Community Council/Council election Q4 2014/Candidate declarations

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Candidates for Q4 2014 Maemo Community Council elections

The following candidates intend to stand for election to the Maemo Community Council.


Candidate list :

  • chainsawbike
  • gerbick
  • Juiceme
  • HtheB
  • klinglerware
  • Mentalist Traceur
  • mr_pingu
  • Peterleinchen
  • pichlo
  • reinob
  • wikiwide


chainsawbike

hi,

I am posting to accept my nomination for the council election Q4 2014


I don't really say much...

if I am elected I will quietly do my best to support this community

aaron mcewan


gerbick

I’m William McBee, however most here know me by my Internet nickname of “gerbick”. That’s a nickname I’ve had online since 1995, so at times I’ll answer to that name first. I’ve been a: programmer/developer, designer, project manager, business owner, but most importantly a technology lover for over 20 years and a portfolio that includes Fortune 400 companies to startups and a lot in-between over the years. But most importantly, I’m a technology lover that truly believes in the meritocracy of open source projects which lead me to my Nokia 770 and ITT/TMO so many years ago.

If I’m elected, I will do my best to support this community that’s supported and educated me for the last 7+ years. Thanks.

Juiceme

Hi, I am juiceme and I am running for Maemo Community Council again.

Many of you might already know that I have been Maemo Council member two consecutive periods. Again, I thought hard about stepping forward for re-election, but I might still have something to give for the community, even as I'd like to see new people join up. I do have lots of other obligations currently so my time is pressed but being in the Council is such a fun that I decided to run for it again.

My spark into joining maemo.org came when I purchased a N9 device, my first Linux-based mobile phone. Previously I had owned Symbian devices since early nineties but I never did any SWDEV on those as my interests were on big iron. N9 was the first small embedded device that had the same tools I was used to working with so naturally I was delighted on the possibilities it offered.

I am ever so sad that I have not had the honour of ever owning a N900 device, but I have ordered Neo900 on hopes that it will suit my needs :)

My current daily driver is the Jolla device (I got mine on the very Launching Gala last November, it's the device #240 ) Also I am looking forward to getting my TOHKBD2 for it, that cannot happen soon enough since a HW keyboard is truly what makes or breaks a device.

I have degrees in EE & ME, and some university courses in Math before dropping out due to having not enough time to do family/work/university simultaneously My current occupation is in SW development for Telecommunication Systems at Nokia. (This is the real Nokia I am talking about, nothing to do with Microsoft) Previously I have done RF design, HW design and Test System design. I have worked in this industry for about 2 decades.

My passion is Free Software, Libre software even, and I am known to be fairly vocal FS advocate on my workplace. I use exclusively Linux/Unix variants in my work and on my own time, and am known for pestering people to drop proprietary/legacy OS'es and switch to Linux.

My SW skills include c, python, test automation and tool creation. I like kernel work and prefer to use console over any GUI's. Usually my first take at anything is to write a bash script 

   - Juice -

HtheB

Hi all!

I'm Halit Bal, better known as HtheB, and I'm a member since 2009. I'm also a long time moderator of the TMO board. I really love this community, and am helping it in anyway I can. It is also the first time I get nominated, and I'm accepting this offer to help our community.

The N900, N950 and N9 are my favourite devices. These devices have let me go into the open world of Linux. Possibilities are endless. I'm also still waiting for the Neo900 to keep this community alive. A lot of Jolla sailors are still here with the Maemo community, even though TMO is not an official Jolla board. This community is like a family for me (and for many of us). This community should stay alive!

Edit: Why would I want to enter the council? Isn't it obvious? We are all going for 1 goal: our community. We want the best four our community; N900, N9, Neo900, Jolla, even Android (ports), and everything else that belongs that brings our community more close to each other.

Maemo.org is our home, and we all grew up within this house. Even some are parted from this place, I'm very sure, that even those parted users are still carrying Maemo very deeply within their hearts....

That's all I want to say....

Game on! :)

Best Regards, Halit


klinglerware

Hello everyone,

My name is Ryan Cristal, though you may recognize me as “klinglerware” on TMO. I've participated in the Maemo community since 2007, when a newly purchased N800 brought me to ITT. Since that time, I've owned and enjoyed the N900 and N9. In fact, I still use both the N900 and N9 on a daily basis. I am also a hopeful supporter of the Neo900.

