Much has changed since 10.1, including time itself.
I agree, things changed. But some substantial aspects are exactly
identical, and they are playing a major role, affecting 11.1 and
potentially all other releases.
While it is true
that Novell still holds a certain amount of control, that control is
ebbing slowly over time, due to community activism, lessons learned and
even Novell slowly releasing its grip. I think we should look back at
10.1/ZMD as an important moment in our history lessons but not continue
to live in that moment.
Right. But the event repeated, even if in a different form, with 11.1,
which was again rushed "in favour" of SLE. I used " " on purpose,
because I don't see how a rushed openSUSE can be if any help even for
Novell, and I still find it very hard to understand why they rush the
base of their enterprise distribution. It makes no sense.
If there are issues that you feel that your concerns
as a community
member aren't being heard, you can always forward your issues to the
Board. While we also do not have technical veto power, we do have ways
to escalate the issue when appropriate so it gets heard.
Right. Formally. In practice the board members live in the community
exactly as us, they know the problems (I'm sure of that), and their
action is limited exactly as the action of members and simple users.
Ultimately, it is about empowerment. For the
community to have greater
say and impact on openSUSE, we need to continue to grow, and be actively
involved wherever possible.
I fully agree on this. But to have a growing community, Novell has to
_trust_ the community and throw its prejudices away. This would improve
Novell experience and probably save them some (maybe not too much)
money. Just look at how Novell managed translations on SLE, which
instead of being based on the community fixed ones, corrected in three
release cycles, present significant regressions coming from SLE 10. Just
an example on something I experienced, of course, but it clarifies that
Novell can have advantages from the community too.
I know that sounds like some sort of
campaign message coming from me, but its true. The larger we are, the
more vocal we are, the more active we are, the more contributions we
make, the more likely we will be to have a stronger influence and level
the playing field with Novell.
I agree, but as I answered to Vincent, to grow we need to provide new
users, who are potential contributors, the tools to grow themselves. Or
we will see the usual random contributor come, get frustrated because he
sees he can't change things, and leave for some other place where his
voice can be actually heard.
Regards,
Alberto
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