[Ambassadors] New Project: Blur

[Braden Faulkner]

I agree, lots of good points there. I'll be sure to check out that  
video, thanks. So, you think sharing the patches would fix the problem?

Best regards,

- helofromseattle

http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/user:helofromseattle

On Jul 12, 2009, at 8:33 PM, David Nalley <david at gnsa.us> wrote:

> On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 6:12 PM, Braden  
> Faulkner<bradenflknr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Jul 12, 2009, at 5:55 PM, "Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)"
>> <bochecha at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>> I was thinking of Linux as a whole the other day. I thought that  
>>>> Linux
>>>> might
>>>> be to fragmented. So, I started a project called "Blur". It's a  
>>>> project
>>>> about collaberating with other Linux distros and groups.
>>>>
>>>> Let me know what you guys think.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/blur
>>>
>>> So the goal is to « stop the fragmentation between the different 
>>>  Linux
>>> communities and to initiate a collaborative whole effort between
>>> distributions and the entire Linux community »
>>
>>> The project is still in the rough stage of planning.
>>
>>> What do you mean ? On technical points ? On something else ?
>>>
>> Well, sometimes distros often reivent the wheel on certain items.  
>> Also, it
>> can be confusing to new users to choose a distro that works for them.
>>
>>> What concrete actions do you have in mind ?
>>
>> As for action, I'm thinking of a site that can easily allow for  
>> ideas to be
>> cross referanced that it not specific to any distro. So, it makes a  
>> better
>> Linux, as a whole. Perhaps, even a distro alliance.
>>>
>>> Right now, I can't think anything about this project, as it doesn't
>>> even seem to be defined :-/
>>
>> We are still planning and coming up with ideas.
>>>
>>> On the other hand, we are already collaborating with other
>>> distributions. Developers from different distributions are working
>>> together on upstream projects like the kernel for example. Last  
>>> week I
>>> was at a FOSS event in France, and I was during the whole week with
>>> members of other communities (Ubuntu, Mandriva, ArchLinux, etc.). We
>>> discussed about common release parties, shops, etc... (we even got
>>> drunk all together :)
>>>
>>> Anyway, could you explain a bit more what is this project ?
>>
>> I agree, the project isn't quite clear but, basically it wants to  
>> give Linux
>> as a whole a stronger unified image to the general public, without  
>> confusing
>> them.
>>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> - helofromseattle
>>
>>> Best regards,
>>
>>>
>>> ----------
>>>
>>> Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)
>>>
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>>
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>>
>
>
>
> So a couple of comments.
> I think from the standpoint of accomplishing your stated goals the
> best way to do so is to work upstream. Comparatively, very little of
> what a user touches in a distribution comes from the distribution
> itself. Gnome comes Gnome, KDE from KDE, etc. The real problem is that
> people go and make changes, or patch things, and don't share that
> upstream. I am thrilled that Fedora has specific guidelines requiring
> that patches to packages be offered upstream, and I think it sets us
> apart.
> I think that Greg Kroah-Hartmann's keynote speech at Linux Plumbers
> Conference (it's on google video) should be mandatory viewing because
> it far better describes the problem I do a poor job of illustrating in
> the next sentences.
> The problem that I believe you are seeing is that various
> distributions run different versions, and a number of distributions
> change the defaults in a given application or desktop environment.
> So for instance, the RHEL5 desktop experience will never be what the
> Fedora 11 desktop experience is.
>
> Another important thing to think about is 'itches'
> A number of F/LOSS projects started, or are going down the path they
> are due to itches that developers needed to scratch.
> To give you an example - AIUI gnote was written to avoid the
> relatively large size increase in livecd images caused by Tomboy. They
> are essentially identical implementations written in different
> languages.
> Those itches and subsequent scratching are very important, trying to
> make things one size fits all rarely makes those itches go away.
>
> Those differences that you see are because the distributions have very
> different goals.
> Fedora, for instance, seeks to provide the best of free software,  
> right now.
> RHEL, seeks to provide 7 years of API/ABI stability that they support
>
> Differences are a good thing - it means we can take advantage of each
> others differing work and experiences.
>
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