Re: nepomuk / baloo naming implications

On Friday 21 February 2014 00:24:08 Àlex Fiestas wrote:
> On Thursday 20 February 2014 22:29:30 Tassos Koutlas wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > I know this comes out of the blue but I have decided to weigh in this
> > debate, sorry but it turned out rather long. I am a KDE user since the
> > RH6.5 days back in 1999. I've experienced first hand the evolution of KDE
> > and all the controversy surrounding the 4.x release, the bad press on
> > nepomuk and so on. I have been however in numerous occasions presenting
> > KDE
> > software to students and professional groups and I have been outlining its
> > merits, vision of the future and cutting edge technology included in each
> > release.
> > 
> > But let's step back a bit and think about KDE as software. What has always
> > been its number one advantage over other desktop environments (DE)? I
> > believe it's been primarily consistency and platform integration and
> > secondarily a unified UX (a distant third IMHO was stability but remember
> > back in the day you had to recompile Xfree86 from source to be able to
> > play
> > DIVXes so stability for non technically inclined people is out of the
> > question). People are using or switching to KDE to experience consistency,
> > integration and unified experience in a FOSS desktop environment. In my
> > opinion regardless of trolling and early criticism the 4.x releases
> > strengthened KDE in those respects. Recently there was an article showing
> > KDE having a concrete 30% of use in a very fragmented market.
> > 
> > Having said that, my initial reaction at the Baloo announcement over at
> > planetkde was a sense of relief; I guess bad feelings on nepomuk overwhelm
> > me too. However my next reaction was a sense of disappointment feeling
> > that
> > we yet again rush new technology when in fact should spend our time
> > strengthening KDE's core values (consistency and integration). Please note
> > however that these were my personal immediate reactions and they don't
> > necessarily reflect reality. I understand that Baloo will be better than
> > nepomuk in those respects and that it would be able to provide all
> > integration nepomuk was destined to do. I also don't want in any way to
> > diminish Vishesh's contributions on building a better and more suitable
> > tool, he is doing a great job advancing KDE on that front.
> > 
> > But we, as a community, have to understand that technology developed in
> > the
> > context of KDE ultimately aims to serve people. Let's face it as far as
> > software goes, a DE is as people-centric as software can get. People care
> > about solutions and products that deliver them. Please note that product
> > in
> > this context is used as an entity in a competitive market claiming market
> > share, not necessarily reflecting monetary attributes, after all a product
> > is much more than a price tag. As a product, KDE, is destined to be
> > something more than the underlying technology, it must have a unified
> > front
> > presenting itself to others in terms of narration, a set of core values
> > and
> > principles, a certain community ensuring continuity.
> > 
> > The above serve as a compass when arguments arise. Developers may change
> > and users may increase or decrease, the project as a whole, however, can
> > continue to fill market needs as it always did and it can expand
> > incorporating new narrations based on values and principles. How these are
> > presented to people matter. They matter because they define how people
> > perceive the project and how the press perceives the project. For instance
> > if our core values are consistency/integration/stability then marketing
> > Baloo as anything different than the continuation of nepomuk is invalid.
> > If, on the other hand, we want to be perceived as a project where cutting
> > edge technology is presented to the user as soon as it is available then
> > keeping nepomuk brand alive is invalid. But we cannot do both at the same
> > time.
> > 
> > If we ultimately care about people and how KDE is offering solutions to
> > people, then we have to treat it as any other technology product. There
> > are
> > three distinct characteristics in a technology project targeted at
> > different audiences:
> > (a) technology related matters targeted at developers,
> > (b) marketing related matters (including product/user relationships,
> > distribution/promotion matters, copywriting material and so on) targeted
> > at
> > people,
> > (c) and community related matters target at people to ensure project
> > continuity.
> > 
> > So there is a question, given that KDE is an advanced project in terms of
> > technology and technical vision how can this can be communicated back at
> > people both in terms of users and press?
> > 
> > First and foremost kde-promo mailing list is a very good step at
> > coordinating efforts made, as are the development of the Visual Design
> > Group (VDG) and the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) group. But these
> > alone
> > are not enough. The cornerstone of these efforts is to distil and decide
> > the core values of the project in terms of its audience. Then to change
> > our
> > idiosyncrasy towards the project given those values and principles. What
> > that ultimately means is that instead of feeling that each component of
> > KDE
> > is vertically aligned we should change to a more horizontal approach.
> > Developers may have authoritative control over the technical merits of a
> > component, identity characteristics however should be vested in people
> > with
> > expertise in the marketing/promo space and the usability space.
> > 
> > To conclude with my thesis, I would like to thank you all for your efforts
> > building KDE, an indispensable part of my everyday computing experience.
> > My
> > thoughts above have been piling up for quite some time now. I don't know
> > if
> > my expertise is adequate enough to contribute at the marketing/promo space
> > of such an important project as KDE, but I indent to get more acquainted
> > with efforts so far and participate more.
> > 
> > Best regards,
> > 
> > Tassos
> 
> I just want to say that I have really enjoyed reading your email, thanks for
> supporting us all these years.

+1

On a related note, Vishesh, Peter, Kevin and myself had a productive 
discussion last night about our communication. We realized that the point 
Aaron made about our communication about Baloo being different from our 
initial plan of not talking to users about these details is very true. What 
the underlying tech is named is irrelevant - what matters for the user is 
Desktop Search. So, the article will be about that - not Baloo or Nepomuk.

I will work on integrating the feedback from the thread(s) as well as this 
aspect into the article, ask for feedback again, and then - it is good to go 
as far as we are concerned.

I think this not only makes everybody happy but it is also the most obvious 
solution :D

Hugs,
Jos

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