State of Solus?

xjdwc

Appreciation

Hi All

I wanted to first start with showing my appreciation to all involved in Solus (Devs/Maintainers/Contributors/Community). Such an awesome distro and community! I am grateful to all people involved, whether you are in the background or front and center. I'm thankful for all the years Solus has enabled me to use my computer how I want to. Also has become a project that I've become extremely passionate about. You are all appreciated!

Intentions

My intentions, and the purpose of this post, is to create a dialog first and foremost. For this post to become a place in which the community can come to discuss the current state of the Solus Project.

To me, I view this as almost the elephant in the room. Like talking about this feels taboo. Which I believe is NOT how things should be. Which could be my own subjective sense/perspective of things. But this is something which I believe many long time users wish to see answered. Maybe I'm late to the party and this has been answered unofficially through other posts many times. If I've missed that, my bad. I want to create this dialog so we have a better understanding of the state of the Solus Project. I want to hear your voice. Whether you agree or disagree with my thoughts and ideas. Believe what I say is very problematic/unhelpful, or if you think what I'm saying is spot on. I want to hear you out.

With the information I have, and general experience, these are all the conclusions I've come to....

Observations

Well it's clear a lot of things have changed since the inception of the Solus Project. I got onboard back during Solus 3 Budgie's initial release. So I've seen a few different stages/seasons of Solus now.

I was riding the wave of Solus 3 Budgie's Release, the deeper down the Solus rabbit hole I went, the closer I followed the team and the project in general.

Which brings me to the first set back and hit I saw Solus take as a project. The creator/lead of Solus (Ikey) disappearing without a word. This was at a time when Solus started a patreon and seemed to be going full steam ahead. The possibilities seemed limitless. The support/backing Solus was receiving when all crew mates were on deck seemed to be amazing. From my point of view anyway haha. Solus was my introduction to Linux, but it definitely felt like the Solus community truly believed in what the team were doing. Really felt like what Solus was doing was exploring uncharted territory.

The impacts and effects of that whole situation were worrying to begin with. I felt like I had just found the perfect Operating System and I barely got to sail the seas. It felt ultra anticlimactic. But through the work of the Solus Team, they managed to take action and not let the ship sink. All the hard work to keep things afloat when basically being locked out of funds and other key areas etc. It was a sight to behold. The effort to keep this ship sailing is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes.

After the team figured out a way to keep things moving and getting their bearings on the situation. They instilled belief back in me, through word and action. Things felt great again, I was able to continue using Solus and there was progress being made. This period lasted for quite some time. My confidence was pretty much back. Even though during this period I saw no major features or implementation of new technologies that I would take notice of as a Solus Plasma user. I was at ease again. Until....

Then we move on to the second major set back and hit that I've seen Solus take. Another core/lead team member of Solus (Josh) leaving the project. This one actually made me feel like I was DOOMED as a Solus user. It felt like all hope was lost. The second core/lead of Solus leaving. Doubt and despair crept in. I began to consider my options. Was I going to jump ship and save myself, or go down with it? I made the decision to go down with the ship. It turned out to be a good decision, because out stepped the last remaining hope. DataDrake and crew! The new captain, reassured us all that our ship would continue to sail for as long as possible. I began to feel optimistic in our survival and new endeavors. Confidence and trust slowly being built back up. Things have been stable and well maintained ever since! But after that initial action/statement to keep things moving and operational. Things have gotten really quiet, not in terms of activity, but in communication. Which has allowed doubt to creep back into my mind. Not a new experience for me as a Solus Crew Mate. The sea was rough and dangerous, then it calmed until it became still, but the fog thickened. To the point where I now know not where we are, or where we are going. From my perspective it feels like we are lost at sea, like we're low on supplies and crew mates are disappearing in the night and using the lifeboats/rafts to go their own way. Things are fine for now, but it feels like the calm before the storm....

Each age from MY perspective (Completely subjective)

Pre Ikey Leaving (Golden Age)
Pre Josh Leaving (Silver Age)
Current Age (Unknown)

Yes, I know putting Solus' timeline from my perspective seems like I'm firing shots or discrediting peoples invaluable hard work & contribution. But that's not what this is. I hope my description helps you all understand how it feels as a long time end user of Solus. I know it all seems very dramatic lol. But I'm just passionate. I also hope this is not just unhelpful ranting, instead helpful perspective. But I do feel unsure about the current state of Solus.

