[Ambassadors] Raleigh, we have a problem ...

[Michael J. Knox]

Rahul wrote:
> Michael J. Knox wrote:
>
>> IMHO Fedora shouldn't go out of its way to make adding perfectly legal
>> packages, to its distribution, a black-art, undocumented nightmare for a
>> new user...  Advising users on how to get MP3 support should not be
>> considered a cardinal sin. Heck, Fedora pushing xorg 7.1 was halted 
>> as to
>> not break Nvida and Ati driver users! Talk about mixed messages.
>
> The Xorg update was not halted for this reason. Just ask the Xorg 
> maintainer if you are not sure. We dont go out of our way to make 
> anything a black art either. Lets stop the silly conspiracy theories 
> and unfounded claims.

Hi Rahul,

Not a conspiracy theory at all, I was in IRC chatting with Mike Harris 
chatting about this subject, I was there reading the fedora-devel@ 
mailing lists. I am nor blind nor stupid. To state that I am spreading a 
"conspiracy theory" is crap. Thanks Rahul. IIRC Mike Harris wanted to 
push the xorg 7.1 release. Here, let me quote him:

"Fedora does not support proprietary drivers at all, and never has, nor 
has any Red Hat OS that preceded it.  Our OS products are not held 
hostage to the release schedule whims of 3rd party proprietary driver 
suppliers."

He then went on to say:

"I kindof feel like staying up all night tonight now, and releasing 7.1 
for FC5 on Wednesday."

All on the fedora-devel achieves, there for your reviewing pleasure. I 
do know that Mike Harris is no longer a RedHat employee, but at the time 
of this issue, he was.

However, this is the end result:

(fedora-advisory-board posting made by Max Spevack):

http://lwn.net/Articles/195356/

Basically "The conclusion was that the interests of Fedora users using 
proprietary NVidia modules outweigh the interests of other users who 
would benefit from this update."[1]

I was also there when everyone was berating Eric S. Raymond for the mere 
suggestion of RedHat making it easier for end users to add MP3 and DVD 
support. The sheer notation of doing so, left the fedora-devel mailing 
looking like a kindergarden play yard (not too mention IRC).Fedora's 
attitude towards those that do need 3rd party, non-distributable or 
non-free, is doing it damage. I am just telling you how it is out there, 
out side your little RedHat office....

Its not a conspiracy when I front up to a LUG and have to answer the 
whys? of users not interested in using Fedora and then relay that to the 
ambassador list!

Instead of telling me I am spreading "unfounded claims" and "conspiracy 
theories" on what I have just relied to you, based on first hand end 
user experiences, why don't you make a founded effort to help set the 
story straight? Why don't you, as a member of the Fedora Project Board 
and a member of the Fedora Ambassador Steering commitee, do something to 
help the Fedora advocates actually advocate for their platform of 
choice, instead of telling to "stop the silly conspiracy theories" ?

Or is that too much to expect?

Thanks

Michael

[1] http://lwn.net/Articles/195351/