How to compete against Ubuntu

[Greg Dekoenigsberg]

This is one of the best discussions I've seen on this list in a while, and 
I appreciate the sentiments.  More inline, below.

On Fri, 3 Aug 2007, Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:

> Chitlesh GOORAH wrote:
>> On 8/2/07, Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:
>>> It's not about who gets the bigger userbase.
>>> It's not about who gets the most users off Windows.
>>> It's not about who gets the most exposure.
>>> And Fedora is not getting killed by Ubuntu either.
>>
>> Hello,
>> I tend to agree with Jeroen van Meeuwen's words. However even some
>> Ubuntu evangelists don't understand this.
>>
>
> I'm going to go out on a limp here and say some stupid things;
>
> Just maybe it's not about what others understand or how we could make
> them understand "the Fedora way of life". You're talking about what
> Fedora does in the FOSS world and what it means for FOSS that Fedora
> does that. That is all so very true and so very much added value to
> FOSS. But what users may tend to appreciate more then whatever Fedora
> does or stands for:
>
> What is the added value of Fedora for end-users?
>
> Just like I said, I'm going to say some stupid things here;
>
> I'm not convinced Fedora as a distribution has added value for
> end-users. I'm sure I haven't seen it all, but then again, consider that
> an end-user hasn't either. Sure it's neat and looks great and has this
> huge pile of cutting-edge, stable software but that alone doesn't
> distinguish Fedora in any particular way. Sure, it has also made,
> (co-)developed and distributed items that one way or the other ended up
> in other distributions as well.
>
> Most of the added value for Fedora IMHO is in the background; As a
> developer and "community member" -which always is a vague term- I value
> so much that Fedora is like an engineer's playground. Fedora adapts new
> technologies, embraces them and (co-)develops them; Fedora releases
> whatever it used to use to make up and build Fedora to the community
> instead of having a limited number of key persons maintain it -the
> core/extras merge is an example of that. There's other principle matters
> that make the Fedora way of life my way of life -at least whenever I'm
> behind a keyboard.

And you, Jeroen, are the primary target audience of Fedora.

To whatever degree we may find ourselves "competing" for users, we must 
always remember that, with the choices we make, we choose the users who 
care most about us.  We choose our users with our focus.

What does Ubuntu focus on?  "Make it work for the desktop user, at any 
cost."  Which is a good focus to broaden the impact of Linux generally -- 
but it requires a lot of compromises.

What does Fedora focus on?  "Innovation in free software, in partnership 
with the community."  And over time, we treat this partnership more and 
more seriously, and we put as much power to innovate into the hands of end 
users as we possibly can.

I like our focus.  I think it's the right focus.  And in the long run, I 
think it's the focus that pays higher dividends.

> No matter how you put it, or what it is you personally admire in Fedora;
> Just consider it may be in the background too much for anyone installing
> Fedora and navigating the desktop. If you consider that, I'll ask you again:
>
>> From the end-user perspective, what is the added value of Fedora?
>
> If you appreciate that point being made you'll also appreciate that it
> is not easy to make others understand all these things that make up
> Fedora. I gotta say I'm kinda bluntly taking this one side of the medal
> out of context just to make a point. I hope whoever reads this does see
> I just want to make /a/ point, not put everything in perspective and
> make this one point something major, major, major.
>
> Should we make as much effort to convince anyone Fedora has added value
> you don't necessarily immediately learn to appreciate as soon as you see
> GDM pop up or navigate the menus? Can we state this in a way that makes
> end-users appreciate it, and then not only appreciate it, but also adopt
> Fedora instead of any other distribution?

I think you're exactly right.  We need to communicate this particular 
message more effectively: "Fedora leads the fight to make free software 
better."  *THAT* is the message, from where I sit.

--g

-- 
Greg DeKoenigsberg
Community Development Manager
Red Hat, Inc. :: 1-919-754-4255
"To whomsoever much hath been given...
...from him much shall be asked"