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Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork
Ryan Thiessen wrote: >actually means. Will the questions of the community go unanswered, or >will there be a discussion or debate or at least an post explaining >the reasons why Ubuntu Warty RC1 is shipping with this artwork? I >realize that much of the effort today has been correctly focused on >the release of RC1, and I don't mean to be a nag... but when an isue >comes up like this the community concerns really ought to be addressed >in some way. > >I don't mean to be confrontational, or subtract from the hard work the >Ubuntu developers have done to put out this great distribution. Just >hoping for some sort of discussion or explanation, that's all. > Ryan's hit the nail on the head by asking for community discussion - that's exactly what this list is for, and so far I think we've seen a very healthy discussion on the topic. The background to the theme is the idea of "spirit of humanity". Most people think of computers as machinery, but today they are far more a tool of sharing and communication. My computer is how I keep in touch with my family and friends, as much as the place I do my work. It's not a cold, plastic thing, it's my connection to the world of the people I care about. We were looking for visual ways to communicate that and realised that there was no way to do it without showing people. Diverse people, of different shapes and sizes, being people. Our logo emphasizes the idea of people of different ethnic backgrounds working and playing together, so we tried to work that into it. Now, visually, it's very hard to put people into computer art. You should SEE some of the early mockups. Nonetheless, we pursued this idea with professional artists and designers, and the images you see today are the first in a series that attempt to encapsulate the theme of warmth, human-ness, diversity, sharing, caring and nature. The models are representative of diverse people (they are, as it happens, from three different parts of Africa). I'm aware the images might be controversial. So is any work of art. This forum is where that controversy can be explored and where we can ultimately take a view on whether this theme is something that should stay part of Ubuntu in future releases. The Calendar image is exactly that - it will be updated every month with a new image. You are able to stick with an image from a particular month that you like, or leave it on the Calendar mode to get a new image every month. None of the images would be unacceptable on a 60 foot billboard in any major western city. One thing that needs to be clear is that the Calendar image is not the default desktop, it worked out that way unexpectedly for those of you who had installed a previous release and then upgraded. My sincere apologies if that caught anyone off guards, especially if it came at an awkward moment. For new users the default desktop is the image with the Ubuntu logo on it. It would be great to see community-contributed themes that also capture the ideas we are trying to communicate. There may be a much, much better way of doing so. I'm a little nervous to call for contributions for the Calendar image :-), but go ahead and publish themes that YOU think communicate the "spirit of humanity" clearly and warmly. We'll host a repository of those themes in due course, or support one of the excellent repositories that already exist, to create a forum for that artwork. I know there's great talent amongst our community because I've already seen a few contributed themes that were excellent, and may even be of sufficient quality to be considered for a future Ubuntu release. Cheers, Mark -- Ubuntu! Building a Desktop OS for the 21st century. www.ubuntulinux.org http://www.markshuttleworth.com/ -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users (Log in to post comments)
Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork Posted Oct 21, 2004 9:51 UTC (Thu) by gerv (subscriber, #3376) [Link] Does anyone have a link to the image(s) in question?
Gerv
Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork Posted Oct 21, 2004 10:23 UTC (Thu) by smurf (subscriber, #17840) [Link] http://img61.exs.cx/img61/7370/screenshot-1.pnghttp://img51.exs.cx/img51/4012/screenshot-2.png http://img62.exs.cx/img62/4553/screenshot4.png
Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork Posted Oct 21, 2004 17:36 UTC (Thu) by mdekkers (guest, #85) [Link] In the second screenshot, they all look just about ready for a threesome - I don't mind warmth and hapiness and all that, but in my (pretty liberal) opinion, the picture is a bit _too_ much warmth, sharing and happiness for a general purpose machine. As for art being confrontational, no issues with that, as long as you don't shove it down peoples' throat on a computer - at the end of the day, recognising diversity is also about respecting the possible moral and sometimes legal boundaries of others - and in this case, this may mean having to go with the "lowest" common denominator.
Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork Posted Oct 21, 2004 10:55 UTC (Thu) by ikm (subscriber, #493) [Link] I don't think it is a good idea to give human qualities to computers. They are no more than just that -- cold plastic things. When it comes to communications, they are only means to communicate. A wire does not possess currents flowing over it, a pipe does not possess water. Computers should not possess emotions. When I communicate with anybody using any sort of device, be it a computer, or a cell phone, I never think about the mediator, at least in case it just works. I always think about the one I speak to. Don't tear off human qualities and attach to inhuman things. They are no substitute.
As for any kind of controversial art -- just avoid it on the default desktop. And in case all art is controversial -- just avoid all art. Green grass of WinXP is surely not an art, but it has one main quality -- everybody is ok with it.
Re: Community response of new ubuntu artwork Posted Dec 22, 2004 19:02 UTC (Wed) by flipg40 (guest, #26829) [Link] I agree 100%. I have installed Ubuntu on a workstation at my Company. Luckily my manager wasn't around to see the default desktop art. It does look like a photo op for a porn site. Not very professional. In general most adults would be shocked to see these images on any professional organization's desktop, especially if it belonged to a preist or preacher. Ubuntu is a very clean distro and I recommend it to anyone with a simple word of warning, the images may offend. Hope this changes soon so I can install it on more machines!
peace
Re: New ubuntu artwork - a newcomer's thoughts. Posted Mar 7, 2005 8:48 UTC (Mon) by derek.harding (guest, #28279) [Link] I am a priest in the Anglican Church and also an IT consultant with European clients including school service providers.
I have recently loaded Ubuntu (Hoary) on my laptop (after years with SuSE) and I feel no qualms about the logon screen image. In fact, I don't have any qualms about the others but I prefer to have pictures of my family on the working desktops.
True the computer is a tool but just as my father made his woodworking tools "his" by decorating them and moulding them to his use, so I shape my tools - the laptop, desktops and servers which I use or supervise.
I think the artwork promotes togetherness and human-ness - happy people in relaxed circumstances putting indeed a human face to an inhuman object, and summing up the Ubuntu principles superbly. I can see no suggestion of pornography in the images but, crucially, what tends to deprave and corrupt (my understanding of the meaning of the word) depends upon how it is viewed in the first place.
However, I do accept that interpretation of images is a function of the viewer's background. Perhaps this emphasises ubuntu in the different opinions. Please keep these images available but perhaps provide a more varied choice at installation?
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