The big What-Why-How

[Jeff Spaleta]

On 9/8/05, Stuart Ellis <stuart at elsn.org> wrote:
> I do think that it important to differentiate between solutions,

If you want to do it with an eye at being informative and
honest..thats one thing. If are doing such comparision to gain
promotional leverage for this project..be very wary of bias. I
honestly don't think you can make an informed differentiation document
without direct input from the counterparts in the projects being part
of that discussion without reeking of bias. I've consumed so much
Fedora flavored Kool-aid there is no way anyone could expect me to
give  a fair and balanced assessment of the differences without
actively getting input from someone comparable swimming in Ubuntu
sauce.

> although I'd shy away from using terms like "competition". Most of the
> Fedora software list is now the same as a number of other distributions,
> so that makes explaining what is unique about Fedora is harder.

Go to the hardware store... go to the hammer section...pick 4
comparably priced hammers....figure out how to "market" the uniqueness
of each one.... patent that business practise...???...profit.


> SELinux and our release philosophy are actually probably good examples
> of why Fedora isn't currently an OS for world domination - implementing
> SELinux is the right thing to do, but it currently complicates running
> the system.

There it is... there's the crux of the matter.
Fedora: The right thing to do.
Not the easy thing... not the quick thing...the right thing. The right
thing for future of the existing community, as well as the future of
open source computing in a broader context.
Short term release schedules with long term focus.  

Doesn't that sum what everyone is trying to express in terms of a
development philosophy and focus actually is? Not what we'd like it to
be.  All the efforts to shoehorn a definition of the Fedora experience
that tries to detail what Fedora is "now" feels so very badly out of
place when the development is clearly focused on getting things right
long term. The payoff simply isnt istant gratification. Its not about
the best desktop or whatever "now" its about progress toward the
ideal.

jef"Fedora: Contradictions made manifest"spaleta