irc summary

["Luka@pop3.aracnet.com (Peter)" <luka@MIT.EDU>]

summary of 1-hour irc meeting this night:

omega and i were there.  a brainstorming sketch of mission, meta-goals,
and goals (as described in the plan-plan i sent yesterday), were put together,
and dumped into cvs under sys/plan/brainstorming.  a copy as it stands
currently is attached below.

the mission statement at the top is a maximally reduced statement of what
we would like to see accomplished:
 "increase productive linux use by end-users"...
we say "increase...use" explicitly rather than just "make it possible" or
something, because we (at least omega and i) think that after this seul
thing comes into existence, we would really like to see it get used, and
maybe that will just happen, or maybe we'll need to make it happen.  either
way, we would like it to be part of our mission to make sure it does happen.
  this mission statement should stay completely constant throughout the
life of this project, so if anyone has some reasons to think it is not on
track with our real desires, please tell us NOW.

the (1-5) list is actually what omega and i started with; it was easier to
come up with [potentially erroneous] concrete thoughts than the more stable,
abstract "meta-goals" that we want to base this plan on.
i then derived the list (A-D) from that, and these seem to be our relatively
stable long-term, abstract goals.  the document includes descriptions of
causality from specific goals to specific meta-goals.
(eg meta-goal (A) is ..., supported/caused by goals (#,#,...))

so, this may still be incomplete, or erroneous.  please review the "meta-goals"
(A-D), and see if there are any we missed, or any that we don't really want to
do.  send any yay's/nay's/why's to this list.
then you might look at whether (1-5) really support (A-D) in the manner
i specified (or whether i was asleep by the time i wrote it), but you don't
need to do /too/ much here yet.  and actually getting down to deciding which
goals we want to follow or punt is something we don't even need to have
figured out yet this weekend (as long as we can be reasonably assured that
there exists some set of goals that will support the meta-goals we do
agree on this weekend).

-luka

--- begin cvs document: sys/plan/brainstorming ---

mission statement: (maximally reduced)
 "increase productive linux use by end-users".

productive: not necessarily to imply work (games ok, too), but that
 the user is doing what he means to (vs. futzing with klunky os stuff).


goal brainstorming:

1. create a distrib

   > define "creating" 
     create could be us doing one or someone else doing one
     basically to make sure that something is out there for users to
     install

2. defining standards for other apps to adhere to

 <omega> what I mean is define a structure (the distrib) with standards for UI
   and admin and all this stuff, with 'exported' standards (i.e. UI libraries
   and general rules) for apps to work with in order to fit seamlessly into the
   distrib
 > do you see the standards as oxford-defined "standards" per se, or more like
   what i mentioned?
 <omega> your def
 <omega> or like EDS's: external (vs internal) design specs
 > you also seem to be implying standards that we code to, but more like we
   write the code and then the standard.  is this a view you want to support?
 <omega> (what subnet should I go to to find a net map of MIT?)
 <omega> "standard, then code" first, last, and always
 > there's one on my wall... but i guess that doesn't help.  i thought i gave
   you a net map sometime..
   ...
 > ok, so we definitely would (under this goal) produce specs as an
   end-product, independent of existant code to support it (if that's the way
   it falls).
 <omega> yeah
 > separate goal: code to impl the specs?
 <omega> yup

3. code to impl above specs.

   aim to produce reusable modules

4. getting other groups to work together, coding stuff to standards

 (related to above (coding to the specs, ourselves))
 more generally: helping other groups.

5. get linux into the public 'spotlight'...

   advertising, pr,... start this once we have some stuff to show.
   for now: getting contacts, etc.  watching word-of-mouth via seg.

concrete effects of goals:
A. directly causing the production of a good linux distrib (1)

B. creating parts of a good linux distrib.  [reusable] applets/libs/etc. (3)

C. enabling others to help in the production of a good linux distrib.
   direct interaction, assistance: (4)
   indirect "tool"-production: (2,3)
   other indirect encouragement: (5)

D. getting the end-user to use all this stuff:
   making it possible to use: requires qa'ing what comes out of the mess.
      this will require an appropriate amount of control over (1) to
      make that happen.
   making it be used: marketing. (5)

--- end cvs document ---
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