[kde-community] Give People Access to Great Technology - a possible vision
Valorie Zimmerman
valorie.zimmerman at gmail.com
Sat Sep 20 03:04:53 BST 2014
On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Andrew Lake <jamboarder at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I wanted to share a few thoughts in case it might be helpful right now. I
> apologize now for the length. Not that he necessary endorses any of this,
> but Thomas Pfeiffer was gracious enough to provide many of the examples of
> what we're already doing. A pdf that's a bit more readable is here:
> http://goo.gl/kDxkzI
>
>
> "Give People Access to Great Technology"
> - quote from Akademy 2014 Cornelius Schumacher's keynote
>
> A possible vision
> -----------------
>
> As a full time KDE user since 2001 and a more recent contributor, Akademy
> 2014 was tremendously inspiring and also quite sobering.
>
> How do we respond to the downward trend in the global PC industry that
> Cornelius Schumacher highlighted? How do we regain some of the focus Paul
> Adams suggests we may have lost? From the design side, it is certainly
> helpful for us to have a common focus that informs our design activities,
> and the recent discussions on this mailing list about a shared vision show
> that other community members agree. So what is a possible wider, shared
> vision that might make designs and their implementations more successful,
> focused and relevant? What follows are a collection of personal thoughts on
> how all these questions might perhaps be considered.
>
> What makes up our personal technology ecosystem?
> * Workstation
> * Laptop
> * Phone
> * Tablet
> * Camera
> * Bluetooth headset/speakers
> * Smart watches
> * Smart home (TV, Nest, Chromecast)
> * Cloud services (storage, contacts, email, calendar, music, photographs,
> video, social networking, text/video chat, collaboration)
> * Local services or applications (music, imagery, video, documents,
> development)
> * Vehicle
>
> In this ecosystem, what does “give people access to great technology” mean?
> Perhaps it could mean:
>
> "Enable people to be even more awesome by taking much greater advantage of
> every aspect of their technology ecosystem."
This is a really nice bit, above.
______________
>
>
> In this ecosystem, what does KDE currently provide or participate in?
> * Plasma desktop (Workstation, Laptop)
> * Plasma Active (tablet)
> * Plasma Mediacenter (smart TV)
> * KDE Connect (Phone)
> * Dolphin (Local services)
> * KIO (cloud services - storage)
> * Digikam, Gwenview (Local services - photographs, Camera, cloud services -
> photographs via KIPI)
> * Amarok, Juk (Local services - music, cloud services - music in the case of
> Amarok)
> * Dragon Player, Jungle (Local services - video, Cloud services - video)
> * Kate, Calligra (Local services - documents, cloud services - collaboration
> via KTE Collaborative)
> * KDevelop (Local services- development)
> * Akonadi, Baloo (Local services)
> * Akonadi, ownCloud, Kolab (Cloud services)
> * Telepathy (Cloud services - social networking)
> * Much more...
> * Frameworks to enable it all.
>
> The precise categorizations above might be debatable, but not immediately
> important. More important perhaps is how we might identify some
> opportunities.
> * Desktop applications
> * Already quite good.
> * How can applications take advantage of improved design and better
> integration of desktop capabilities to become better applications?
> * How can the desktop take greater advantage of application capabilities
> to become a better desktop?
> * Devices (phones, tablets, smart watches, etc.)
> * How can the desktop take advantage of device capabilities to become a
> better desktop?
> * How can devices take advantage of desktop capabilities to become better
> devices?
> * Cloud services - our own or others.
> * How can the desktop take advantage of cloud capabilities to become a
> better desktop?
> * How can cloud services become better because of the desktop?
> * “Cloud” here includes both centralized and decentralized services.
>
> To be crystal clear, we're already doing a lot of this stuff (and many of
> them we’re already talking about) so I think it’s fine to conclude “Hey,
> we’re already doing most of that!”. These thoughts are not intended to
> suggest an entirely new direction. Rather, the aim is for a common
> understanding of shared goals that might be helpful in our communications
> within the community and beyond.