Over the years on ITT/TMO, I've seen the focus of community interest change as technology has changed and as consumer tastes, developer interests, and corporate priorities have evolved. Accordingly, we've seen waves of strong community contributors come and go as the winds have shifted.

And yet, the community remains. The wave of new N800/N810 owners did not “kill” ITT/TMO, neither did the even larger waves of N900 and N9 owners, nor did the infusion of Jolla/Sailfish users and topics. What this tells me is that while the community can be fragmented, the community can also absorb our many interests and can even reinvent itself along the way.

I first came to the Maemo world as an “end user”. But, as with many of us who've stayed, I've learned a lot about Linux, the command line, and how to take advantage of the relative openness of these platforms to fix issues and tweak my user experience to my liking. I've learned that even as an end user, engaging with developers and maintainers by filing bugs, providing feedback, and making the occasional donation, can positively impact the community as a whole.

Though I'm relatively quiet on the boards, I've learned so much from this community over the years. I have reaped the benefits of what the community has been able to accomplish and maintain, especially in keeping Maemo/Harmattan/Sailfish useful and relevant. If elected, I will take this as an opportunity to give back to the group and to do my part in keeping our community enabled into the future.

Thank you, Ryan 


Links to Q & A's:
    1. What are your interest regarding harmattan platform? 
    2. What's your attitude towards the role of Council in the Maemo Community e.V.? 
    3. What can we as a community do in preparation of the soon to be shut down Nokia store, or whether a community response is even necessary? 
    4. What is your main phone now and over years?
    5. What is your take on Neo900 and Jolla?

Mentalist Traceur

Hello all,

As I understood it I had until it stopped being 2014-13-12 UTC time to accept my nomination, so this should be just barely in time. I delayed until the last possible moment because I was deeply unsure if I should accept or not.

My involvement in the community has been very limited since my last council term about a year or so ago. I have been rather occupied with real life concerns, and as a result, I missed a lot of the politics that has happened since then. As a result it will take me a while to get up to speed at to exactly where we are (as I understood it we did transition to a German e.V. organization, or are in the process of making said transition, and that there has been some serious disagreement about exactly what direction to take in several matters of how the community will function - I am not fully caught up on how things have developed since then either). I prefer to be properly informed before taking on any responsibility, which was part of my hesitation.

However, the same core stuff has remained true through my entire Maemo community involvement (lurking starting in 2009 as the N900 was just being released, active posting after getting my first N900 in the summer of 2010): I consider it of great importance to have an as-open-as-possible and libre-as-possible mobile platform, due to both deep ethical considerations, and personal convenience and preference. I still think this community is one of the most viable chances we currently have of keeping that goal.

I also realize, however, than many in the community are 'newer' than I, and have been N9 and Jolla users (I am also unsure how we currently view Jolla users - as part of this community as far as Council is concerned, or not). I have both an N9 and a Jolla device, but I am still an N900 fan primarily and it is that part of the community I always interacted with the most. As a result, I might be less acutely aware of the difficulties and goals those members of our community. Of course, if elected I would strive to listen to all our members and do my best to understand and empathize with all of their concerns, but this is something to keep in mind.

Overall, if I am elected I will do my best to be informed by the needs and wants of this community, and do whatever is within my power to make those needs happen.

I hope that if I am elected, it is because people genuinely think I am one of the best choices for the position. For that to be the case, you voters need to be informed about me, more so than I can fit into this email. Now, for those who remember my involvement, whether my posting on talk.maemo.org or my term on the Council, you may already know enough to decide if you wish to vote for me. But for any and all of you who wish to know more about me or how I might approach this position, I welcome you to email me, whether privately or on this mailing list, or by talk.maemo.org PM, with any questions you may have.

Yours truly, mu'o mi'e .aleksandr.kojevnikov. (Alexander Kozhevnikov / "Mentalist Traceur") do'u

mr_pingu

Hi,

I am Karsten van Herwaarden and hereby I am accepting my nomination. You can find me as mr_pingu on TMO and at freenode my registered nick is MrPingu.


