Re: SEUL: Observatons

[jfm2@club-internet.fr]

FIRST: My e-mail address is wrong in the message I am replying to.
jfm@club-internet.fr is another person who is client of the same
provider.  My address is jfm2@club-internet.fr  Notice the 2.


   Well it has happened as I have feared.  Interest in the project has been
   sidetracked/diverted/lost.  The initial head of steam seems to have
   dissipated into nothing.
   So the problem before us is how can interest in the topic be
   regenerated???

We should have a topic of the week.

   Just off hand I would say that the first thing that must be done is to
   get some kind of working parameters.  At a minimum these parameters
   should include the following:
   Who is SEUL directed at?
   Will it be a complete distribution or just a (bunch of) program(s) for
   easier installation
   What type of interface will be used, GUI or Command line??
   Will SEUL start from DOS or LINUX
   What programming language will SEUL be written in (Perl, Tcl/TK, BASH,
   C, C++ or a combination of all of them)

First thing is to discuss our strategic goals.  That includes two
aspects: what user is our primary target, and what kind of SEUL
we will build: an ambitious one or one we can issue in 97.

About the user question I have explained my position in one of the
postings I have made today: home users are our target and if we give
them solutions for their networking problems we will have solved one
of the biggest problems they have at machine level and that without
altering the usability of SEUL in other roles.  Of course home users
require different application software than users at work and then we
will have to make exclusive choices.  But things like having a good
install or a nice desktop will not vary between a SEUL for home and a
SEUL for business.

About if we make an ambitious SEUL or a quick one I am for the quick
solution.  Free software projects acquire a dynamic of their own if
you can show something that works: you get programming talent from
your users and it begins to make quick progress.  Examples of this
tactic: the GIMP and the Linux kernel.  Projects who try to be
overambitious are unable to attract programmers because nobody is
using the software due to it being unusable so progress is slow and
they never reach the point where they become usable.  Example: the
Hurd.

I think SEUL can be significantly easier than existing distributions
simply by making better use of available software and removing a
couple of stumbling blocks remaining in existing distributions.  For
example one of the questions I see quite often in newsgroups is: Is
there a WYSYWYG WordProcessor for LINUX?  And hardened hackers tell
them than TeX allows to create amazing documents.  It is true but
sometimes people do not want something for creating amazing documents
but something easy to use.  We could give them LyX, Thot or Andrew for
that.  How many distributions include one of them?  So this an area
where SEUL can best other distributions without us writing a single
line of code, we have just to evaluate the WPs and build the packages.

   To this point in time the only thing that was really agreed on by the 36
   active members of this list is the the idea of a simplified interface
   for the installation of Linux would be a neat thing to have.



   To the end of making the SEUL-project an actuality I recommend the
   following:

   1> A steering committee be convened electronically, consisting of the
   following people:
   Myself
   ..................................................................(winston@atlantic.net)

   Michael
   Peck...........................................(mipeck@mailhost.rsn.hp.com)

   Randy
   Heineke.............................................(heineke@vanilla.r.uwn.edu)

   Alexandru Dan
   Corlan......................................(dcorlan@ottonel.pub.ro)
   Jeffrey S.
   Dutky................................................(dutky@Bell.Atlantic.net)

   John
   Hasler.......................................................(jghasler@win.bright.net)

   Jean Francois
   Martinez...........................................(jfm@club-internet.fr)

I reiterate about my correct e-mail address: jfm2@club-internet.fr

   Micah
   Yoder.......................................................(yoderm@geocities.com)

   and that the steering committee be required to generate guidelines for
   SEUL within a reasonable time frame (one to two weeks).  After which
   time the agreed upon guidelines be presented to the list.

Right.  This project needs leadership in order to begin work.

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

==================== The Linux.  Use the Linux, Luke! =======================

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