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

[Kyle <kyle4jesus gmail com>]

According to Christopher Chaltain:

Of course,there's absolutely nothing wrong with someone spinning off another distribution,
but there's also absolutely nothing wrong with people wanting to encourage more cooperation where possible 
and reduce duplicate efforts

I'm all for cooperation and pooled resources. It just helps things run more smoothly. But if a new distro can 
fill a gap better than one that already exists, then there's certainly nothing wrong with going ahead and 
filling that gap. Then, eventually, a merger could in fact be a good thing for certain aspects of the system, 
and possibly even one could just be folded into the other without much difficulty. I myself would like to see 
a Vinux or Sonar like distro based on Arch+GNOME, or even eventually Arch+KDE. After all, why should the 
Debian/Ubuntu-based distros have all the fun? but in this case, a merger with either Vinux or Sonar wouldn't 
be practical, because the systems are entirely too different. I still think the primary focuses of Vinux and 
Sonar are too different at this point, but I guess that does remain to be seen.



> I'm not sure if you think vinux is a lost cause or if you think others
> perceive that, but I don't think vinux is a lost cause or a dead
> project. Work on vinux 4.0, which will be based on Ubuntu 12.04 is
> proceeding.


No, I don't think Vinux is a lost cause or a dead project. Based on what 
has been said/written fairly recently however, I do think others 
perceive that. I'm extremely glad to know that development is continuing 
and look forward to the release of Vinux 4.0.

... there's no reason this choice couldn't be folded into Vinux. If it were, then we'd have one distribution 
where we could choose between Unity 2D, Gnome Shell or Gnome Classic, plus console access and

the other enhancements included in Vinux

True, but the primary focus of Vinux is still LTS releases, whereas Sonar will be released on a schedule that 
is more consistent with Ubuntu releases. Sure there could be a pooling of resources and effort that would 
shift the focus of Vinux to the standard release schedule, but at this point, Vinux seems more suited to LTS. 
Then again, why can't Vinux just be folded into Ubuntu? Then it would have the entire Ubuntu community and 
development team behind it.

Vinux provides long term support on the LTS releases, which is good for
people who use Ubuntu in a production environment and need something
stable, but they also generate versions of Vinux based on interim Ubuntu
releases. I'm using Vinux 3.2.1 based on ubuntu 11.04 to write this
message. I guess you could say that because of this Vinux focuses mostly
on the LTS releases, but I think this slightly exaggerates the true
situation.

Not exagerated at all. Vinux does primarily focus on LTS with some interim releases. The fact that you are 
using Vinux based on 11.04 and not 11.10 is a good example. Also, Vinux 4.0, which is to be based on Ubuntu 
12.04, hasn't been released yet, meaning that it is likely felt that something isn't stable enough or not 
enough fixes have yet been made to release. This is perfectly fine for LTS, because the release cycle is 
quite long, but because of all that goes into development of Vinux, a lag time of 4 to 5 months is probably 
not good if the focus is shifted to the 6-month release cycle.

Furthermore, the plans for Vinux are to move the accessibility infrastructure along ahead of Ubuntu, so I 
think there
will be even more work done with Vinux on the interim releases. I'm not positive about this though and best 
to hear this from the Vinux development team directly


If this is indeed the plan, then a direct merger of Sonar into Vinux 
could be a great thing, as it would shift the focus onto the interim 
releases as well as LTS. I still think it is a good thing for Vinux to 
focus primarily on the LTS releases however, especially when considering 
the whole Unity situation. Having said this, keeping the accessibility 
up-to-date as long as it doesn't break, while at the same time keeping 
the rest of the system LTS stable also could be a good idea.

I'm all for choice, but I don't see how a merger would hinder our choice at all. Furthermore, with pooled 
resources, our choices might even increase as more resources are brought to bare on the issues that
currently aren't being addressed with these efforts.

Yes, more people talking, more people cooperating, more developers and more users are always a good thing, so 
you're probably right.

I also have no idea if the people behind Sonar and the people behind Vinux talked at all or not.

I'm not sure either, so I won't comment. Perhaps the developers could let us know what, if anything, happened.

Like I said, we are where we are, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it does seem like more could be 
accomplished with synergy and cooperation than fragmentation.



True, but then there would be no need for Vinux or Sonar at all, as all 
that stuff would have ... should have ... been folded into Ubuntu 
already. True, Ubuntu has great accessibility features, but Vinux still 
fills some gaps, as does Sonar. As it happens, it seems they fill 
somewhat different gaps, although in time, it may be proved that they 
fill the same gaps, at which time, a merger between the two would 
definitely be the best thing that could happen to either.
~Kyle