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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    Re: [kde-promo] nepomuk / baloo naming implications
From:       Àlex Fiestas <afiestas () kde ! org>
Date:       2014-02-20 23:24:08
Message-ID: 1765351.E70ACmtOOq () minibad
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On Thursday 20 February 2014 22:29:30 Tassos Koutlas wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I know this comes out of the blue but I have decided to weigh in this
> debate, sorry but it turned out rather long. I am a KDE user since the
> RH6.5 days back in 1999. I've experienced first hand the evolution of KDE
> and all the controversy surrounding the 4.x release, the bad press on
> nepomuk and so on. I have been however in numerous occasions presenting \
> KDE software to students and professional groups and I have been \
> outlining its merits, vision of the future and cutting edge technology \
> included in each release.
> 
> But let's step back a bit and think about KDE as software. What has \
> always been its number one advantage over other desktop environments \
> (DE)? I believe it's been primarily consistency and platform integration \
> and secondarily a unified UX (a distant third IMHO was stability but \
> remember back in the day you had to recompile Xfree86 from source to be \
> able to play DIVXes so stability for non technically inclined people is \
> out of the question). People are using or switching to KDE to experience \
> consistency, integration and unified experience in a FOSS desktop \
> environment. In my opinion regardless of trolling and early criticism the \
> 4.x releases strengthened KDE in those respects. Recently there was an \
> article showing KDE having a concrete 30% of use in a very fragmented \
> market. 
> Having said that, my initial reaction at the Baloo announcement over at
> planetkde was a sense of relief; I guess bad feelings on nepomuk \
> overwhelm me too. However my next reaction was a sense of disappointment \
> feeling that we yet again rush new technology when in fact should spend \
> our time strengthening KDE's core values (consistency and integration). \
> Please note however that these were my personal immediate reactions and \
> they don't necessarily reflect reality. I understand that Baloo will be \
> better than nepomuk in those respects and that it would be able to \
> provide all integration nepomuk was destined to do. I also don't want in \
> any way to diminish Vishesh's contributions on building a better and more \
> suitable tool, he is doing a great job advancing KDE on that front.
> 
> But we, as a community, have to understand that technology developed in \
> the context of KDE ultimately aims to serve people. Let's face it as far \
> as software goes, a DE is as people-centric as software can get. People \
> care about solutions and products that deliver them. Please note that \
> product in this context is used as an entity in a competitive market \
> claiming market share, not necessarily reflecting monetary attributes, \
> after all a product is much more than a price tag. As a product, KDE, is \
> destined to be something more than the underlying technology, it must \
> have a unified front presenting itself to others in terms of narration, a \
> set of core values and principles, a certain community ensuring \
> continuity. 
> The above serve as a compass when arguments arise. Developers may change \
> and users may increase or decrease, the project as a whole, however, can
> continue to fill market needs as it always did and it can expand
> incorporating new narrations based on values and principles. How these \
> are presented to people matter. They matter because they define how \
> people perceive the project and how the press perceives the project. For \
> instance if our core values are consistency/integration/stability then \
> marketing Baloo as anything different than the continuation of nepomuk is \
> invalid. If, on the other hand, we want to be perceived as a project \
> where cutting edge technology is presented to the user as soon as it is \
> available then keeping nepomuk brand alive is invalid. But we cannot do \
> both at the same time.
> 
> If we ultimately care about people and how KDE is offering solutions to
> people, then we have to treat it as any other technology product. There \
> are three distinct characteristics in a technology project targeted at
> different audiences:
> (a) technology related matters targeted at developers,
> (b) marketing related matters (including product/user relationships,
> distribution/promotion matters, copywriting material and so on) targeted \
> at people,
> (c) and community related matters target at people to ensure project
> continuity.
> 
> So there is a question, given that KDE is an advanced project in terms of
> technology and technical vision how can this can be communicated back at
> people both in terms of users and press?
> 
> First and foremost kde-promo mailing list is a very good step at
> coordinating efforts made, as are the development of the Visual Design
> Group (VDG) and the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) group. But these \
> alone are not enough. The cornerstone of these efforts is to distil and \
> decide the core values of the project in terms of its audience. Then to \
> change our idiosyncrasy towards the project given those values and \
> principles. What that ultimately means is that instead of feeling that \
> each component of KDE is vertically aligned we should change to a more \
> horizontal approach. Developers may have authoritative control over the \
> technical merits of a component, identity characteristics however should \
> be vested in people with expertise in the marketing/promo space and the \
> usability space. 
> To conclude with my thesis, I would like to thank you all for your \
> efforts building KDE, an indispensable part of my everyday computing \
> experience. My thoughts above have been piling up for quite some time \
> now. I don't know if my expertise is adequate enough to contribute at the \
> marketing/promo space of such an important project as KDE, but I indent \
> to get more acquainted with efforts so far and participate more.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Tassos
I just want to say that I have really enjoyed reading your email, thanks \
for  supporting us all these years.

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