Fwd: Mono (Re: New Programs for Hardy?)

[Kevin Fries]

On Wed, 2007-12-12 at 12:58 -0500, Martin Owens wrote:
> > F-Spot and gThumb are very similar in capabilities on local images.
> > Though F-Spot's interface is a little cleaner.  But the big difference
> > comes in Web2.0 integration.  GThumb has none, while F-Spot integrates
> > with Flickr, Picasa, etc.  Hands down, this is what end users expect,
> > and it is gThumbs that needs to be eliminated.
> 
> Users who want any of these applications can get them from the
> repositories; just because you like the applications doesn't make them
> good for inclusion by default. The argument seems to be that we should
> sacrifice 60MB of CD space for a handful of extra features. The space
> instead could be used to have many more user friendly features than
> just nice sticky notes and Flicker integration.

They get these features in Windows, if we want to reasonably expect to
get users to switch over, we need to supply them also.  This goes to
user expectations.  Windows and Mac are the front runners, We need our
best foot forward to compete with iPhoto.  A better program in the
repositories means nothing when you pop that CD in to show the end user
they can have the same capabilities with Ubuntu than they can in Windows
or Mac.

As for me, given the programs that are there, and the ones that will
make hesitant users switch, the 60MB must be sacrificed.  Putting lesser
programs on the disk to add in what?  Multimedia is so mainstream that
hardware manufacturers are making it available from an otherwise turned
off machine.

The only think that brings more bling would be codecs, and that is not
going to happen for licensing reasons.  So, I could not agree with you
assertions more.  Programs that integrate better with more features are
far more important that number of features.  I would rather see a second
disk than to back off on these features.  And I feel a second disk is a
huge mistake.

> Although I didn't see you mentioning that F-Spots flicker integration
> will be removed and moved into Conduit (which we don't include by
> default) so you argument does loose some merit with the way things are
> going.

And if we should be or not was not the question.  I have no problem with
the conduit.  But to install a lesser program to get more software is a
DSL type decision.  That is what they do best, not us.  We need to keep
everything about providing a highly usable desktop with the features
people expect.  After iPhoto, they expect more than gThumb.  They expect
what F-Spot brings.

Like I said, the users have already spoken on this exhaustively in both
the forums and Launchpad.  My opinion seems to be the overwhelmingly
popular one.  Quality over quantity... That is what makes Ubuntu the
best distro.

I would also be curious as to which programs you would choose to include
to replace that 60MB?

-- 
Kevin Fries
Senior Linux Engineer
Computer and Communications Technology, Inc
A Division of Japan Communications Inc.