Ubuntu Governance: Reboot?

[Michael Hall]

On 11/15/2014 12:17 AM, Benjamin Kerensa wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 8:56 PM, Nathan Haines <nhaines at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> On 11/14/2014 08:49 PM, Benjamin Kerensa wrote:
>>
>> This is most starkly illustrated by the Ubuntu Core Apps project that
>> generated most of the useful apps that will ship as a core part of the
>> default phone experience.
> 
> With guidance and hand holding from Canonical and the Design Team. If
> Canonical did not like certain aspects of the Core Apps they could
> advise that that wasn't going to work. Canonical controls the
> technical and design aspects of these projects.
> 

Yes, Canonical members contributed design and project management skills
to the Core Apps projects. But, as with any community developed project,
we had to work with the developers and convince them of the merit of
those contributions, otherwise they wouldn't be taken.

Design and project management are two areas where the FOSS community
does not have enough contributors, and has historically suffered from
it, in my opinion. Because of that history, I can understand why you
might feel that those kinds of contributions, coming from Canonical, do
not constitute collaboration, but you would be wrong.

The Core Apps are, indeed, a prime example of Canonical working with the
community as a member of the community. We need more designers and
project managers contributing their skills to FOSS projects, it doesn't
matter if they work for a company backing the project or not.


Michael Hall
mhall119 at ubuntu.com