request for review of hardy beta release announcement

[Steve Langasek]

Hi Vadim,

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 01:32:29AM -0400, Vadim Peretokin wrote:
> Well, it depends on who are you trying to appeal with the new announce. I'm
> not sure, but if you're going to appeal to the normal user, saying that
> there is more wireless compatibility is a great thing - Linux is known for
> poor (yes, not it's fault, but it still doesn't work out of the box)
> wireless compatibility. Some people fail to make it work, and give up.
> Others shy away from it just because of that.

The trouble I have with prominently advertising improved wireless support is
that if this claim is *wrong* for a particular user's wireless device (which
it will be for some set of users since not all wireless devices are
supported equally well), we completely compromise our credibility with that
user.  Overselling ourselves is IMHO not a good strategy; and while wireless
support currently works well for me on my system, and I think wireless
support has improved in hardy over previous releases, there are still a
number of issues that make me think we should not be advertising wireless
support too heavily.

> Reading here (click<http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_24#head-62e9ebf067c978bbf70898986c0aa3904d1a3543>),
> it says "Linux 2.6.24 will have a lot of new wireless drivers using the new
> stack; 2.3 MB of source files in total:". While the developers/very
> knowledgeable people will consider the addition of dynticks, and what else
> it had, important, they might be forgetting that
> wireless does not work well for everybody. Most people will be much happier
> if they're told that wireless has been improved, rather than the Linux
> kernel now isn't fixed on a timer and that saves on battery power.

Yes, many wireless drivers are now using the new stack.  This is an
important architectural improvement, but it does not translate directly to
an improved user experience.  For instance, see the various bugs related to
wireless (including some regressions) which have been milestoned for the
final release.  These are all bugs that we mean to have fixed for 8.04, but
they do add up to a conclusion that wireless is not one of our strongest
selling points for beta...

Regards,
-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org