This post: https://discuss.getsol.us/d/7856-not-dead-yet

I find that to be the perfect response and action to take!

Though, that was on the 3rd January and it feels like radio silence ever since. Again, not talking about activity and maintenance. But official communication. I also understand and acknowledge that this project is maintained by VOLUNTEERS! I don't expect people to cater to my every desire lol. I'm grateful and I do appreciate all the time, energy and effort that goes into Solus as a project. For everyone that is involved. I can only imagine all the enlarged responsibilities and learning curves that come with things shifting around after core/lead team members leaving this project. Must be insane! You all have my respect for being able to push through all of that. Basically damage control. As a user, I haven't been impacted negatively in my user experience at all tbh. I have been able to do what I need to do on my laptop. I receive weekly updates. Things are great. But if I step back and look at the bigger picture. Things feel on the decline. That they have stagnated/plateaued.

That feeling of being left in the dark and facing the unknown. Really allows doubt to creep in, and for our confidence to slowly fade. I am a very casual user, I just use my laptop for basic computing needs. Web Browsing, documents, media consumption etc etc. So my knowledge on how things work behind the scenes are limited. I trust you all have been putting in hard work that end users like me don't and will never appreciate or see. I also probably miss most of the conversations/discussions about things like this because this forum is my only source for solus. I also have no real experience to compare this to. I don't know if this is a normal occurrence in a distro's life. Just a period to readjust and recalibrate or one to be concerned about. These are just my genuine feelings. Feels like we don't have a compass or map, and if we do, no one is communicating. As a team you probably already expected and predicted these types of concerns and questions I have as an end user. Are my feelings and concerns justified or am I completely delusional lol?

Anything that I need to be corrected on, please do. Call me out on anything that I say that goes against any objective/factual information regarding Solus.

Perspective

Now to offer my perspective as an end user on how to help me and others like me gain confidence, build trust, and develop belief in the Solus Project.

I think in order for the Solus Project to be in a healthy and thriving state. We have to have clear community guidelines and a set of principles to guide us. Ones that have been developed/agreed upon with the input/feedback of the Solus community. Ones that we can all get behind and want to support. A standard! Something that has been stated is being changed and improved upon.

Standards are a great way to hold everyone accountable. To allow for reflection and examination of oneself in relation to Solus as a project. To see if you're aligning with the standards Solus places on the community.

If we all have a mutual understanding of the Solus standard. The expectations for the Solus community as a whole, it'll only benefit the project long term.

I actually now see Josh's departure as a great thing because he is able to focus on budgie like never before. That can only be a good thing for budgie users.

I think we all fell in love with Solus for it's philosophy and execution of it: a pragmatic, user-focused experience with a well-curated repository (Simple, Fast, and Free). The team has shown great character/integrity over the years by not compromising where it matters most. I respect that so much. To add to that by having a standard to hold us all accountable, I actually like the approach Buddies of Budgie is taking, I think that is a great model that is being developed. One that could possibly be used as a solid foundation or reference point to build upon for Solus even??

Check it out here: https://blog.buddiesofbudgie.org/state-of-the-budgie-may-2022/

Here are a few principles I find important:

Simplicity

Things should be clear, straight forward, comprehensive, easy to follow. Minimal. Whether that is the Solus UX, website/blog, forum UX or documentation/guidelines etc.

Communication

Transparent/Open and regular (at the very least bimonthly)

Respect the end user (User-Centric)

Being user-centric is a good thing. Respect the end user. Great way to attract passionate and supportive users. Respect goes both ways obviously!

Passion & Excellence

I think this one is straight forward, the foundation of doing great work is being passionate. Strive to do all with excellence, this usually comes from being passionate about what you do.

