I am really frustrated by some of the things that I hear said on this board. Specifically when someone comes on here and touts the "Fedora is bleeding edge software" and "if it isn't stable enough for you, go get another distribution". That is NOT the intent of Fedora. Fedora is NOT "by developers for developers and the hell with the end user". Its ultimate goal is to produce production quality user ready distributions. Max Spevack addressed the specific topic of goals on Slashdot a while ago. http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/177220 Specifically he states: "I'm really glad this question was asked, because it gives me a chance to try to bust the NUMBER ONE MYTH about Fedora -- that Fedora is "just a beta for RHEL" or that "Fedora only exists to make Red Hat money" or "Red Hat doesn't care about Fedora, it's just a dumping ground for half-tested code". I hear all of those things from time to time, and *none* of them are true." This was written in August, 2006. I think there are some people that still live by the myth. "Let's back up for a moment -- the Red Hat Linux/Fedora Core split took place in 2003. And while I wasn't at Red Hat during that time, I think it's fair to state that there were some unfortunate choices made internally about how Fedora was positioned, and because those statements were made with a Red Hat voice, it helped to create a very strong perception that Red Hat abandoned the community, and that Fedora wasn't "good" for anything, or was a rejected part of Red Hat. Many mistakes were made by Red Hat with regard to the "birth" of the Fedora Project -- there is absolutely no debating that." Very truthful. Thankfully we lived through those days. "I think there were some people within Red Hat who were afraid that the "admission" that Fedora was production-quality, or that Fedora was anything more than beta-quality, would cause difficulty for the people trying to sell RHEL. Three years later, and that perception is still very strong in certain places -- without fail there are a few comments about that in every Slashdot story that mentions Fedora." Note the words "Production Quality". "And that's fine. Red Hat had a part in creating that perception, and so Red Hat will have to work particularly hard to undo it. We have been, and we continue to do so." Unfortunately, I think there are many people in the Fedora community that use the MYTH that Fedora is beta quality code to push their agenda for Fedora to ship VOLUME instead QUALITY. "The real story of Fedora, of course, is entirely opposite from the "beta code only, not production worthy" stance." So Fedora is NOT supposed to be beta quality code. "Our mission statement is clear, and is one that I think any open-source developer would appreciate. Fedora is about the rapid progress of Free and Open Source software." Here is where I think that Fedora has a huge problem. The mission statement doesn't mention the end user. And yet the rapid "progress" of Open Source code relies on it being acceptable and accepted by an end user. Is the end user my Grandma ? Is it a recent comp sci grad ? An experienced Windows user ? "That's it. We strive to produce a quality distribution of free software that is cutting-edge, pushes the envelope of new open source technology, and is also robust enough that it can be relied on for server or desktop use." PRODUCTION QUALITY. Not beta quality. "One of the terms that I really like, and that I think we're doing better and better of making a reality is that of Fedora as an "open development lab". As a user, if your priorities are cutting-edge technology (without the nicks and cuts of a blade) and freedom, Fedora is a great disto to use." "Cutting edge technology (without the nicks and cuts of a blade)". -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
