[sugar] [Community-news] where is Walter?

[thepete]

I think it's about public perception.  I know exactly zero about the
process, so when I became a G1G1 donor, I had only the OLPC PR to go
by.  Well, that and ALL of the nay-sayers out there who said it
couldn't be done.  So, I hope paid developers of the XO and its
software forgive those of us "outsiders" for feeling the pressure of
our friends, family, and total strangers who slam you guys and your
"failed" laptop program.

We all want OLPC to succeed and would be happy if just its goals were
met, even if by another group.  But we're supporting you--and it's at
the cost of other things that do earn the scorn of others.  It's also
at the cost of money and time.  Frankly, I know I'm looking for an
excuse to put my XO on the shelf and forget about it.  Seeing Walter
and Ivan leave provides me with pretty good fodder for an excuse.
Nicholas saying something about getting a new CEO (kind of), but not
being very clear about things provides more.  The G1G1 shipping
debacle is another.  The flakey keyboard reports I've been reading
about, another.  The OS problems I've been having, personally...

Combine all of these things with the external societal pressures (that
were already stacked against you guys) and it's getting harder and
harder for many of us to keep the faith.

Good luck to you all and to all of us on the "outside," too.  I hope
we're all able to stick it out and give OLPC the attention and support
it needs to reach those goals.

-Pete, The


On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 9:58 AM, Stephen John Smoogen <smooge at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Chris Preimesberger
>  <cpreimesberger at comcast.net> wrote:
>  > Walter, you have been a shining light of good information for all this
>  >  time, and it's sad to see you pull away from the project.  Sad to see
>  >  the project melting away, too -- at least that's my impression.
>  >
>
>  One standard thing I have seen is that every project goes through
>  these cycles. Developers/leaders leave a company, project or group
>  and the people who identified the project with those people post that
>  the project as "shriveling up and dying". I remember people saying
>  this of Debian, early Linux kernel development, Red Hat, SuSE, GNOME,
>  KDE, etc. Sometimes its true, but mostly its a gut reaction because
>  our brains are wired to identify with 'leaders' for our survival. If
>  our leaders leave the tribe.. we should go with them. Its a deep urge
>  we all have but it is rarely rooted in 'reality' but in the minds way
>  of coming up with 'reasons'.
>
>  I am just commenting on this because its something I have seen over
>  and over again with companies, projects, and groups.. and it
>  interested me why one day I was all happy to be working for a company
>  and 2 days later was ready to leave because it was going to crap when
>  a developer I worked under left.
>
>  The big thing I learned was that companies, projects, groups, etc
>  change constantly, and people who thrive under some conditions
>  deteriorate under others.. and have to leave. And when that happens,
>  there are a lot of psychological shifts in the group where other
>  people stay and leave because various 'leaders' stayed or left.. in
>  some cases you end up with large scisms where people will no longer
>  talk with each other, and in other cases you have people agreeing to
>  disagree on where each group is going.
>
>
>
>  --
>  Stephen J Smoogen. -- CSIRT/Linux System Administrator
>  How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed
>  in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"
>
>
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