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[ <a href="ch-about.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-introduction.en.html">1</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-about.en.html">2</a> ]
[ 3 ]
[ <a href="ch-existing.en.html">4</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-inside.en.html">5</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-starting.en.html">7</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-sentinel.en.html">8</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-todo.en.html">9</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-DevelDescription.en.html">A</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-QuickIntro.en.html">B</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-bts.en.html">C</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-existing.en.html">next</a> ]
</p>

<hr>

<h1>
Debian Pure Blends
<br>Chapter 3 - General ideas
</h1>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-lookbeyond">3.1 Looking beyond</h2>

<p>
Commercial Linux distributors sell certain products that try to address special
user needs.
</p>
<dl>
<dt>Enterprise solutions</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Corporate Server - Mandriva
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Advanced Server - RedHat
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Enterprise Server - SuSE
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Small Office and Home Office (SOHO)</dt>
<dd>
<p>
There are a couple of workstation or home editions, as well as office desktops
built by several GNU/Linux distributors.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Special task products</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>Mail server</dt>
<dd>
<p>
SuSE Linux Openexchange Server
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Firewall</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Multi Network Firewall - Mandriva, SuSE Firewall on CD, ...
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Cluster</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Mandriva Clustering
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Content Management System</dt>
<dd>
<p>
RedHat
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Portal Server</dt>
<dd>
<p>
RedHat
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>

<p>
This is only a small set of examples of commercial GNU/Linux distributors
addressing specific user interests with certain products.
</p>

<p>
Debian solves this problem with <strong>Debian Pure Blends</strong>.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-motivation">3.2 Motivation</h2>

<hr>

<h3 id="s-userprofile">3.2.1 Profile of target users</h3>

<p>
The target user of a Blend may be a specialist of a certain profession, (e.g.
a doctor or lawyer,) a person who has not (yet) gathered a certain amount of
computer knowledge, (e.g.  a child,) or a person with disabilities (e.g.  a
visually or hearing impaired person.) Moreover, the customisation might deal
with peculiarities of certain regions where users have needs that differ from
Debian as a whole.
</p>

<p>
It is not unusual for these target users to be less technically competent than
the stereotypical Linux user.  These people are often not interested in the
computer for its own sake, but just want it to work for them.  Imagine the
frustration of a doctor who has to move the focus of interest from the patient
to his stupid computer that does not work as expected.
</p>

<p>
Because of limited knowledge or time, the target user is usually unable to
install upstream programs.  This means that in the first place, they must find
out which software packages in their distribution might serve for a certain
problem.  The next step would be to download and install the packages they
choose, perhaps requiring a certain amount of configuration effort.  This
problem is nearly impossible for a user with limited technical competence and
perhaps poor English language comprehension, which prevents the user from
understanding the installation manual.
</p>

<p>
The language barrier in this field is an important issue, because we are
targeting everyday users who are not compelled to learn English, like Free
Software developers are, for everyday communication.  So the installation
process has to involve the least possible user interaction, and any such
interaction has to be internationalised.
</p>

<p>
Furthermore, most target users have no or little interest in administration of
their computer.  In short, the optimal situation would be that he would not
even notice the existence of the computer, but just focus on using the
application to accomplish the task at hand.
</p>

<p>
Common to all groups of target users is their interest in a defined subset of
available Free Software.  None of them would like to spend much time searching
for the package that fits his interest.  Instead, the target user would prefer
to immediately and effortlessly locate and access all material relevant to
solving his own problems.
</p>

<p>
There is an absolute need for easy usage of the programs.  This is not to say
users expect to not have to learn to use the software.  Adults generally accept
that they must spend a reasonable amount of time in learning how to use a piece
of software before they can do something useful and productive with it.  But a
simple-to-learn environment greatly enhances the value of the software, and if
you consider children as target users, they just want to start using it right
away without reading any documentation.
</p>

<p>
The more important part of the request for easy usage is a professional design
that is functional and effective.  To accomplish this, the programmers need
expert knowledge, or at least a quick communication channel to experts to learn
more about their requirements.  One task for Debian Pure Blends is to bring
programmers and experts who will use those special programs together.
</p>

<p>
Last, but not least, we find certain requirements beyond just which packages
are provided in each target user group.  These may differ between different
Blends.  For instance, while a doctor has to protect his database against
snooping by outside attackers, the privacy risk for a child's system are of
lesser importance.  Thus, the Debian Junior project cares more for ensuring
that the user himself does not damage the desktop environment while playing
around with it than about remote attacks.  So we find a &quot;defined security
profile&quot; for each single Blend.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s-adminprofile">3.2.2 Profile of target administrators</h3>

<p>
In the field that should be covered by Debian Pure Blends, we have to face also
some common problems for system administrators.  Often they have limited time
in which they must serve quite a number of computers, and thus they are happy
about each simplification of the administration process.  The time required to
make special adaptations for the intended purpose has to be reduced to a
minimum.
</p>

<p>
So, administrators are looking for timesaving in repetitive tasks.  While this
is a common issue for each general GNU/Linux distribution, this could have
certain consequences in the special fields Debian Pure Blends want to address.
</p>

<p>
Another problem administrators face is that they are often not experts in their
clients' special field of work.  Thus, they may need some specialist knowledge
to explain the use of special programs to their users, or at least need to be
able to communicate well with the experts about their special needs, and how
the software can be used to address them.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-status">3.3 Status of specialised Free Software</h2>

