FESCo Meeting Summary for 20090424

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 05:45:01PM -0700, Toshio Kuratomi wrote:
> Christopher Aillon wrote:
> > and why this decree should not be reversed?
> 
> In today's voting, FESCo as a whole refused to micromanage the desktop
> SIG into changing existing UI.  This isn't because they changed their
> minds about the ideal state of mixers in Fedora 11 but because they saw
> that when you disagree with people that you delegate power to you have
> to work with the other party to accommodate both your interests and theirs.
> 
> If the Board wants to reverse the decision of what goes onto a spin by
> default they can because they are the source of FESCo's authority on
> technical matters.  But that means that they're taking away all of the
> authority that they've given FESCo for technical matters with no
> compromise which is a very different thing than what occurred between
> FESCo and the Desktop SIG at today's meeting.

I guess I'm unclear on why the gnome-alsamixer isn't being introduced
as a specific addition to %packages in the DVD kickstart file.  Then
the Desktop Live image would retain the characteristics designed by
the Desktop SIG.

That Live image is designed, AIUI, to go into the hands of a novice
who's looking for the Desktop SIG's idea of a Fedora Desktop.  On the
other hand, anyone who's looking for twiddly bits like those found in
the gnome-alsamixer (and they're perfectly justified in that desire)
are typically going to download the Installation DVD because they want
more choices in software to begin with.

So to me, the ideal compromise is for the Installation DVD to install
the gnome-alsamixer by default and have it in the menu, and for the
Desktop Live image not to bother.  Does that not solve the problem in
a less contentious way?

> > Do I really need to bring this up at the next board meeting?
> > 
> That's a very strange question as only you know what you have to do.  If
> you are asking whether FESCo wants you to do so I'm afraid I'm not on
> FESCo so I can't answer.

To be very clear, the above is just my input as a long-time Fedora
contributor.  But if this escalates to the Board, in all honesty it
would still be my position.

I think FESCo is doing the right thing by including something that
will work for the large number of users we have who are natural
bit-twiddlers, and require functionality beyond what the
drivers/hardware currently make available to PA.  But I also think the
Desktop SIG ought to be able to make a Desktop Spin that represents
their vision.  In fact, that's something we've asked for at, e.g., the
recent FUDCon in Boston last January.

So again, I propose adding gnome-alsamixer to the %packages in
Installation DVD kickstart, and leave the Desktop Live CD as-is.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
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