Documentation Rifts and Rebuttals

[David Wonderly •Darkwing Duck•]

Hey Thomas,

Thank you for your comments on this.

Ultimately I feel that it boils down to this. There always going to be alternate projects running in regards to documentation. While I see what alternate projects bring to the table I also understand how these efforts take away from system documentation. 

Not to rub salt in old wounds (no offense Matthew) but, this isn't the first time that the doc team has been hit with projects that take time and effort away from official documentation. The UDSF ended in a bit of a skiff and very painful for all those involved and that's all ill say about that project.

As for current discussions about the "Ubuntu Manual" I have failed to see what it provides that the help.ubuntu.com doesn't bring except that it would seem to be in printed form. If that is the case then it would be a product that would be for sale and while it would be written in FLOSS style the ultimate proceeds from sales would be going to one individual and to me that would violate the ideals of FLOSS.

Saying that and if that is the case then I feel that the project should not be touted here on the list. It should be done in private and if the author wants help that is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with system documentation. If I am wrong and it would be available online only and for free, why would you try to go into competition with what is out there already? If you feel that help.ubuntu.com isn't working and needs to be fixed or updated then why not spend the time and resources to fix what is there instead of competing with it?

This is just how I feel about the discussion looking at a FLOSS outlook on the project.

David Wonderly
Kubuntu Documentation Author
------Original Message------
From: Thomas R. Jones
Sender: ubuntu-doc-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
To: Ubuntu Docs
Subject: Documentation Rifts and Rebuttals
Sent: Jan 13, 2010 23:07

Hello all,

I am writing to address an on-going issue within this mailinglist. It
has become blazingly obvious that there is a rift among members of this
project with regards to the "Ubuntu Manual".

I have my own opinion about this project---but rather refrain from
proceeding into discourse about those opinions because I feel that there
is no point at this time.

I, for one, do not have the time to waste following meaningless banter
back and forth with regards to the "Ubuntu Manual" project. I have been
a documentation member of both Redhat and openSUSE/Novell. I know from
experience that with any given commercially supported project such as
Ubuntu/Canonical there is a process by which certain projects are either
accepted or denied. There is a formal approval process. There is a
formal team, usually composed of salaried employees of the supporting
corporation, and outstanding contributors from the open source
community.

Obviously, I am a new member to the Ubuntu Doc project(s); but i would
like for someone to stand up and make a decision so that we can get back
to doing something worth while rather than wasting time and effort on
this nonsense.

As a member of the open source community, I humbly request that whomever
is charged with the responsibility of the Ubuntu Doc project needs to
obtain some order before things get completely out of hand.

I have authored some 1,000+ proprietary XML documents for the Novell
documentation team. I have authored many of the security docs for the
fedora distribution. I have already developed some 32,000+ vulnerability
definitions for Ubuntu and it's derivatives that are waiting
transmission to NIST. I am a seasoned author and contributor to many
open source projects. I do not need rebuttals or statements validating a
certain posture for the "Ubuntu Manual" project. I just want to see this
rift ended before the entire community is derailed; accept the project
or deny the project. Fork from the official project or merge. Either
way...just get it done.

Sincerely,
Thomas Jones


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