1 |
On Sat, 2008-01-12 at 07:34 -0600, Dale wrote: |
2 |
> Mick wrote: |
3 |
> > On Saturday 12 January 2008, Jil Larner wrote: |
4 |
> > |
5 |
> >> Well, it's like if I am opening my eyes. I never looked at what the |
6 |
> >> foundation was supposed to do. For a couple of years I've been using |
7 |
> >> gentoo, I never get any political announcement, maybe because I didn't |
8 |
> >> look at the right place, or maybe there was no. I mean that except the |
9 |
> >> Gentoo's Philosophy and the Gentoo's Social Contract, I didn't see |
10 |
> >> politic, for my eyes were probably closed. |
11 |
> >> It doesn't mean I didn't enjoyed gentoo, its power, its flexibility, its |
12 |
> >> community. But I certainly missed something. There are so many ways to |
13 |
> >> communicate (lists, IRC, boards, wikis, project pages, etc.) that I must |
14 |
> >> admit I'm sometime lost. |
15 |
> >> |
16 |
> >> Today, I learn we're in trouble. Good. What trouble ? What's happening ? |
17 |
> >> Why through the words of Daniel Robbins, I feel some fear ? I feel he |
18 |
> >> foresees a dead end and offers an opportunity to change before it is too |
19 |
> >> late. Once more, to quote Matrix, "the problem is choice". In Free |
20 |
> >> Software, there are often choices where the community can get involved |
21 |
> >> in and it makes our strength. The problem is, and is not, legal papers. |
22 |
> >> Because, IMO, legal papers are the visible part of an Iceberg. Could |
23 |
> >> someone tell me what *really* is the crisis ? If people did not do what |
24 |
> >> they were supposed to do : what should they have done ? |
25 |
> >> |
26 |
> >> Thanks. |
27 |
> >> |
28 |
> > |
29 |
> > I am equally agnostic of Gentoo management politics, albeit grateful that |
30 |
> > people volunteer their time and effort to keep it going. From the little |
31 |
> > exposure that I have had to it all it seems to me that Alan's views ring |
32 |
> > depressingly true. I read Daniel's blog and cannot disagree with what he |
33 |
> > suggests - it makes common sense that users views and desires should |
34 |
> > determine Gentoo's direction, but I have not read between the lines to see |
35 |
> > how might his proposals lead to directions that I would not readily agree |
36 |
> > with. See this excerpt of his below from OSNews.com in 2002: |
37 |
> > |
38 |
> > "I very much want to find a way to turn the Gentoo Linux project into a |
39 |
> > profitable enterprise. My main motivation in wanting to do this is so I can |
40 |
> > stop living from paycheck to paycheck and focus my professional efforts |
41 |
> > exclusively on Gentoo Linux development. Many of our developers would like to |
42 |
> > do the same thing" |
43 |
> > |
44 |
> > (I am not critising this statement of his; after all I would very much like to |
45 |
> > find myself a sustainable way of being able to do what I like - without |
46 |
> > having to spend the biggest part of my day in my current job.) |
47 |
> > |
48 |
> > Giving a free hand to any single person is not safe in my humble view, |
49 |
> > especially if that person is employed by Microsoft - I will find hard to rest |
50 |
> > assured that there will be no conflict of interest. On the other hand it |
51 |
> > seems that Gentoo desperately needs *mature* leadership, which can fulfill |
52 |
> > some rather significant responsibilities. From what I read the current |
53 |
> > Gentoo administration and management setup does not seem to be able to behave |
54 |
> > with the professionalism required to achieve that. This makes me anxious for |
55 |
> > the future of Gentoo. |
56 |
> > |
57 |
> > Just my 2c's. |
58 |
> > |
59 |
> |
60 |
> I have been using Gentoo for about 4 or 5 years now. I to think Gentoo |
61 |
> has well, lost its way. It seems like a bunch of teenagers is running |
62 |
> it sometimes. They decide something then go back a few steps when they |
63 |
> don't like the results. Proctors come to mind on that. Users seems to |
64 |
> be the last thing on the higher ups mind. That is not good. |
65 |
> |
66 |
> I love my Gentoo but I would like to see someone step up and get some |
67 |
> things done and some decisions made, even those we may never know about. |
68 |
> |
69 |
> I just don't want to see Gentoo fall into the abyss. |
70 |
> |
71 |
> Dale |
72 |
> |
73 |
> :-) :-) |
74 |
|
75 |
|
76 |
|
77 |
Although he works for Microsoft, Daniel is the one who created this |
78 |
project. He has been a developer of several operating systems, including |
79 |
Freebsd. I would, as a user, like for him to come back to the project, |
80 |
if it means gentoo going back to the old way. On the other hand, his |
81 |
major decisions with regard to gentoo should be voted on by the |
82 |
developer/user community. I don't want gentoo to become another SuSE. I |
83 |
don't want him to insidiously harm gentoo with the immunity of acting |
84 |
president. Everything should be done in the open. There should be some |
85 |
sort of constitution which protects gentoo from losing certain |
86 |
principles or ethics. One of which is that it will always be free of |
87 |
charge; at least from the gentoo foundation. He has to be, as acting |
88 |
president, bound to a code of ethics or rules decided by the community. |
89 |
It is clear that he cares for this project. He wants to come back but, |
90 |
is he willing to come back as a leader under our conditions? |
91 |
|
92 |
-- |
93 |
gentoo-user@l.g.o mailing list |