about empathy as the default IM application

[dan]

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 2:06 AM, Andrew Sayers <
andrew-ubuntu-devel at pileofstuff.org> wrote:

> I guess my previous message wasn't clear - I'm not making an argument
> here from personal preference, I'm trying to file a bug in Ubuntu
> itself.  Specifically, that dropping Pidgin will cause a regression in
> the user experience for migraters.
>
> I'm also not arguing that migraters are incapable of learning new
> things, just that they shouldn't be asked to learn a new IM program at
> the same time as they're learning where their start menu went.  I would
> have no problem, for example, with asking updaters whether they wanted
> to switch to Empathy.
>
> This decision was made at UDS with no input from, or output to, the
> wider community.  Brainstorm has never heard of Empathy, and I've never
> seen it get more than luke warm support on this list.  While I agree
> with UDS in general, saying "at UDS it was already decided that Empathy
> would ship with Karmic.... the decision has already been made for us"
> goes completely against the grain of open source development.
>
>        - Andrew
>

I think we're missing some context.  At least I was.  Correct me if I'm
wrong, but what you're trying to say is:

When migrating users from Windows to Ubuntu, you start by migrating them to
existing cross platform applications, like Pidgin.  If Pidgin is removed as
the default IM application, further training will be needed for the new
Ubuntu users.

Fair enough, but you have some time to plan for this.  I think the
difficulty for you is that in Ubuntu we're looking for the best *Ubuntu*
experience, not necessarily the best migration experience.  It would be nice
if those two interests were 100% aligned, but sadly they are not, in this
specific case.

Regarding UDS, and the decisions made there, I dont see how those sessions
could be any more inclusive.  There is news and blogs and information
flowing out of there almost 24x7 for a week.  The session schedules are
published.  And there are resources for how you can participate, even if you
are not able to attend.  UDS is probably the most democratic, inclusive,
"open source" (to misuse the phrase), developer summit ever.

Dan
---
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Open Standards!
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