Vision/Goals/Roadmap/Release

I believe it's magnetic in nature to have a clearly communicated system for how we receive and expect new information. If communicated and executed well. People get onboard. There should be a clear vision for what Solus wants to achieve, short, mid, and long term goals etc. Not talking about ETA'S. More so vision. Again, I like how Buddies of Budgie set out to accomplish these things. I find as an end user, if I see the vision, align with it, see there are goals, a roadmap to look forward to (I know I know) and I'm able to follow along and even have input into that process, I'm all in. You have to want us to be invested. That is how. You're not entitled to our support/donations. You have to earn it. It's on you as a team to produce something that we find value in and can remain invested in. On the flip side, you yourselves should be passionate first. It's impossible to please everyone, but that's where the Solus philosophy, standards, community guidelines etc come in to play. So we are all on the same page. But I know from past experience, that I was looking forward to every new update (ISO, new features, new technologies, improvements etc) Solus used to deliver back in the day, Hackfest via youtube, blogposts outlining vision/goals/roadmap/release etc. It was all because I believed in the team, the vision and what Solus was about. So much so, that financial support was the logical step for me.

But if we don't have any of those things in place. Why would we get excited? Why would we invest? Why would we believe? Why would we use Solus?

This ISN'T even me saying we are having a titanic moment. Or that Solus is dying....

I know there are so many things that go on behind the scenes that I'm unaware of, I'm sure. But I dont know if it's just me. But Solus' potential as an operating system is insane in my eyes. It's current state alone has me loyal, but I see how much growing it can do. That's why I'm so passionate. It's quality!

Moving Forward

Your turn! I want to hear your counter arguments, your different perspectives, your honest thoughts and ideas. Regardless, I look forward to hearing from whoever wants to discuss the state of Solus. Let's talk about it!

I'm optimisic and hopeful for the future of Solus. Let's see Solus reach it's potential!
Thanks for all the time and effort put into Solus.
Even if no one engages with this post or it's dismissed completely. I'll continue using Solus as usual!

Grace and Peace 🙂

brent

xjdwc Another core/lead team member of Solus (Josh) leaving the project. This one actually made me feel like I was DOOMED as a Solus user. It felt like all hope was lost. The second core/lead of Solus leaving. Doubt and despair crept in. I began to consider my options. Was I going to jump ship and save myself, or go down with it? I made the decision to go down with the ship.

I think we all felt like this but were not as eloquent. Like you, I don't feel that way anymore. Great post.

Staudey

Okay, so I finally have some free time, but somehow I've managed to stay up until 5 AM, so I'm still tired 😆. No matter, here are some of my thoughts on the matter.

xjdwc To me, I view this as almost the elephant in the room. Like talking about this feels taboo. Which I believe is NOT how things should be.

It definitely shouldn't feel like a taboo, but I've also not seen anyone be reprimanded for asking such questions. Now, some other users might react slightly aggressive when you attack their favorite OS, but that is understandable to some extent, and you have to ignore that when you want to ask the tough questions. No way around it.

xjdwc This one actually made me feel like I was DOOMED as a Solus user. It felt like all hope was lost. The second core/lead of Solus leaving. Doubt and despair crept in.

I had similar feelings when it happened. In fact, I think it might've contributed to my burn-out at the start of the year (main factor was of course my day job itself, which I've thankfully quit now).

xjdwc Though, that was on the 3rd January and it feels like radio silence ever since. Again, not talking about activity and maintenance. But official communication.

100% agree there. While there have been tweets during that period, they also pretty much all fit into the "maintenance" category.
Some, in my opinion, interesting things have happened in the meantime, but as a normal user you wouldn't notice any of it if you don't religiously check the dev tracker, IRC channels, changelogs in the Software Center, and/or getsolus GitHub repositories. Now, none of that might qualify as a "major change", but it could for sure be worked into a blog post or at least some tweets. Not just the positives but also the issues that cropped up, and how they were dealt with. Something to show that there is activity, that doesn't require manually checking the above sources.

Do I, personally, have the ability to do that? No, first of all because I don't have access rights to the Solus blog or twitter, and secondly (and more importantly) because I don't really want that responsibility since I don't feel comfortable in that role.
With Josh we unfortunately lost someone who excelled in that type of communication. See e.g. his blog posts on the new Budgie site, or even just his first post on the new Serpent OS forums.
Now, there have been efforts to recruit a new "communications guy" to the team. But things have not gone smoothly, someone seemingly disappeared, and some trust evaporated. Very recently there has been some more discussion on that topic, but no concrete results yet.

xjdwc I also probably miss most of the conversations/discussions about things like this because this forum is my only source for solus.

