On W= ed, Aug 9, 2017 at 2:51 PM, Christian Loosli <kde@fuchsnet.ch> wrote:

Okay, this is= more and more drifting away from being remotely productive or
helpful, but as I provided a working solution on top level, I feel free to<= br> tacke a few points that are, in my opinion, odd at best.

First let's tackle that mysterious group of < 20 year olds:

> > Is there any such organization at all?
>
> Sure there is! Look at the tech startup scene, or the games industry.<= br> > But okay, let=E2=80=99s say =E2=80=9Cpredominantly younger than 30=E2= =80=9D to make it an easier
> task.

But KDE is not a tech startup. As people correctly wrote, KDE has a = very long
history and contributors of all age. I'd rather be that than one of the= many
tech startups with a bunch of little to no experience but fancy new chat systems, to be honest.=C2=A0 Do we really want and need to cater these myst= ical
tweens so much?

Yes. Old contributors will = slowly fade away for various

reasons, be it life, be it lack of e= nergy, be it other commitments.

Who's going to pick all those= projects up after them? I'd like

to think that young enthusi= asts with lots of energy and potential,

exactly what those heroes= starting the original KDE were.

And I think we should strive to = attract younger talent that can

be in it for the long run.

<= div>=C2=A0

Are they= the holy grail that saves KDE and worth alienating
the people who are not this particular group?

It's not mutually exclusive.

=C2=A0

Even if that is the case, to answer your question:=C2=A0 Yes, there are suc= h
companies, plenty even. Basically a lot of companies which are exactly not = in
the small bubble that is=C2=A0 "tech start up", but other industr= ies. Also
companies that actually have to do business with other companies, where mai= l
simply still is the standard.

Then, on the subject of emojis, stickers or even the protocol used being so=
important:

Let's see what others do. Let's take our main, most famous friendly= competitor
GNOME. They even run their very own IRC network still, and actively code ne= w
IRC applications.
Mozilla? Own IRC network.
Reddit, quite the place for young techies and startup? Created their own IR= C
network. Hardly turning off or away people, it seems. If we fail to attract=
fresh blood, then maybe the problem is not actually "we use IRC".=

But even if it would: to be honest, if someone decides what project they wa= nt
to contribute due based on what chat protocol they use internally, I'm<= br> personally not sure if that is a well suited candidate due to rather odd priorities.

I think your view is a diff= erent angle - it's not that they would

choose a project to co= ntribute to based on what chat they use, but

they would choose a = project they feel most comfortable in. And yes

day to day communi= cation does make a big part of that comfort. No

matter how you lo= ok at it, IRC /is/ behind any other IM apps/protocols

today. Youn= g engineers communicate and prefer to communicate

differently tha= n you or me. I think it's absolutely crucial to understand

th= em and their views/ways/whatever. Neglecting them would be a mistake.

=
Cheers

Martin Klapetek

= =C2=A0