Fedora's intended target audience?

[Sean]

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:54:19 +0200
"Chris Chabot" <chabotc at xs4all.nl> wrote:

> With a clear picture of the 'end users' in a developers mind (I play one at
> work too), you end up making far better end-user software then when you
> assume you know whats best for them.. often you can be right, but never stop
> to listen to those pesky users, because even though they don't know what the
> best solution is for their problems, they do take time out of their day to
> tell you of their problems.

You're right we should listen to the end users to learn what needs to be worked
on next etc.  And users are listened to pretty well, from mailing lists to 
Bugzilla and other forums.  But sometimes users have to listen too ;o)   Fedora,
from the very start has been about providing the best open source solution that
can be provided.  Users that aren't satisfied with what can be provided today by
pure open source aren't likely to be happy with Fedora.  The needs of such users
just can't be met by Fedora today, we all need to accept that.  

Fedora can't be all things to all people.  Fedora is meant for people who
want to use the very best open source solutions that can be provided
today.  That has been stated very explicitly from the start.

[snip]
> If all we want to focus on is technological development, and all users be
> dammed, then a majority of the world will often read about our latest and
> greatest achievements in the Ubuntu release notes.
> 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with people going to Ubuntu if it suits
their needs better.  Ubuntu feeds fixes to open source software back into
the system and it will appear in Fedora as well.

What would be sad would be Fedora giving up it's focus on sticking to
only free and open software and becoming just another Ubuntu.  There is
room for both to exist, because they are different and serve the needs
of different communities.  Let us not desert the users that Fedora is
meant to serve.

Sean