Yes, the forum doesn't really show you a lot of what is happening with Solus, which is a shame, and should be remedied with some blog updates that get linked here, and/or some announcement posts when things are happening or have happened.
Additionally there is the issue of team communication happening on Discord, invisible to the users, which, while understandable to some degree and for some topics, sometimes locks even the people who have taken the effort to participate on IRC out of interesting discussions. I personally try to move talk that doesn't necessarily have to be private back to the #Solus-Dev channel, but that requires conscious effort, and consequently I also sometimes only post to Discord, neglecting IRC and other communication channels.

xjdwc I think in order for the Solus Project to be in a healthy and thriving state. We have to have clear community guidelines and a set of principles to guide us. Ones that have been developed/agreed upon with the input/feedback of the Solus community. Ones that we can all get behind and want to support. A standard! Something that has been stated is being changed and improved upon.

I don't think we need a whole set of principles, to be quite honest. What @tomscharbach quoted above is also pretty much my guiding principle when working on Solus:

tomscharbach "Solus is an open source project dedicated towards building a cohesive desktop experience with our Linux-based operating system, which is curated, designed, and optimized for home computing platforms."

I think this is succinct, while still leaving some wiggle room for personal preferences (which I think is important too). Anything more than this would only distract from the central idea and ideal we're trying to achieve. I can see more than enough work ahead just moving closer toward this one simple goal.

xjdwc I actually now see Josh's departure as a great thing because he is able to focus on budgie like never before. That can only be a good thing for budgie users.

The Budgie project definitely has picked up steam since then, which I, as a Budgie user, also welcome. I'm not sure whether that means that Josh's departure constitutes a net positive though. Personally I still think the hole left in the Solus project is bigger than the additional boost to Budgie.

xjdwc Here are a few principles I find important:

I'm going to skip over most of this, since as I said above I don't think we need a whole set of principles to guide us. Just some random comments where I think there is something to add.

xjdwc Passion & Excellence

I think this one is straight forward, the foundation of doing great work is being passionate. Strive to do all with excellence, this usually comes from being passionate about what you do.

It seems a bit harsh to demand passion from anyone, user or team member, as a principle. Also, when it comes to taking note of improvement: How do you measure passion?
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you mean.

xjdwc Respect the end user

This is something that the Solus project has sometimes failed at, not with the operating system itself, but in communication. Mostly during interchanges on the forums or IRC. A bit more patience with our users, even or especially those that ask unwelcome questions, would go a long way.

xjdwc there should be a clear vision for what Solus wants to achieve, short, mid, and long term goals etc.

I think we could handle this with the blog posts. Just regularly state what is being worked on, and some things on the horizon. No need to set those in stone though (e.g. by putting them in a roadmap, or "Goals" section on the website).

Anyway, while we could work out an all-encompassing set of principles, values and guidelines, I think that the simple mission statement is enough, and actions speak louder than words, or as a certain German said:

Der Worte sind genug gewechselt,
Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn!
[The words you've bandied are sufficient;
'Tis deeds that I prefer to see.]

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(but those deeds should also include blog posts and other updates 😃)

P.S. I somewhat rushed through the second half of my comment because I'm starting to develop a serious stomach ache now, sorry (never a dull moment)

Staudey

Just a very short message here to tell you that your concerns are heard, and you're definitely not the only one expressing similar feelings/fears (be it on this forum, on reddit, or other communication channels). I'm way too tired right now to properly respond to your post, which you clearly put a lot of effort into. After this incredibly draining week at work is finally over I'll gather my thoughts and leave a proper comment discussing the points you raised (from my perspective).

RicSense

I just want to say that I hope Solus continues. All my consideration and thanks to the team that keeps this project alive.

tomscharbach

The Solus vision was articulated at inception: "Solus is an open source project dedicated towards building a cohesive desktop experience with our Linux-based operating system, which is curated, designed, and optimized for home computing platforms." In my view, Solus should remain true to that vision, the Solus raison d'être, and resist the temptation to accommodate other users and uses.

qsl

tomscharbach Gotta say if it seems the team isn't meeting expectations, adding even more seems like a dramatic step backwards. For all of the demands, no one seems to be stepping-up to be community attache. There's more ways to contribute than money.

