Untz: Results of the App Installer meeting, and some thoughts on cross-distro collaboration

The Ubuntu indicators framework, for example, was developed in Ubuntu after discussions with Gnome developers, and was also developed in collaboration with KDE developers. When it was ready, Gnome Shell said they had decided to do something different altogether. It's a little perverse to be accused of being uncollaborative when you:

o discuss work in advance with the Gnome team and get a go-ahead to drive forward
o collaborate with other communities like KDE in designing the framework
o deliver what you promised
o then get told that Gnome's designers have changed their mind and will pursue a course that reflects neither the agreement nor a new consensus across platforms ;-), and
o get rejected when you propose the framework for inclusion as a Gnome external dependency!

The dynamics of collaboration in open source are fluid and complex. There's a lot that happens which is constructive, and there are also things that make everyone want to despair. But it's simply inaccurate to paint one group as a primary bad guy; much just depends on who was where at the time.