[maemo-community] Sprint meeting this month - and beyond?

[From: Benoît HERVIER]

Le mercredi 05 mai 2010 à 15:32 +0200, Dave Neary a écrit :
> Hi,
> 
> quim.gil at nokia.com wrote:
> >> Specifically, a few people have mentioned to me that you're not really
> >> sure where they're expected to be right now - MeeGo seems to be in early
> >> stages and doesn't present many opportunities to get hands dirty yet,
> > 
> > Can you provide specific examples? 
> 
> Nothing you're not aware of already:
> * No way to build, package & distribute software for MeeGo
> * No transparent development process of the mobile UX, no opportunity to
> try stuff out (yet) - my hope would have been that an almost-useless UX
> GIT repository would have been available some time ago, with closed
> components not in there (and being added as they get opened) allowing me
> to see the thing being built, follow git logs, make an image & try it on
> my N900, and maybe even pitch in with a helping hand (not me, but you
> get eth picture)
> * To give just one example which is quite representative: I have asked
> whether we shouldn't start documenting "getting started with MeeGo"
> based on what we have available now - get a head start on the developer
> guide for later on, and allow people to get packaging software straight
> away, and I've been asked to hold off on it, that there's no point in
> doing that as long as we don't have UX code available - so the project
> feels like it's in an early state for any community participation
> * One more example from a Bugzilla comment I saw today (some words
> changed to protect the innocent): "We are reviewing the request, and
> considering one more optimized product & component structure to support
> [your request]" - this kind of comment gives the impression that there
> are conversations happening to which I'm not privvy, that there are
> "we"s thinking great thoughts waiting for them to be "ready" before
> announcing them to the waiting world
> * All infrastructure is managed by Intel (and some Nokia) people - and
> while this is a fine way to start, there doesn't appear to be any move
> to enable community members to prove themselves and gain access to these
> resources
> 
> So in terms of software availability, transparency, and the general test
> of "what can I do which won't be wasted effort in 2 months", it feels
> generally like it's still early to be moving application developers,
> platform developers or all of the support effort from Maemo (which has
> infrastructure set up) to MeeGo (which is in a kind of limbo waiting for
> a first release of the UX).
> 
> Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
> 
> For infrastructure, it is not an easy problem, but you can start small -
> maybe set up a community moderation team for Mailman mailing lists,
> start adding regular editors as WikiSysop or admin on wikimedia, maybe
> start adding some admin permissions to some community members for
> Bugzilla... the point is, you need to seed the teams & processes to
> spread admin access around.
> 
> > Anyway, even if things look that way right now in few weeks we have
> > release, then starts the October release process at full public speed,
> > then MeeGo Conference... The current situation and perceptions will change.
> 
> Sure! In the meantime, the question is: what can we do in the Maemo
> project to prepare for a transition to the MeeGo project, when it's
> ready for us to move. If the early UX code is out in the end of May,
> that will definitely give momentum, and will allow us to get started on
> things like documentation, tutorials and application development.
> 
> There's still some work afterwards to enable community software
> distribution, and a lot of the committed tasks are (as you recognised
> yesterday in the meeting) quite concentrated - I can imaging some tasks
> like SSO taking a long time because anyone who has access to do them has
> other higher priority tasks to take care of.
> 
> >> and Maemo seems to have been somewhat abandoned (strong word, but it's
> >> what I've heard) by Nokia
> > 
> > This doesn't mean abandonment: we are committed to keep funding the
> > maemo.org bills. It does mean though (again, in my opinion) more
> > maintenance than creation of new things. Cool ideas for maemo.org can be
> > better invested in meego.com. Or put it in other way, how much do we
> > gain by pushing something to maemo.org that mights be pushed in a
> > different way in meego.com? meego.com is the site with clear future
> > projection and whatever your agendas are you'd better push them there.
> 
> Let me just say - I don't want to be the bad guy knocking everything,
> but I don't think that I'm the only one who people have been saying
> things like this to. I'm glad to hear that you think there are ways we
> can get good stuff done for MeeGo right now, but from where I stand, I
> am still not sure where my help is wanted (or expected).
> 
> The thing you say is exactly the problem I see - why would anyone work
> on the maemo.org platform now, when it will be obsoleted by meego.com
> very shortly (but not yet)? The result seems to be "wait & see" for
> everyone.
> 
> >> I think that we need to address these perceptions, and either correct
> >> them (with words & actions) or admit them, and come up with a coherent
> >> narrative for people who are wondering what they do now.
> > 
> > As said, it is easier to address perceptions based on concrete
> > examples and concerns. All the better if they are directly related to
> > maemo.org development work.
> > 
> > I would also prefer to discuss this in the forum. There is where some
> > of the most vocal, critical, brilliant and Maemo-centric people can
> > be found.
> 
> OK - let me open up a forum thread & see what happens.
> 
> Cheers,
> Dave.
> 
> 
Thanks for this words dave, i think you explain what most of us are
feeling.

Best regards,
--
Benoît HERVIER - http://khertan.net/