Re: Debian for kids
On Fri, 11 Feb 2000, Keith G. Murphy wrote:
> Think about how broad you want the focus to be, and what the terminology
> should be.
I'm thinking exactly of that. And I want the focus to be no broader than
what works for kids. It touches on so many different things that to
pursue each one "in depth" would very quickly dissipate our energy and
lead to nothing at all of value being accomplished.
> A lot of the stuff you want to do crosses over into other
> uses, but won't be more broadly used if you put kid-specific stuff in
> there and call it "Debian for Kids".
Well, good! I'm glad it crosses over. But I disagree entirely that it
will not be used. I have no plans whatsoever of forking Debian. Every
improvement will go back into Debian. All that will end up under the
banner "Debian for Kids" will be a web site, a mailing list, and perhaps a
few "task" packages that makes it easier for parents to put together a
system that their kids can use.
Even in my wildest fantasies about where this project could end up, I
envision a pre-installed Debian-for-kids system in bright basic colors
with decals on it loaded with stuff that appeals to a specific age range
via an appropriate "task" package. But still, this system would be
nothing other than a standard Debian installation, and would largely
consist of components that are exactly the same as those found on all
other Debian systems. The only difference would be *presentation*. Linux
is a highly flexible OS and can be made to be many different things for
many different people.
> "Fool Proof Debian", "Low-Maintenance Debian", "No Hassle Debian"? I
> can't think of a good term.
Bdale has already addressed this point very well. These are laudable
goals, but are not the primary goals of the debian-kids group. In fact,
they should be the goals of each and every maintainer. Think of the
opposite ... who wants their package to be anything but "foolproof"? Do
we really want stuff in Debian that is fragile and easy to screw up? Do
we want our packages to be "high maintenance"? A "big hassle"? If those
were our only goals, we'd be better off not forming the group at all.
> But it's your effort that's going into it, and I wish you the best with
> what you're doing.
Many thanks!
Ben
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
[ pgp key fingerprint = 7F DA 09 4B BA 2C 0D E0 1B B1 31 ED C6 A9 39 4F ]
[ gpg key fingerprint = 395C F3A4 35D3 D247 1387 2D9E 5A94 F3CA 0B27 13C8 ]
Reply to: