having problems with the release of a new blind-friendly Linux 
> distro have already written off Vinux as a lost cause/dead project. I 
> really hope I'm wrong about this, but this is my observation so far.
It is seemingly true as of now.
That's why I had asked on this very thread "where is Vinux"?
If the true spirit of FOSS is understood, it is freedom that matters and 
there are the differences which make people build different distros.
Secondly, if one distro is not going ahead for a certain cause, then 
another one will certainly emerge.
The problem only arises when one is not willing to share the intentions 
before starting on.
This is what CDAC in India did and till date we don't have much details 
what so ever about their status on the accessible distro.
> Also, it makes sense to have Sonar as a choice, because it offers 
> GNOME classic and gnome-shell based on the image that is downloaded 
> rather than using Unity2d, which is in fact dead upstream, and will 
> certainly not be included in Ubuntu 12.10 or any later version of Ubuntu. 
So which gnome shell version does sonar ship with?
Is it 3.6?  It will be interesting if that's the case.


> Also, Vinux focuses on the Ubuntu LTS releases mostly, so Sonar also 
> fills in the gap in the release cycle, as it has been confirmed that 
> the next Sonar release will take place within a couple of weeks of the 
> Ubuntu 12.10 release. Yes, a merger can be good, but in this case, is 
> it really the best possible solution? This is just my opinion, but I 
> do think there is room for another choice in this situation.


A merget is a best solution but views of the lead developers and the 
supporting commuity might differ so the free as in freedom principle 
comes into play.
The only sorry fact would be if Vinux is not going any further.
The big advantage was that it had settled well amongst many blind people 
and a lot of time has gone into makeing it usable enough.
I would definitely like to see it keep going, but if Sonar is going to 
go ahead then so be it.
I would not hesitate to take a look at sonar if that is what makes a 
perfectly accessible distro.
Hope this one sustains at least for a few years.
happy hacking.
Krishnakant.