>
> So, what might this look like?
>
> Image: http://wstaw.org/m/2014/09/19/A_possible_vision.png
I would say "Plasma and Frameworks at the center."
> * Desktop at the center.
> * Frameworks as enabler.
> * Continue creating highly capable applications and even better integration.
> * "Simple by default, powerful when needed" applications <============ lovely statement *
> [http://goo.gl/uNlpq3]. Make applications look and work great with
> excellent, high-quality functionality and consistent, effective, beautiful
> design. Be ambitious. Do not be shy about being best-in-class; see Krita!
> * Extend application capabilities by exposing desktop and other
> applications’ functions.
> * Expose application capabilities to make the desktop more powerful .
> * Examples:
> * Sessions and Activities
> * Saving and sharing desktop and application configurations.
> * Searchable application datastores.
> * Secure sharing of data between applications.
> * Sensible laptop touch screen support in applications.
> * Unified theming
> * Common design language and more effective HIG
> * Enable applications to take advantage of device-enabled desktop
> capabilities like location awareness, device streaming, device-as-input,
> etc. (see below)
> * Enable applications to take advantage of cloud-enabled desktop
> capabilities like beyond-the-desktop-search, collaboration, mapping, etc.
> (see below)
> * Securely expose common application functions to the desktop or other
> applications (kinda like Android Intents). Make it first class, visible.
> * More?
> * Highly capable integration with devices
> * Don’t just duplicate. Make each better.
> * Examples:
> * Shared clipboard
> * Shared notifications
> * Shared browsing
> * Media control (music, video, slideshows, pointer)
> * Send picture between device and desktop
> * Make or receive phone calls from the desktop
> * Desktop location awareness using device.
> * Desktop keyboard/mouse for device input/control
> * Remote camera
> * Browse and transfer files/library
> * Stream music/video between device and desktop
> * Send desktop audio to bluetooth speakers
> * Send desktop video to TV (e.g. chromecast)
> * Device as additional input or display (e.g. games,
> touchscreen-as-touchpad, device sensors like microphone, accelerometer,
> gyroscope, ambient light sensor, etc.)
> * Remote access to desktop capabilities and services
> * More?
> * Many of these examples are already in KDE Connect and may well be on
> its (or others’) road map to build deep, powerful desktop-wide integration.
> * Highly capable integration with cloud services
> * Don’t just duplicate. Make it better.
> * Examples:
> * Synced offline email, contacts, calendar
> * Beyond-the-desktop search/query (App repositories, OpenStreetMap,
> TVDB, MovieDB, Last.fm, DBpedia, dictionary, translation)
> * Integrated map/directions to contact address
> * More discoverable cloud file storage, browsing and syncing
> * Web apps as first-class applications on the desktop
> * (Properly) Integrated social network contact, group and event info
> * Sharing to social networks from anywhere
> * Easier sharing of customizations.
> * Group text/video chat
> * In-app collaboration
> * App-driven usability metrics and surveys
> * Remote git-based workflows
> * Seamlessly access and play cloud-stored music in my desktop music
> player
> * Synched media activity (ratings, play count, times, etc.)
> * More?
> * Many of these examples we already have in place, are working on, or
> have the basics in place to build deeper, even more powerful desktop-wide
> integration. These include Kontact, dictionary and translate runners and
> plasmoids, Marble, KIO, web view plasmoid, KPeople +WebAccounts,
> Share-Like-Connect, KTE Collaborative, Amarok, Tomahawk and more.
> * Quality
> * Applicable to design, code, documentation and translations.
> * Pride of workmanship. Encourages adoption. Encourages contribution.
>
> Collapsed down to 5 top-level items for conciseness: Desktop at the center. <--- Plasma at the center.
> Frameworks as enabler. Highly capable integrated applications. Highly
> capable integration with devices and the cloud. Quality.
