The theme issue: in search of a solution

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Many people have made it very clear that they see real deployment issues 
with Ubuntu if it uses it's present artwork, whether they object to it 
personally or not. I think we have established the various viewpoints 
quite clearly now, but I wonder if we can start looking at possible 
solutions?

It is also clear that the Ubuntu team invested a great deal of effort in 
this artwork, and most will agree that it is professionally done. They 
want to focus on real people and have arranged a photo-shoot and have 
had the graphics professionally prepared. They seem to be committed to 
it and happy with it as they have posted the GDM screen on their web 
page. That particular graphic is esp. symbolic since it directly 
explains the meaning of the logo.

My guess is that most people object to the splash and wallpaper images, 
as they contain suggestions of nudity. Would it be possible to work out 
a partial solution that most people could be happy with?

An example:

1. Revert the splash screen to the original plain design with a simple logo
2. Use the simple brown wallpaper with the logo (which I think is the 
default now)
3. Tone down the GDM screen, while keeping the basic imagery of the people.

I've made a mock-up of what such a GDM might look like here:
http://www.theopencd.net/ubuntu/GDMx2.png
 
I would think that the current GDM screen is basically harmless, but it 
does rather tend to jump out at you. I think that with these changes, 
there should be no problem deploying it in companies, schools, or 
libraries. What do others think?

- Henrik

---
Just to clarify: I am not an Ubuntu developer directly, though I do have 
links with the project (Win-FOSS/LiveCD). I'm not speaking on behalf of 
Canonical on this topic now, but I would very much like to see a healthy 
community/project process.