And beyond that, nothing is guaranteed. DataDrake may decide tomorrow they'd be happier raising llamas. Any member of the team may have some event that requires their full attention. A new competitor may appear in this space that just has more polish.

I'm more than happy to take things at face value, and as long as updates keep coming, problems are getting solve; that more than enough proof the project is very much alive.

The constant demands to "do more" I imagine gets irksome after a while, and maybe it's not on the devs to deliver, but us.

The best way to ensure the project crashes and burns is to spread themselves too thin. Nothing is gained from all of these reassurances that will appear in the actual OS.

Give them space to evolve.

murbert

Solus Budgie serves me very well as it is on my desktop computer with 24" FHD monitor.
Solus Plasma serves me very well on my 16" 2.5k laptop, if I didn't need fractional scaling I'd use Budgie there too.
Solus is very fast, has regular updates and is stable. It has almost everything I need in an OS and what it lacks I make up for with a Windows 10 dual boot.
I would like to see twice yearly ISO releases and accompanying blog post for the sake of those with new hardware and to show the world it's alive.

tomscharbach

qsl I have no idea what part of my short and simple comment

The Solus vision was articulated at inception: "Solus is an open source project dedicated towards building a cohesive desktop experience with our Linux-based operating system, which is curated, designed, and optimized for home computing platforms." In my view, Solus should remain true to that vision, the Solus raison d'être, and resist the temptation to accommodate other users and uses.

prompted your response, but your response seems to me to be misplaced.

All I am saying is that Solus has had a vision since the beginning, that the vision was and remains the raison d'être of Solus, and that Solus will lose its raison d'être if it loses sight of that vision. The Solus team has remained faithful to that vision, and I hope the Solus team will always remain faithful to that vision.

brent

qsl The constant demands to "do more" I imagine gets irksome after a while, and maybe it's not on the devs to deliver, but us.

agreed. the 'do more' faction has been here since inception and always will be.

tomscharbach that the vision was and remains the raison d'être of Solus, and that Solus will lose its raison d'être if it loses sight of that vision.

if they decided to center this OS around the Android phone we'd all be toast😉. I've run mac, win, some flavours and since 2017 Solus Budgie is still the finest desktop experience----I will go as far to say as I still get a charge powering on and booting it up. I never had that feeling for 98/2000/7 or Snow Leopard and beyond etc etc. It's Celtic Magic.

qsl

tomscharbach Orthogonal and expanded.

Just riffing on the idea.

paracetamol

I am generally pretty happy with where the Solus is right now. With Josh's departure, my flavor of choice no longer feels like it has an expiration date attached to it (he was mulling dropping Solus GNOME around the time Budgie 11 is released), so with all my admiration of what he's doing, I saw him leaving to focus on Budgie as a net positive change for the distro.

The only thing that I would really want to be addressed soon is the communication policy. I simply don't understand the aversion to having some sort of "media" presence by the team. This thread is a symptom of it. The users - existing and prospective - are pretty much left to divine from tea leaves what state is the project now and what future may hold for it. That in turn makes someone choosing Solus feel like they are making a leap of faith, as it feels like abandonware sometimes. (Note that someone who is not using Solus yet can't gauge project's health by the reliability of weekly syncs for example.)

It is such an easily (in my eyes) remediable situation, that I cannot wrap my head around why things continue to be as they are. Just blog briefly every now and then.

QTC

paracetamol This thread is a symptom of it. The users - existing and prospective - are pretty much left to divine from tea leaves what state is the project now and what future may hold for it.

There are other threads that also embody the same symptom, such as Current sol development which started 11 days ago. Although this one seams to be the most directly focused on it.

paracetamol It is such an easily (in my eyes) remediable situation, that I cannot wrap my head around why things continue to be as they are. Just blog briefly every now and then.

@QTC But it's ultimately up to the Solus team to decide if its worth it, and how to do so.
Quote from: Current sol development

I can understand why the Solus team may not want post more Blog entry. Every form/context of communication takes a certain amount of effort and time; if you mail a letter, pass someone on the stree, visit said person, send a text message, or call them. Each type of communication as a level of expectation on the quality and quantity of the interaction (which impacts time and effort needed).

