openSUSE:Board election 2013 platform johest

Jump to: navigation, search

Platform

Note: This page is used by the candidate of the board election as a platform to show his views and answer some standard questions.

Introduction and Biography

My name is Jörg Stephan and I am an 34 year old IT professional from Germany. Currently i work for an global domain registrar. I started using linux as main operating system back in 1998 when a virus crashed my windows and the pc never worked again. I used RedHat 5.1 first and switched to my first SUSE with version 6.0 in the same year. I was surprised by the rich features the SUSE guys added to the system, especially YaST. I worked a lot with SUSE 9.0 to 9.3 during my work as a research assistant at University. Another important point for me using and speaking about SUSE (and now openSUSE) was that it was a German distribution. Some months ago i worked a lot with AutoYaST and scripting the XML files to create templates.

So why do I want to be elected to the board? Good question, really! I made my decision to run for the board during the Open Rhein Ruhr. I talked with some team members, i complained about that now DVDs are made, posters should be printed by the ambassadors. It was strange sitting close to Ubuntu, fedora and debian, with these awesome booths, the caps and the shirts with our tiny table and the last DVDs which were made. During the conversation someone said „Why dont you run for the board“ and my email was written some minuets after that.


Major Issues

There were a lot of ideas around the last years and most of the discussion seems as they want to go on for ever. I guess its time to make some decisions and maybe to rethink some decisions which are already made. I spent some time at conference booths across Germany, talking to people, describing ideas and listen to all the strange problems which occur.

So what I would like to see:

  • Change the life cycle of openSUSE, i know it was a community decision, but 18 months are to short. 24 months would maybe work, people dont want to change there desktop every 18 months. In addition to that we should try to get back to an openSUSE server derivate, with the help of OBS we could be the basis of many server types.
  • Change the ambassador program, we nedd DVDs, T-Sirts and caps. And we cant tell the ambassadors, which work the whole week and attend two or more days on the booth to go and print their own posters. Really!
  • I would like to set up an counselor group, which helps on creating lectures for conferences. To help people to show the power of openSUSE.
  • We need to add more transparency to the travel support program and make it easier to use it, i used it myself last month and it really isnt designed in an good way.
  • Finally, openSUSE has create features which we need to place in the write spot light. Our OBS is only one of them. Yast, gives us a great opportunity, it makes us unique. BtrFS, which is well integrated in YaST and zypper is remarkable too.


Minor Issues

Oh, i really dont have one to mention here. Well, maybe we dont should create slides with cats, i guess openSUSE only about penguins and geckos :-)


Role of the board

The Board should work on the major problems we got, which is not the distribution itself, but how we are seen by users and we should try to get back some of the old users. The Board should help all groups/teams within, so they can do there main work and dont need to do bother with the management.


Why you should vote for me?

Well, i hope the issues i mention are quite enough. I want to change things. I want to influence openSUSE. openSUSE to me is the best linux around, and i want all the others to see this too. I will try to change the things i mentioned above, nothing more, nothing less.


Aims/Goals

Well, i guess: Enough said!


Endorsements

Room for your supporters to leave a word about you

The openSUSE Ambassador program is indeed not doing great (see this) and a focus on communication is invaluable. -- jospoortvliet