Outcome of community meeting on 18 October

[Jimmie Houchin]

Hello Mark,

I would like to thank you for being the driving force behind what I believe can 
be the premiere Linux distribution.

I am not prudish, not anti-sex, (ask my wife and 9 children).
But I am most definitively against the photos as default in Ubuntu.

They were sexual.  At the minimum implicitly from the point of view of most of 
society.

Why?

I know of no normative place of socialization or commerce in the industrialized 
nations where topless people shop or sit around and chat. Not at WalMart, not at 
Harrods (at least I don't think so), not at the public libraries, not at school 
events.

Yes you can pull out the nude beaches and other sorted specialized situations.
But that is not the norm.

People of faith or  of different moral values doesn't make them prudes or 
against nudity or sex.
Context makes all the difference.

Many/Most people of faith believe that sex or nudity is a beautiful thing in the 
context of marriage and in the marriage bedroom. Outside of that context it is 
not seen favorably. That doesn't make us prudes or anti-sex, but definitely of 
different values than some who see no problem.

That said.

Ubuntu or any OS will have people of varying faiths and value systems. Fact.
The default should be reasonable as much as possible across that spectrum.

After that please do provide for and encourage customization.
I have no problem if someone chooses to have your imagery.
But let it be by choice and not imposition.

I thank you for making that policy.

As far as continuing to pursue the humanity theme of Ubuntu, please do.

But I would like to encourage you to in that pursuit,  also pursue imagery which 
does not contain nudity or sexuality.

An excellent example is the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Now there is humanity on display. People arrayed in the splendor of their cultures.

A nude human being denotes little about the person.
Arrayed in the culture of their heritage speaks volumes.

Skin color is a small part of social issues and barriers humanity needs to overcome.
And skin color is all you get with the nudes.

As example when watching the Olympics, I can not tell which of the athletes are 
the Americans solely by their names.
Barrier broken on one level.

Enough said.

Please have as an option which can be included in the superset of images, a 
subset of images of humanity which display us in the beauty of our heritages.

Again thanks for the tremendous work and effort by you and all the Ubuntu team.
And thanks for providing for and listening to community input.

Jimmie Houchin



Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
[snip original message]