[Debian-np-devel] A question to Debian NP team

[Jean-Christophe Babinet]

Le samedi 19 Juin 2004 00:59, Enrico Zini a =E9crit=A0:
> On Fri, Jun 18, 2004 at 02:07:10PM +0200, Jean-Christophe Babinet wrote:
> > I propose to quit the idea of making a distrib for a certain kind of
> > organisation (the NPOs), and go the the idea to make a distrib that
> > fullfills the basic needs of computer networks and desktops, and that is
> > thought to make support available (essentially updates and distant
> > maintenance).
>
> Well, if that is what you need, you should consider waiting until
> september and then work with the (yet unnamed) distribution made by Mark
> Shuttleworth's new company, which is intended to be an uncustomized,
> generic, stable Debian distribution with a guaranteed new release every
> 6 months.
I work with PraKsys distrib, which is, in my mind, a prefiguration of debia=
n=20
NP distrib ! If you want people work with other distribs, ok, but not me !!
>
> We're doing something else, instead: we want to tackle those issues of
> non-profits which go beyond printing and browsing the internet.
Really ? I'm impressed !
> We want=20
> customization.  We want to go to people and say "I'm aware of your needs".
>
> It's like the difference between industrial, large scale made dresses
> and tailor made dresses: tailor made dresses fit very well on you; large
> scale made dresses fit most people, but not very well.
This is exactly what we NOT do.=20
>
> Windows, and most universal software, is generic enough to solve many
> problems, but people are unhappy because it doesn't really know about
> them, about what they really need.  Many people have to adapt their
> problems to the tools that they have available, ending up in doing
> things in a frustrating way or not being able to do some things at all.
I'll tell you some thing : you criticize windows, but people use windows !=
=20
there is something good in windows that I'd like we preserve with debian np=
 :=20
the "ready to use" side.
>
> We work to address that.
>
> In my view, if you want to do a good service, you customize software for
> your users.  You give to NPs a distribution for NPs, and to businesses a
> distribution for businesses.
What do you know about the differeces (in the use of their computers) betwe=
en=20
NPOs and businesses ?
> Of course you want to have as much things
> as possible in common to ease support and development: that's where the
> Custom Debian ideas comes into play.
>
> We work for that.
>
> Of course, you don't have to agree.  Please feel free to make your
> choices.
Thank you !
> If it's a completely generic system that you want, just sit=20
> down and relax: Mark and his team promised to give you a great one in
> less than 3 months.
Did you anwser to my proposal of changing the name ? Do you mean you prefer=
=20
not change ?

Jean-Christophe
>
> While waiting, you may want to read this:
>   http://www.shirky.com/writings/situated_software.html
> and this:
>   http://zini.ddts.net/enrico/store/lt-paper.sxw
>
>
> Ciao,
>
> Enrico
>
> --
> GPG key: 1024D/797EBFAB 2000-12-05 Enrico Zini <enrico@debian.org>