@CorvusRuber Silence can be filled with anything, after all.

@QTC The team behind Solus could fill the silence (with practically anything), and that would be appreciated.
Quote from: Current sol development

From my perspective the Solus team should look at what options are available for communication, and decide on the feasibility and worth of said method of community interaction. If the team decides that doing blog posts take to much effort and time, that is totally understandable and acceptable.

But it should always be asked; am I doing enough, can I do better, should I be doing something different, is it worth changing or putting more effort in. The answer is Solus is usually is doing enough, but when it comes to communication I personally don't know. It doesn't feel like it is.

React OS decided that Blog posts where not accomplishing what they wanted, so they looked for and implemented something that did (Twitter). The majority of their posts basically amount to I'm alive, and then there's the occasional this is the state of the project. They looked for and found a method of communication that keeps and even creates more interest in what their doing, which has helped them with funding. (A quick sentence or two, and a screen shot every day or so goes a long way.)

I'm not saying that the Solus team should copy what React OS does, I just like pointing at them as an example. Solus could look into communication methods, then decide what type and method feasible to implement/maintain (and its worth). If the Solus team decides is not worth communicating until there "something worth saying", that's their right and I'll respect the decision.

As I said before, I will continue using Solus regardless of what they decide on this issue.
I'm Solus because how the operating system is designed and implemented, not because they are loquacious.

elfprince

There is an ongoing support and oversight by the Solus dev team on this forum. There are weekly updates, which haven't failed me once. That to me shows that Solus is well and alive. I am sure they are busy with life, work, school, family etc, in addition to their voluntary support of Solus. That is enough for me.

Brucehankins

elfprince I agree, but I understand the other side of it as well. More communication and regular updates would be nice but so is having a system that just works and updates hitting every week.

I like the blog posts, I like digging through changelogs, but I'll give those all up for a system that never lets me down and stays current.

mike-ward

We should all take solace from this discussion 😃

Stezzbruh

Staudey maybe they don't have someone on the team who has the time to communicate it

xjdwc

Okay it's been a few days since my post. I want to say thanks to all that have shared their own perspective on the matter at hand. I wanted to give it some time before I responded. To take in all the different responses and change my mind if needed. I'm thankful for everyone's voice.

Responses

@tomscharbach
I agree, Solus should remain true to that vision. I don't want Solus Project to compromise to accommodate other users and uses. Solus being the way it is, is the reason why I'm attracted to it. I'm not asking for it to change at the foundational level. NOT AT ALL. Solus is beautiful for what it is. Yes, they should remain faithful and not budge when it comes to the original vision. I'm all for it. Just don't want Solus to adopt this style of communication or the lack thereof long term/permanently.

@qsl
I also see what you mean, if it's already all hands on deck, and the team is only capable of keeping up with the current workload, by adding more it would definitely be a step backwards. I agree, there are many more ways to contribute other than money, and tbh, the other ways seem more valuable right now. I've found I've come away from this discussion more level headed and with a balanced perspective. Face value, updates are weekly, problems are being solved. So with the given circumstances it's not really reasonable to expect my concerns to be addressed immediately when there are so many other things that require time and attention just to keep the ship afloat.

Time and space is something I'm more than happy to give the Solus team. Patience is required to allow the team to organically evolve with the added pressures of putting out the spot fires that arise from Josh's recent departure etc.

@paracetamol
I guess communication and moving forward together as a community is what I'm looking for. Abandonware is a scary thought! Again, I'm with you on that, bimonthly would be helpful to have a basic understanding of the state of Solus. I'm not looking to be told what I want to hear. I'm not looking for an update on every movement the project makes. Just for transparency, reassurance, honesty. If there isn't much to talk about, fine, but just that reassurance of the teams efforts of moving forward and current immediate goals. No matter the state of Solus, I'm staying aboard.

@QTC
Yes it all takes time and effort to do even the supposed "simple" things. I agree on what you've said. At the end of the day, it all comes down to priorities. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say, we'd all choose weekly updates, and problems being solved over regular communication and no action being taken. But that doesn't mean communication isn't valuable. In fact I believe it still is high priority in the grand scheme of things.

