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2007

Foresight To-Do List

Stuff I’m currently working on:

  1. Getting Started with Foresight Linux: A user’s guide to start using Foresight Linux. Currently it’s about 50% complete, but I expect to have it 90% complete by the end of the weekend. Includes installing Foresight, configuring, overview of the most used applications, updating Foresight, getting help and contributing. Feel free to contribute. Long term, I want to convert it to html and / or docbook as well.
  2. Foresight Newsletter. The first newsletter was well received, but was done in less than week of it’s release. It should have content being added consistently through out the month, which I need to start doing, and find a way to get more volunteers to add content such as highlighting a package or doing an interview.
  3. Gaming – Since I did a clean install of Foresight, I need to reinstall my games (Second Life, Quake IV, Doom 3, UT2k4). Lots of Quake 3 total conversions have been in the news the last week or two, wouldn’t mind trying those out as well. I probably should add some content to the wiki about gaming on Foresight.
  4. Foresight Calendar – There’s a rumor that a Google Calendar exists for Foresight. I’m thinking I may poke at it, it may be an interesting exercise to add key dates to it, such as GNOME releases, Foresight releases, etc. It may make adding content to the newsletter more structured and give users an idea of key dates.
  5. WordPress-MU theme: There is some interest in adding blogs to foresightlinux.org. There’s still a question around where to publish the newsletter, though the wiki seems to be working for that, but also to offer developers blogs who may not have their own webspace. First, we’re going to need a theme, so I may hack at that – my html-foo is poor, so I’ve been putting that off, and then we need to get it on the webserver. I’m more than happy to admin it for folks who want blogs. I’ll probably throw WordPress-MU up on my webspace this weekend and poke at it to see what the admin interface is like.
  6. Screencasts: Based on a discussion in IRC on Saturday, I thought I’d give creating screencasts a shot. I played with Istanbul a little over the weekend, and it will work, though the audio quality was pretty poor, and I have a very nice Plantronics headset. A big thanks to pscott for re-packaging Jokosher and packaging Pitivi. My current plan is take the Getting Started guide pages on Applications, and create screencasts that match the write-ups I did for the apps. (See the Banshee page for a good example). I’ll record the screencast in Istanbul, then the audio in Jokosher, and use Pitivi to edit them together. It’s a little more long term, as the screencasts will need to be well scripted, both the video capture and the audio narration.

That’s it for now – I don’t want to put too much on my plate and get burned out, so I’m trying to take it in chunks and stay focused. The newsletter and Getting Started guide are definitely the short term focus.

GNOME 3.0?

The concept of GNOME 3.0 (aka Project Topaz) has been thrown around over the last year or two, with no clear definition or direction of the next big step in the development of GNOME.

Last year, Luis Villa blogged a few ideas that could become the future of GNOME, around an internet enabled OS, tied to an infrastructure similar to Apple’s .mac. I’ve had similar thoughts floating through my brain since then, but yesterday Havoc Pennington of Red Hat & Mugshot verbalized almost exactly what I’ve been thinking about in a way I’ve never been to articulate.

Havoc references Dave Neary’s recent interview that GNOME as a platform is becoming different things to different people, with Nokia’s implementation of Maemo on the 770 a prime example. I think Dave’s exactly right, and this strategy and direction for GNOME is a good thing.

What’s interesting to me is the future of the home user, and Havoc’s musings touches on that. GNOME could be an embedded platform or an enterprise solution, but to me it seems as most innovation is being done around the home computing user. Web services such as Flickr, del.icio.us, Gmail, last.fm and other social networking sites started, and still are, geared first and foremost towards the home user. Havoc’s thoughts on the target user are right on. Starting with the early adopter, the technoloy enthusiasts and influencers, and tying those people, and their stuff together, is the future.

The rumor has always been that this is what Google is doing – through Gmail archiving your email, Calendar, Google Docs – they will host your content and tie it paid search to make money. Gtalk’s contacts is a poor start, but Google Doc’s collaboration tools are a good example of tying your content to your communities.

Internet enabled is a key, but I don’t think Google has to win in this space. Giving you access to your community and your content can be done through the operating system, though Luis Villa’s thoughts from last year on a GNOME-centric .Mac type service are where this could get really interesting.

I don’t think there is a question that we are reaching a tipping point in the way operating systems are built and used – even Microsoft has alluded to Vista being the last of their operating systems being built and released in the current manner. Apple is the master of the incremental operating system, and while innovative, is still too closed source to win in this space. It will take a community to build the future, as it is about the people and how and where they use their stuff, and it is this community – the open source community, that has the best chance to innovate and create this future. And I can’t wait for the future.

Distrowatch Weekly (4-2-2007)

Distrowatch Weekly is out, and the April 2nd edition has some kind words for the first Foresight Newsletter:

It is always a pleasure to report that a project has gone out of its way to complement its distribution with additional material. Last week, Foresight Linux, an rPath-based desktop distribution with focus on the latest GNOME technologies, announced the launch of its new monthly newsletter: “The first Foresight Linux Newsletter has been released! The current edition reports about what’s happening with Foresight Linux, including information on the latest release, security updates, tips and tricks, what’s in development, and Foresight in the press.” Glancing through the first issue, this has to be one of the best distribution-specific newsletters available anywhere. Complete with a “Letter from the Editor”, a tip for ATI graphics card users, introduction to the Banshee music manager, the newsletter is well worth a read even if you are not a Foresight Linux user.

Thanks for the kind words, and now the bar has been set for future issues.

In other news, I’ve also updated the RSS feed for the Foresight Newsletter, you can subscribe using a feed I created in Feedburner. Just pop this in to your favorite RSS reader to subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/foresightnewsletter (Just a bit easier than the other RSS feed, and a bit shorter).

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Foresight Newsletter launched

The Foresight Newsletter has launched! This first edition brings you a report about what’s happening with Foresight Linux, including release news, security updates, tips and tricks, what’s in development, Foresight in the press, and highlights one package in detail.

You can also subscribe to the newsletter (and future editions!) in your favorite feed reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines by copying and pasting this link.

Special thanks to Thilo, Kevin Harriss, António Meireles and Ken Vandine for contributing and editing.