[ubuntu-art] A request

Michiel Sikma omega at avalanchestudios.net
Sun Jun 11 17:43:40 BST 2006

I've been on the Ubuntu Artwork team for a little while now. It was fun 
talking to everybody on the mailing list here and exciting to see my 
proposal for usplash used in Dapper. I can't wait to begin seriously 
contributing to Edgy and discussing how we should make it look great.

There is one thing, however, that makes me a bit sour. On IRC in 
particular, I've noticed that there is a sort of detrimental attitude 
towards people who use proprietary software to contribute to Ubuntu. 
While I find it logical that one would promote dogfooding when possible, 
such as using GIMP to create graphics for open source software, but that 
shouldn't imply that it's okay to actively discourage the use of tried 
and tested software people like using.

Like me. I like using Photoshop. It works fine for me both at home and 
at work, and know pretty much all about it by now. That means I'll be 
using it to contribute to Ubuntu artwork.

There are people who would rather see me use GIMP, and I can understand 
it, but I do implore you to:

- Please accept other people's viewpoints.
- Please don't look down on people who you don't agree with; try to 
reason with them and get them to see why you feel you're right.
- Please don't detest (usage of) proprietary software; we're all 
designers here, and as we know, design software is usually not free or 
open source, and as such, a lot of good designers will not use such free 

When I talk about working at a studio where I use Macromedia Flash to 
create sites, I don't need a lecture on how "that's stupid", which 
ultimately translates into an offensive statement towards me. This is a 
minor example, but it illustrates the point I'm trying to convey here.

Ubuntu is not about limiting others to your choices. Ubuntu is also 
about freedom of choice, and I feel that Ubuntu Artwork development 
should be the same. I hope that you will understand. Thank you.


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