@elfprince
Agreed, and it has been enough for me for all the years I've been using Solus. I'll continue using Solus regardless of communication. I guess it's all about trying to find a balance with the current circumstances. Even if official communication is still not close. I can respect that. As long as structural changes and internal strengthening is happening behind the scenes. I'm fine with that, because again ... priorities. I'm not going to forget people are volunteering, so I'm happy to allow the team to evolve in a dormant state when it comes to communication.

@Staudey
I guess that's maybe because no one was really talking about it, not because people were being scorned for asking such questions. I never had a fear of being reprimanded in any away. Just like one of those elephants in the room situations. I have no issue with asking tough questions.

Yeah it wasn't a great feeling.

I'm glad you guys have all shown grace to me with your balanced views and responses.
I had a feeling it more had to do with skills and gifting. We all have functions and roles we excel at. Communication being no different. I guess, I've been spoiled with Josh's natural communication skills for so long, I see that as the standard.

I have no issue with team (private) and community (public) communication being separate. That's normal. I guess the whole principles thing was my own approach to avoiding/eliminating communication breakdown. Transparency etc. But you're right, we really only need that one vision to be our guiding principle. It becomes like an umbrella. The Solus Team being able to model what that looks like, then the users reciprocate that energy. I'm onboard with the current vision. Yes it definitely should leave some wiggle room, not have things be so locked down and black and white. It allows for all types of people to contribute to the project whilst still aligning with the central idea. It encourages creativity and innovation.

Yeah, I can see it being a big hole also, I guess i'm just optimistic. He was the face of Solus for most of my years as a Solus user.

Yeah the passion thing is a bit of a strange thing to demand. But I guess I just see how important passion is in relation to work. I'm not accusing the Solus team of not being passionate, just recognizing how much of an importance passion plays when working. More something that is personal, something to reflect on and examine on your own. Like a balance and blend of what you're passionate about and what you're good at. Combine the two. That's got nothing to do with Solus, more so a personal thing to figure out. So that's not needed in the discussion at all. I take that one back. An unhelpful/unnecessary comment for sure.

Yes, communication should be a high priority. But at the moment keeping the lights on and focusing on getting things in order is more important. But it should be on the list for sure. How it is achieved and executed is up to the team ultimately. But even putting out viable options in a post/poll and hearing feedback from what the community think about it. Could be a start.

But in the end you're right, actions do speak louder than words. I don't want constant talk and empty promises. I'd rather a team doing their best to keep the ship sailing.

Also, I hope you get well soon!

Conclusion

So I guess my conclusion right now is this. Solus' current vision is sufficient and should be the central idea we all chase after. NO COMPROMISE. Current time and effort to keep things running by all involved is greatly appreciated. Maintenance and activity shows Solus is alive. That as end users we have to be patient and allow time for the team to evolve and strengthen. To be reminded that everyone is a volunteer, and that alone, shows there is real passion in this project. Actions speak louder than words. But we all would embrace a more regular and transparent approach in regards to communication if possible. Again, I want to say thank you, to everyone who shared their own perspective. Your input has been helpful and I appreciate it.

tomscharbach

xjdwc I'm not accusing the Solus team of not being passionate, just recognizing how much of an importance passion plays when working. More something that is personal, something to reflect on and examine on your own. Like a balance and blend of what you're passionate about and what you're good at. Combine the two.

A small observation: I'm not sure that passion is as important as commitment and dispassionate objectivity, in the long run. I spent most of my career in IT management, and what counted, long term, was commitment on the part of team members to suit up and show up, day after day, good days and bad days, put project requirements ahead of personal viewpoint, and work hard without emotional considerations getting in the way of objective judgment. To me, passion, which is essentially self-focused and emotional, can get in the way of both commitment and objectivity. I sense a lot of both objectivity and commitment in the Solus team, and I am thankful to see it.

xjdwc

tomscharbach

I feel you. You may find the original meaning of passion interesting. So I guess we both agree haha

Passion Meaning

jrsilvey

Eloquent and well stated.. all of it.

I agree with the sentiment of the original post. Solus Budgie allowed me to leave Windows. It's something I feel passionately about. My life would be incomplete without the security and comfort Solus provides me in my computing experience.

brent

jrsilvey Solus Budgie allowed me to leave Windows.

^^^ this. me too.
edit: formatting