[kde-community] finding a clear vision for KDE - first draft for discussion

[Alexander Dymo]

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 1:04 AM, Martin Graesslin <mgraesslin at kde.org> wrote:
> Why should there be a line?

I've been managing software development organizations since 2008. I
attest to the importance of drawing a line. There's so much you can do
with software. Unless you learn to say "no", you will not make a good
product.

By the way, I learned this the hard way in open source world too. Let
me tell you a story.

When I was a KDevelop maintainer during 3.x cycle, I welcomed every
single KDevelop plugin into the core.

End result? We did not attract new developers this way, but instead
were forced to maintain a huge collection of barely useful software
with a small team.

During 4.x development we clearly defined the core of KDevelop. It was
to be a great C++ IDE. Any plugin that did not fit into the core was
separated into its own repository. What remained received as much
attention as possible.

End result? A much better product. New contributors. And guess what?
Some of the plugins that were separated not only survived, but saw
more development and usage.