Looking Ahead: Xubuntu Feisty+1, Part 1

[Vincent]

On 28/03/07, Adam Miller <maxamillion at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> === Support ===
> I think we are doing really well right now, but we might want to start
> getting into contact with companies such as http://www.linutop.com/ who
> are shipping Xubuntu with machines and try to collaborate with them about
> topics of interest.


Great idea!

=== Bug Triage ===
> I remember the email Jani sent out about this a while back and I have been
> checking Thunar periodically like I said I would but I haven't really seen
> any activity in over a month for the Edgy release (I assume this to be a
> good thing) so I might volunteer some more of my time to bug tracking
>
> === Website ===
> I thought Ubuntu was always running Drupal and that is why Xubuntu does,
> but I would really like to migrate to a more uniform look of our site in
> respect to the Ubuntu site especially that we are more formally mentioned on
> Ubuntu.com
>
> === IRC Channels ===
> I vote you be back in your position, I will help represent you if need be
> in accomplishing this. And in the same respect I think our current Op team
> is doing well but having a "leader" to the team like we used to will provide
> more structure and order.
>
> === Getting Involved ===
> I really like the idea of having contact info and I think having a council
> would contribute to having some structure in delegation of tasks and keeping
> track of what needs doing and will further help direct people who are
> interested in the project on what they can contribute to.
>
> === Xubuntu Council ===
> I think this would be a great idea in many respects.
>
> -Adam
>
> On 3/28/07, Cody Somerville < cody.somerville at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello Everyone,
> >
> > I'd really like to thank everyone for being so supportive while I've
> > been in the hospital. Everyone has done an amazing job and I really regret
> > not being around during such a critical part of the release cycle. However,
> > I want to let you know that I'm pumped for Feisty+1 release cycle and I've
> > taken some time out of my busy schedule (haha, I joke, I joke) to write out
> > some thoughts about Xubuntu and what we can do to improve the distribution
> > and it's community for the next release cycle. As I'm sure you already know,
> > I'm always open and happy to get feedback (it lets me know that people
> > actually read my ramblings, haha) – so, please, feel free to discuss, tear
> > apart, and dissect the following mumble jumble of thoughts and ideas.
> >
> > In this e-mail, I'll be tackling the social/community issues. My next
> > e-mail will be tackling development related issues.
> >
> > == Marketing ==
> >
> > Xubuntu Marketing is lacking attention right now. I think the first step
> > to remedying this issue is to find a volunteer who is interested in taking
> > charge of Marketing for Xubuntu. This person would need to be confident in
> > communicating with the public (of course), creative, not afraid to get their
> > hands dirty, an excellent team-worker, and all that good stuff. The
> > individual would need to be a person who doesn't need someone to hold their
> > hand. They would need to be able to take charge and start initiatives (like
> > Jim has with the testing team).
> >
> > Once we get a person filling this role, they would want to get very
> > comfy with the ubuntu-marketing team (if they haven't already) to allow us
> > to hook into Ubuntu marketing initiatives (ie. Avoid duplicating efforts,
> > joint-initiatives, etc.).
> >
> > They'd have to brainstorm with the community for sure about things such
> > as "How do we want to market Xubuntu?", "Do we want to try and give Xubuntu
> > an appeal to the commercial market?".
> >
> > Their first project might be working with our resident artist to make
> > some artwork which people can use to represent their Xubuntu pride on their
> > websites and blogs. From there, the sky is the limit. :)
> >
> > Oh, and of course they would help write release announcements, etc. etc.
> >
> > == Documentation ==
> >
> > Documentation is an interesting creature. We had some pretty lofty goals
> > for Feisty documentation which we didn't meet but we did do a million times
> > better then Edgy (which used the documentation from Dapper unmodified).
> >
> > As for Feisty+1, I think that with a bit of leadership, our
> > documentation could easily become stellar. There seems to be several
> > individuals interested in assisting with Documentation but more direction is
> > needed for these people's interest to be actualized into hard work <g>. If
> > there is anyone interested in taking the initiative to take a leadership
> > position in the Xubuntu documentation effort, feel free to let me know and
> > we can see about accelerating the process of getting you svn commit access.
> >
> > Question: What needs to be done for Documentation?
> >
> > Answer: A lot but it can't be articulated in a few words. We need to ask
> > ourselves questions like "What information would users most likely find
> > helpful? What do we know can be tricky about a certain default program? How
> > would I go about instructing a friend to do a task like setting up the
> > printer or installing new software?".
> >
> > We also need to apply the topic-based help specification to our
> > documentation which means major restructuring.
> >
> > It would most likely also be beneficial to give the look and feel of the
> > documentation an update.
> >
> > We might also consider different Xubuntu specific guides we could offer
> > such as a migration guide (Ubuntu offers one).
> >
> > == ISO Testing ==
> > I think Jim is doing an AMAZING job with this. He is the perfect example
> > of an excellent Open Source Leader!
> >
> > So, what is this section about? Well, maybe we should discuss what
> > testing team will do after the final release of Feisty. Maybe they could
