On 08/30/2010 09:55 AM, Jared K. Smith wrote:
> "The Fedora Project works to create a world in which free/open-source
> software is pervasive, collaboration is the norm, and people are
> empowered to control their own data and devices."
I suppose this depends on what the point of a vision statement is.
Wikipedia says:
A Mission statement tells you the fundamental purpose of the
organization. It defines the customer and the critical processes.
It informs you of the desired level of performance.
A Vision statement outlines what the organization wants to be, or
how it wants the world in which it operates to be. It concentrates
on the future. It is a source of inspiration. It provides clear
decision-making criteria.
So, as a vision statement, this outlines how Fedora wants the world in
which it operates to be. It does have a focus on the future (although,
it isn't explicitly worded in that way). I could argue that it is a
source of inspiration.
This may not seem to provide clear decision-making criteria, but in a
way, it does. Take Microsoft's vision statement (at one point, at least):
"A personal computer in every home running Microsoft software."
Microsoft can ask itself "Does this contribute to getting Microsoft
software on every home PC?"
Can we ask ourselves similar qualifying questions around this vision
statement? Perhaps we can ask "Does this make FOSS pervasive?" "Does
this make collaboration the norm?" "Does this empower people to control
their own data and devices?"
So, it meets the criteria, but honestly, the vision statement doesn't
interest me at all. I really had to force myself to care here.
What does interest me is setting big goals with timetables for Fedora
and working together to achieve them. I would love to see us commit to
goal driven efforts like:
* Improve usability for new users for all default Fedora desktop
applications in partnership with the upstreams (over the next four
releases).
* Enable Fedora as a powerful platform for Free Content creation (audio,
video, artistic) with reliable and well tested tools and documentation.
(over the next four releases)
******
We could come up with more by simply being candid about the areas where
we are weak, not just in comparison to other Linux flavors, but the
computing industry at large. We could focus on Education, Hardware, User
Classes, and we don't have to do it forever.
Then, when we set these, we can revisit them at the end of each release
and see what progress we have made towards these. FESCo will have a bar
to judge Features against (although, that is not to say that other,
compelling features that fall out of scope of these goals will not be
approved).
We might find that after a few releases, we like a goal, and can keep it
for additional time, or we can achieve the goals and move to new ones.
If a vision statement is a necessary step in that process, fine. I think
people are looking for more from the Board and FESCo than that though. I
think that we have a community of willing participants, who are waiting
for us to tell them where to go to work. I'm interested in hearing where
the community thinks we are weak, and where it thinks we should improve,
and without naming specific technologies (please, no "get rid of
RPM/KDE/Emacs/$PACKAGE").
~spot
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