Gnome Foundation Welcomes Holly Million as Executive Director
foundation.gnome.org
foundation.gnome.org
Having looked at moving from GTK3 to 4, I can understand the frustration. I also read a bunch of stuff and have concluded there are good reasons for the disruption, from making things more generic which allows new combinations of widgets (like images in menus) to allowing stuff to be in a different process. That does not mean the migration or support for doing it was handled well.
I was also disappointed to see they talked about having major releases at a regular cadence, which luckily they are way behind. Stability is a very important feature for toolkits and other infrastructure software. I would argue that being cross-platform and having stability are the 2 most important features of GTK and I hope it's a very long time before GTK5 comes along - if ever. The other major feature is the C API which allows it to have bindings to many languages.
[1] https://youtu.be/IFGXVN9dZ8U (I don’t think there’s a text version, sorry)
The foundation also holds trademarks including the GNOME trademark that it is required to defend.
The foundation was setup to protect the project from legal issues, help fund the infrastructure,and build relationships that lead to fundraising and influence.
You might recall that GNOME had to defend its trademark at least once and was also hit with a patent troll.
Edited to add: The money also goes to help fund GUADEC and hackfests where maintainers meet to work on goals. So there is more than just the executive director - there is a whole team that manages events, finances, and brand.
(I don’t want to dismiss Neil McGovern but I simply have no experience working with him).
This will be interesting to say the least.
Perhaps in a world where the largest threats to Mozilla's survival as a company are corporate maneuvering and deal making, a lawyer is the best CEO to choose by meritocracy argument.
On the contrary I would consider that the absolutely most justified, objective criticism one could find.
But then I’m one of those guys who thinks DEI (as preached by today’s social activists) is horseshit, and I think meritocracy is a good thing.
I’m not sure how those things are seen from within, by people more left leaning than me.
The term "meritocracy" was coined as a satirical parody of effective governance.
https://www.routledge.com/The-Rise-of-the-Meritocracy/Young/...
It was meant to be a negative, and is used as a pejorative: as a very bad idea that became effectively a swearword.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41427674
Be careful what you wish for.
The problem when a prominent wealthy company attempts to run its business on the basis of meritocracy is illustrated by the existence of projects such as GNOME, systemd, Wayland, and Flatpak.
> Holly brings three decades of invaluable experience in nonprofit management, having served as a consultant, director of development, executive director, and board member for numerous organizations. Notably, she founded the nonprofit organization Artists United, dedicated to empowering individual artists and fostering collaboration across artistic disciplines for the collective good. Additionally, Holly served as the Executive Director of the BioBricks Foundation, an international, open-source biotechnology nonprofit.
Is it possible that you missed some items somehow? Would cross checking them against the article be a good idea?
Artists United (https://www.artists-united.org/) is not confidence-inspiring. A barely edited Squarespace template with a few pages with a few paragraphs on most, including some unremoved Squarespace boilerplate.
No contact information.
No information on who runs it. Just a "manifesto" and a "call to action".
And which she is trying to remove from historical records as we speak.
https://lunduke.locals.com/upost/4740497/gnome-foundation-hi...
Who decided this seemingly unqualified person, of all unlikely people, was fit for the highest role in managing a multi-decade software project?
This is a shady hire. I wouldn’t be surprised to see personal connections turning out to be the sole factor behind her getting offered this job.
That all said, congrats to the GNOME Foundation and Holly, and I hope you accomplish whatever good deeds you set out to.
She’s a “professional shaman”, and herb “medicine” maker operating on Facebook and Instagram.
No software background at all.
If this is the kind of hires ESG & DEI brings, I think we can already conclude those two to be failed philosophies, and that all the critics have been proven right.
[0] https://lunduke.locals.com/upost/4740497/gnome-foundation-hi...
Quick joke before the omnipresent Dang sounds his warning..
Seriously, I wish her all the best.
> "Reverse"-isms, including "reverse racism," "reverse sexism," and "cisphobia" ... The examples listed above are not against the Code of Conduct.
That in itself is a little 'wow'.
> Basic expectations for conduct are not covered by the "reverse-ism clause" and would be enforced irrespective of the demographics of those involved. For example, racial discrimination will not be tolerated, irrespective of the race of those involved.
At first I was confused by this, but now I get it, and still wow. "You're allowed to be racist/sexist, towards white people/cisgendered, just don't actually discriminate against them".
"Safety vs Comfort". Huh.
"It's more important that people be/feel safe than you feel comfortable" - I agree.
But if you need "cisphobia" and "reverse racism" to feel safe, then this is hugely problematic.
Honestly, I actually am somewhat shocked that this isn't more controversial.
But we are banned and censored in a systemic fashion on most social media (Twitter/X being the one, big exception), and labeled “alt right” trolls … or racists, and everyone on the left is ok with censorship being applied upon those views.
It also still doesn't address the core concern. If you require being able to be sexist or racist to someone to make you feel safe in your space, that's a problem.