> > continue to do QA testing of Xubuntu packages and daily builds? What are
> > your thoughts Jim?
> >
> > == Support ==
> >
> > I think it would be interesting if we could get some sort of
> > community-focused effort on providing support on IRC and Launchpad Support
> > Requests. I know a lot of people already do this regularly but I think they
> > deserve recognizability for their awesome efforts. Maybe we could form a
> > xubuntu-support team on launchpad? I know we need to be careful when
> > creating groups to avoid making a mess of things but I also think that by
> > being a member of a team helps make helping out more fun and also offers the
> > benefit of raising awareness of the dedicated effort.
> >
> > Jani likes to help out in the IRC #xubuntu chatroom regularly. VS John
> > is a member of the Xubuntu support team and makes an active effort as a
> > member of that team to provide support on IRC and on Launchpad.
> >
> > == Bug Triage ==
> >
> > Bug Triage is very important but can be harder to get involved with
> > because, IMHO, it is a skill you have to learn. Luckily, it is very easy to
> > learn and there is lots of documentation to refer to that is ubuntu-flavor
> > unspecific. The best part is that if you do something wrong, some will let
> > you know and correct it for you. :)
> > Do I think we need an xubuntu-bugsquad team? Even though you might focus
> > on Xubuntu bugs at first, you'll soon get so proficient at bug triage that
> > you'll want to help out with all the packages (don't let the karma bug
> > consume you though!). However, maybe the logic I used above still applies
> > here and other people might feel an xubuntu-bugsquad (as a member of the
> > ubuntu-bugsquad team) team would be a good idea. The question is: How do get
> > people to help triage bugs AND continue to work at it? Maybe instead of a
> > team to help promote it, a weekly bug report/summary for Xubuntu would be
> > helpful. Maybe we could get some sort of competition going? What other ideas
> > can we brainstorm?
> >
> > == Website ==
> >
> > The Ubuntu website has just migrated to Drupal and apparently the web
> > engineers responsible are going to make the Drupal theme available. Lucky
> > us, we use Drupal too! I think it would be a good idea to consider adapting
> > the theme (ie. Changing colors, etc.) and using it for the Xubuntu website.
> >
> > If we don't go down this road, then I think we need to look at spicing
> > up our theme anyhow and rewriting parts of the website to be more helpful
> > and more professional.
> >
> > We need more brainstorming! :)
> >
> > == Mailing List ==
> >
> > In this release cycle, we created a new mailing list called
> > xubuntu-users for Xubuntu User Support and Discussion. I think it would be
> > hard to argue that this hasn't been a huge success.
> >
> > At this time I don't think we need anymore mailing lists but I'd still
> > like to hear from people about this issue.
> >
> > == IRC Channels ==
> >
> > Several weeks before I disappeared off the face of the earth, there was
> > some trouble brewing in ubuntu-irc team. Before the incident, I was the
> > contact for the Xubuntu channel namespace. Long story short, I'm no longer
> > the contact and there is no one in the Xubuntu community currently filling
> > this position. However, I think that it is important that the xubuntu
> > namespace be under xubuntu community control. However, since I've been in
> > the hospital, I haven't had the chance to resolve this issue. I'm not sure
> > what will be required to resolve the issue but if it does require going
> > before the CC, I'd want the support of the Xubuntu community. If the Xubuntu
> > community feels that I'm "unfit" to fill the position, then I'd ask that we
> > select someone within the Xubuntu community to be my successor.
> >
> > == Getting Involved ==
> >
> > I've already tackled this for specific groups but I think we should
> > evaluate how we can improve the process of "getting involved" in regards to
> > the entire project. I know from personal experience that sometimes the
> > hardest part of getting involved in what you want to get involved with is
> > getting in contact with the right person. Maybe some sort of "contacts" page
> > would be appropriate?
> > Any other ideas?
> >
> > == Meetings ==
> >
> > I think it would be nice if Jani could show up to these. ;)
> >
> > I would also like to see these meetings become more productive. How do
> > you think we can accomplish this?
> >
> > == Xubuntu Council ==
> >
> > This has been brought up before and as our project grows we should,
> > naturally, discuss it again. It would be hard to argue that Xubuntu has not
> > grown in size over the last six months and hence I'd like to propose that we
> > discuss this more formally. Direction is VERY important – even in Open
> > Source Projects – and I think this would assist in making "getting involved"
> > easier which is critical to the success of Xubuntu at this point.
> >
> > Is an Xubuntu Council similar to the Edubuntu and Kubuntu Councils
> > required?
> >
> > Please refrain from discussing who might be on the council or what the
> > exact mandate of the council would be. I think it is first important to
> > simply discuss if it is required at this point and time or not.
> >
> > == Conclusion ==
> >
> > I've *lightly* touched in this e-mail on several important
> > social/community topics. Hopefully it will spark discussion that will be
> > productive and meaningful. I'd encourage you to discuss the points I've
> > brought up here in IRC and then try to be as comprehensive as possible with
> > your e-mail replies. :)
> >
> > Thank you for your time (please excuse my typos),
> >
> > Cody A.W. Somerville
> >
> > --
> > xubuntu-devel mailing list
> > xubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> -=:max:=-
> --
> xubuntu-devel mailing list
> xubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel
>
>


-- 
Vincent
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