> ________________
>
>
> So, how might we preserve what has already been accomplished and tackle what
> comes next? Here is my personal interpretation of Cornelius Schumacher's
> advice from his keynote.
> * Be free
> * Bias support towards free-er platforms
> * Bias support towards open standards. Open standards lead to free-er
> platforms.
> * But don’t be shy about supporting people (us) where their (our)
> ecosystem is. Taking advantage of existing platforms may have a significant
> impact to people who stand to benefit most. It may also help to form the
> foundations upon which to create and support open standards and free-er
> platforms of the future with greater capability. Knowing the greater goal is
> crucial, but effective strategy (correctness*commitment) is what moves us
> toward that goal.
> * Bias towards working in the open to encourage participation and
> preserve sustainability.
> * Maintain our purpose
> * Give people access to great technology.
> * By our own users’ measure, we make a fantastic desktop environment and
> applications. We can do even better by giving people access to the greater
> capabilities of a technological ecosystem that includes the desktop and
> applications as full-fledged, relevant and highly capable participants that
> can make other elements in that ecosystem better.
> * Have fun
> * We get to participate in the exciting new and emerging elements of our
> technological ecosystem.
> * We make the best desktop environment and applications even kooler!
>
> There are probably a million holes to poke through this. Maybe it’s too
> ambitious. Maybe it’s much too limited. Maybe it’s entirely the wrong focus.
> Ultimately, it’s fine if we end up choosing a different approach than the
> one considered here. The hope though is for a clear, unambiguous focus that
> acknowledges our strengths as well as the reality of the trends in our
> technological ecosystem. I just wanted to share this collection of thoughts
> that have been festering in mah noggin since Akademy in the hopes it might
> be helpful to a community I’ve come to treasure.
>
> Hope this helpful and I'm genuinely happy to be a part of such an amazing
> community,
> Andrew Lake
> KDE VDG member
It was so good to meet you in person, Andrew!
Sorry to answer such a long email with another long bit, but I was
reading my PFLAG newsletter, where they are re-defining their vision
and mission, and got inspired.*
The Visual Design Group and the Usability people are doing the KDE
community a great service by raising the issue of the vision of KDE.
Reading the Vision statement of 2008, I find it inspiring, and also a
bit out of date.[1]
However the "in short" bit is still nice: "In short:
KDE stands out for technical excellence, reliability and stability.
KDE delivers a seamlessly flowing and consistent use experience and
supports users' workflows.
KDE is powerful, yet simple and clear.
KDE has a breathtakingly beautiful look and feel.
KDE fully supports accessibility."
More recently, we hashed out the Manifesto, as a clear statement of
what the KDE Community is, and how we work together.[2]
This seems a clear vision to me, of how we see ourselves:
"We are a community of technologists, designers, writers and advocates
who work to ensure freedom for all people through our software.
Because of this work we have come to value:
Open Governance to ensure engagement in our leadership and decision processes;
Free Software to ensure the result of our work is available to all
people for all time;
Inclusivity to ensure that all people are welcome to join us and participate;
Innovation to ensure that new ideas constantly emerge to better serve people;
Common Ownership to ensure that we stay united;
End-User Focus to ensure our work is useful to all people.
That is, in pursuit of our goal, we have found these items essential
to define and stay true to ourselves."
Or rather perhaps we've got the vision in the first sentence, and a
mission in the rest. A vision is how we see the world we're working
for, and the mission is a statement of how we intend to bring that
about.
As has been expressed before, a vision statement for all of KDE the
community is going to differ from the visions of the various software
teams *for their software*. The old vision statement focuses on the
software, which is great. I think the various teams can take that
vision and update it for their own purposes. Thomas' suggestion of
"Simple by default, powerful when needed" is a great beginning to an
overarching vision of our software, I think. I hope we also include
accessibility right at the core, along with elegance, simplicity and
power.
Valorie
* http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=237
1: https://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/Principles/KDE4_Vision
2. http://manifesto.kde.org/
--
http://about.me/valoriez
More information about the kde-community
mailing list