On 10/08/2009 01:53 PM, Mike McGrath wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
On 10/08/2009 01:47 PM, Seth Vidal wrote:
Provided that in order to make that "simple" spin you didn't need to
modify or patch ANY packages.
Again, I refer to the point I made about usability and
new-user-friendlyness not being in any way exclusionary to "experienced
users".
Do you really think Fedora's values are everyones values and the only
problems here are related to QA and usability?
I don't think Fedora's values are everyone's values; far from it. But I
think there are tons of folks who are not highly technical who share
those values. E.g., I think there are plenty of non-technical folks who
would say yes to these question:
* Do you care about sustainable progress in software freedom and innovation?
Think about how in demand the Toyota Prius is. People aren't buying it
for the low price, and I don't think they are buying it because they are
car technicians and appreciate its technology. I think they are buying
it because it promises to support a value of being better to the
environment. The organic food movement - yes, that apple is more
expensive, but it's better for me and the environment - people are
buying more organic produce than ever before. And they're not farmers or
food scientists or physicians.
I know most people just want their computer to work and beyond that
could care less what it runs, and Mike that may be your wife and
parents' case. But I think it is still possible to care about what runs
on our computers from a values point-of-view, without being fully
entrenched in the domain / highly technical. I think non-technical folks
can appreciate the values behind our software and to choose them over
other, easier alternatives.
A confusion I get from your point about your wife and parents, Mike, is
that I am assuming they are non-technical, and don't share Fedora's
values. But I what I'm trying to pose here is that you can be
non-technical AND share Fedora's values.
The problem is the software isn't designed for non-technical folks in
mind. And we ask if our non-technical wife or our brother or our
neighbor share our values, and chances are they don't. Then we make the
false assumption that it's not worth supporting non-technical users
because they all don't share our values.
~m
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