OK, the forum is coming..

[kent at songbird.com]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2007 at 02:07:03PM -0500, Jonathon Suggs wrote:
[...]
> The bottom line is that mailing lists are not an acceptable means of 
> communicating with technical novices.  AGAIN, we are not talking about 
> discontinuing the development list (that is/should be used by 
> *developers*).  We are talking about Joe and Jane Sixpack, people that 
> don't understand the term MUA, people that would be HORRIFIED if they 
> started getting 70-80 email in a day, people who *don't* use email for 
> project collaboration or searching for answers.  *THAT* is the reason 
> that we are requesting a forum.  Not for me, and certainly not for you 
> (again, the collective you) that look down upon anyone who can't figure 
> out how to setup email filters, conversation threading, and whatever 
> else is required to make mailing lists be the more efficient means of 
> communicating.  Get off your technical superiority high horse and 
> realize WHY we are requesting this...for improved communication with 
> those who are less technically savvy.
>
> Sorry for the rant, but the arrogance and snobbery are killing me in 
> this discussion if you can't tell...

Not arrogance or snobbery -- different view of reality.

At this point, openmoko *is* a development project.  It's emphatically not
for Joe and Jane -- it says so on the web site, where you order your phone. 
There are disclaimers all over the place.  It's not even for early adopters
-- it's for hackers and developers.  Explicitly. 

It is devoutly to be hoped that someday there will be a need for a forum for
Joe and Jane.  But as a real concern that's at *least* 6 months away. More 
realistically, it will be a year before there is a unit that will be robust 
enough for Joe and Jane.