idea for Fedora boot screen

[William Jon McCann]

Hi Nicu,

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 3:03 AM, Nicu Buculei <nicu_fedora at nicubunu.ro> wrote:
> On 04/09/2009 07:33 PM, Michael Langlie wrote:
>>
>> I added a third version that does not use the Fedora logo or branding.
>> The layered Photoshop files are also zipped and posted on my page.
>
> Sorry for the apparently rude question, but Mike, it would be hard to use
> GIMP or any FOSS tool for creating such trivial type of graphics?
>
> We use to pride about the Fedora graphics being made *with* Fedora, as a
> testimony of our confidence in the distro and I see the Photoshop here as a
> step back. Even more as I wasn't able to see a straightforward way to create
> the final GIFs starting from your PSDs with a Free tool (I guess is about
> transitions or some other unsupported features from the file format).

Seems to me that while you may prefer someone to use the tools you
favor we are not in and should not be in a position to turn away high
quality work that is licensed properly and in a format everyone can
read (GIF).  You may pride yourself as a Free Software purist but keep
in mind that not everyone feels the same way.  Now, if the
contribution (in this case a mock up) was made using a problematic
file format - like the mockup done using MPEG earlier this week - I
think someone has a valid complaint.

I think it is safe to say that a vast majority of the good designers
in the world are using software that you may not like.  People use
whatever they feel makes them more productive.  Perhaps a better
question may be (if you are really interested in changing the status
quo): "what could we do to Fedora to make you enjoy using it and make
you more productive?".  Many of us are working tirelessly on this
problem but we just aren't there yet.

Think about it this way... would an upstream project give me grief if
I wrote code in, say, Microsoft Word?  As long as the contribution was
high quality, in an acceptable format, and licensed properly - no,
they wouldn't and shouldn't.  Sure, they may roll their eyes if they
knew.  Now, why don't I use some proprietary tool for writing code?
Well, as it turns out the tools that make me feel more productive (for
now - though I swear at them everyday) are open source.  Why is that?
Well, someone went through the trouble of making it so.

Frankly, we need all the help we can get in making our Desktop more
beautiful and enjoyable.  Arguments such as this will discourage
contributors - guaranteed.  We need more - not less - and especially
those as meritorious as Mike.

I think it is best if the Fedora art community remains relevant, open,
and focused on the merit of the work.

Thanks,
Jon