Possible edits to the Overview wiki page

[Debra Deutsch]

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Folks,

I have been staring at the Overview wiki page.  It is the very first
page link in the project FAQ.  I am thinking of making some changes to
make it more helpful and understandable to people who are very new to
the open source community.  While I can see who has subscribed to the
page, I can't tell who owns it.  (I thought page info would tell me
that.)  So, I am posting here to see what people think about the
possible edits.

The main idea is to expand the page with some more explanation.  There
would be a little restructuring, but nothing as dramatic as breaking up
the page.  The additions would do the following:

- - Say a few words about what is open source software and why it is good.
 Also, point to one or more references that give more in-depth
discussion about that.  (Does anyone have some favorite references about
why open source is good?)

- - Build on the first point by explaining that Fedora contains 100% open
license software.   Point out that the open source community frequently
provides equal or better alternatives to propriety software.  Make this
point the context for the text that discusses ogg and mp3.  Perhaps cite
some additional examples.  (Anyone care to suggest some of their favorites?)

Beyond this, every time I look at that page I wonder what a new person,
who has only heard that Fedora is a Linux distribution that is worth
considering, might think about seeing "Freedom:", "Excellence:", and
"How You Can Help:" at the beginning of every line.  By context, those
prefixes are organizing the page into sections that are about

a) the project in general and the fact that Fedora is open source

b) why Fedora is a leader in the Linux distribution market

c) how people can contribute to the Fedora project

This may not be entirely obvious to newcomers, especially people who are
so new to the Linux community that the fact that they can contribute to
it is a new idea.  So, perhaps I am considering adding a few sentences
about how anyone can contribute to the project, and perhaps brief
paragraph to explain that there are many Linux distributions but we feel
that Fedora is one of the best for the reasons that follow.  Given that,
I am thinking that it may be sensible to remove the "Freedom:" prefix
from the few places where it is used.  Yes, it is one of the three words
that is used to describe Fedora, but "Infinity" and "Voice" are not
being used as heading prefixes either.

Comments, anyone?  I would love to tackle this today or at least during
this nice long weekend.  I have some time and the weather is such that
staying indoors and writing would be a fine thing to do.

Debbie

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