<p>
Programs like a web server, or a mail user agent are used by many different
users.  That is why many gifted programmers feel obliged for this kind of Free
Software - they just need it for their own.  So you normally find a fast,
growing community around Free Software packages that have a wide use.  This is
different for specialised software.
</p>

<p>
In this context, the term &quot;specialised software&quot; refers to the kind
of software that is needed by some experts for their job.  This might be a
practice management system that is used by doctors, a graphical information
system (GIS) that is used by geographers, a screen reader that helps blind
people to work with the computer, etc.  The difference between such software
and widely used software like office suites is that the user base is relatively
small.  This is also true for certain software that supports special
localisation issues.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Specialist software is used only by a limited set of users (i.e.  the
specialists).  There exists a set of software tools that work perfectly in the
environment where they were developed.  If the developers catch the idea of
Free Software, and just release this software as-is, people in the new, broader
user community often run into trouble getting it to work in their environment.
This happens because the developers did not really care about a robust
installation process that works outside their special environment.  As well,
installation instructions are often badly written, if they exist at all.  But
these problem can be easily solved by shipping the software as policy-compliant
binary packages, which not only ease installation, but also require
documentation to be included.  Thus, mere inclusion in Debian benefits the
whole user base of any specialised software.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The trouble often continues in the maintenance of the installed software.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
When it comes to the usage of the specialist software, it often happens that it
perfectly fits the needs of the developer who wrote it for his own purposes,
and who is familiar with its quirks, but in many cases such software does not
comply with ergonomic standards of user interfaces.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Several existing programs that might be useful for specialists are not really
free in the sense of the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian Free Software
Guidelines (DFSG)</a></code>.  Programs that are incompatible with the DFSG
cannot be included in Debian.  This is possibly a drawback for those programs,
because they could profit by spreading widely on the back of Debian over the
whole world.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
A certain number of programs are developed at universities by students or
graduates.  Once these people leave the university, the programs they developed
might be orphaned; <em>i.e.</em>, not actively maintained anymore.  If their
licenses are too restrictive, it may be impossible for anyone else to take
over; sticking to <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">DFSG</a></code>-free
licenses avoids that problem.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
In special fields, often &quot;typical&quot; (not necessarily Intel-based)
hardware architectures are used.  Debian currently runs on 11 different
architectures, and automatic build servers normally compile software packages
as necessary.  If auto-builders for other architectures show problems, Debian
maintainers will normally fix them, and send the original authors a patch.
Moreover, users can report run-time problems via the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/Bugs/">Debian Bug Tracking System</a></code>.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Many programs that are written from scratch use their own non-standard file
formats.  However, it is often important for programs to be able to share data
with each other.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Often there are several programs that try to solve identical or similar
problems.  For instance the Debian Med team faces this in the case of programms
claiming to serve as a medical practice management solution.  Normally, all
these programs take very interesting approaches but all of them have certain
drawbacks.  So, joining programmers' forces might make sense here.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Sometimes the tools or back-ends used in Free Software are not appropriate for
such applications.  For instance, sometimes database servers that do not use
transactions are used to store medical records, which is completely
unacceptable.  Other programs use web clients as their front-end, which is not
really good for quick (mouse-less) usage, a great shortcoming for repetitive
tasks.
</p>
</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-general_problem">3.4 General problem</h2>

<p>
Free Software development is a kind of evolutionary process.  It needs a
critical mass of supporters, who are:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
programmers <em>and</em>
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
users
</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>
Because specialised software has a limited set of users, (specialists,) this
results in a limited set of programmers.
</p>

<p>
Debian wants to attract both groups to get it working.
</p>

<p>
<strong>Debian is the missing link between upstream developers and
users.</strong>
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-philosophy">3.5 Debian Pure Blends from philosophical point of view</h2>

<p>
Debian currently grows in several directions:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of involved people
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of packages
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of architectures
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of bugs
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of users
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Number of derivatives
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Time span between releases
</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>
So several features are changing at different rates their quantity.  According
to Hegel a change of quantity leads into a change in quality.  That means that
Debian will change at a certain point in time (or over a certain time span) its
quality.
</p>

<p>
&quot;To determine at the right moment the critical point where quantity
changes into quality is one of the most important and difficult tasks in all
the spheres of knowledge.&quot; (Trotzki) This might mean that we just passed
the point in time when Debian changed its quality.  At one point we even
observed a change once the package pool system was implemented to cope with the
increased number of packages while trying to reduce the time span between
releases.  Even if the plan to increase the frequencies of releases failed
Debian became a new quality.  People started using the <code>testing</code>
distribution even in production which was not really intended and in a
consequence even security in <code>testing</code> was implemented for Sarge.
</p>

<p>
According to Darwin evolution happens through quantitative transformations
passing into qualitative.  So Debian has to evolve and to cope with the inner
changes and outer requirements to survive in the Linux distribution
environment.
</p>

<hr>

<p>
[ <a href="ch-about.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-introduction.en.html">1</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-about.en.html">2</a> ]
[ 3 ]
[ <a href="ch-existing.en.html">4</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-inside.en.html">5</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-technology.en.html">6</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-starting.en.html">7</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-sentinel.en.html">8</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-todo.en.html">9</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-DevelDescription.en.html">A</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-QuickIntro.en.html">B</a> ]
[ <a href="ap-bts.en.html">C</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-existing.en.html">next</a> ]
</p>

<hr>

<p>
Debian Pure Blends
</p>

<address>
12 November 2013<br>
<br>
Andreas Tille <code><a href="mailto:tille@debian.org">mailto:tille@debian.org</a></code><br>
<br>
</address>
<hr>

</body>

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