Never really been into maemo politics but atleast I can do something for the community, this way.


Kind Regards, Karsten

peterleinchen

Another okay,

I just decided to do it once more. Put me from undecided to "yeah, I go for it".

-- But let me state one thing: I like to serve council one more time and will happily accept if voted. But take a close look to the other (valuable) candidates, please! (something about me)

As "requested" by RzR:

  • My history:
- used lots of S40/S60 and other Nokias
- had used N95 (first true 'smartphone', loved it) and N97 (hated it) before, modded those Symbians a lot and had fun, but N95 should have had touch at (totally) delayed publishment and then there was no real "big development"
- started to use Maemo5/N900 around summer 2010, still am
- in summer/autumn 2012 I won a N950 and soon got me a used N9 to not stress the N950, hated Harmattan (due to aegis) and used it as dumbphone, but time by time (latest with open mode kernel) I started to love it too, and still do so
- 2015 may become year of Neo
- never touched Android, BB, iOS and will probably never touch the so un-like one. [okay I checked out my friend's ones, and ports to N9 do not count here ;)]
  • I am all in for the Maemo e.V. as I like Maemo to survive.
  • About Council I still see it necessary to be made of volunteers from (talk.)maemo.org members. They should be elected (of course not be equipped with a "power mandate"), as I do not see another way to catch attention of public and 'shanghai' them else. Further time will tell and maybe council can get abolished at a later stage (but definitely not with a 10 member e.V.!).

What is your take on - Neo900 - Jolla

Here are my POVs.

- About Neo I would like to see it succeed as soon as possible!

Lucky we are we have the FPTF team (few of the most talented/accepted devs on Maemo) so I am sure we will get Maemo on Neo. But at the same time I am 'concerned' about its company leader's view on Maemo and the joint points between Neo/Maemo. I would like him to change his mind again (of course the Neo will never come equipped with Maemo!). How to?

- About Jolla, I would like to keep my mouth shut. Just so much that I prolly will never touch a device. I liked the project but then they lost me (hardware wise, software/OS getting better, but in the end it was their CC behaviour). [-- I have to admit I still like the idea]

Nevertheless I still have the strong opinion we already do, and should keep to, provide those users a base here on maemo.org!

pichlo

Hello Maemo,

My name is Peter and I am a Maemo addict. I go by the name 'pichlo' on talk.maemo.org and in the garage. My latest exploit was to accept a nomination for the Q4 2014 council election in the relevant TMO thread and this is my announcement of the same in the mailing list as requested. Is there anything else I need to do? It all seems a bit complicated to me so I apologize if I have muddled up something.

Sincerely, pichlo

reinob

Cheers all,

I'm Bernardo Reino, known as reinob in maemo.org (and now also on IRC :)

After passive reading of TMO I joined the community in 2011 when I bought my first N900 (now I have three).

I realize that I'm not that much of a "community" person. Meaning I don't care much about (maemo) politics and other non-technical issues, including things like the wiki or repositories. I usually compile my own stuff and publish (if at all) a .tgz a la Slackware.

Anyway, I do have an interest in keeping Maemo and the N900 alive, including future developments such as the Neo900 and the fremantle porting. Note that Harmattan and Sailfish are not really high in my list of interests (above Android and iOS, but that doesn't say much).

In any case, I'd be glad to, if elected, assist in whatever it is I could do. I believe (or hope) that I'm on good terms with techstaff people (which lately is not as obvious as it should be concerning the council), so I could help there.

If there's anything you need to know, please let me know.

Cheers, Bernardo aka reinob

Wikiwide

> TODO: Candidate Declaration

Answers to some questions asked - feel free to add more questions:

Harmattan platform

I haven't personally used Maemo 6 aka Harmattan, since I installed Nemo Mobile on my Nokia N950 very quickly. However, I would be happy for Harmattan to continue being supported.

I am all for diversity of operating systems, and that includes mobile devices.

Role of Council in MCeV?

Council should be kept, as it is more accessible and community-oriented body. Board aka e.V. deals more with legal issues, bank account and such.

Yes, having separate layers can be confusing. Let's see:

It's no more confusing than a country's government, with federal and state parliaments, local councils, and such.

Shut down of Nokia store

Make sure that useful applications from Nokia store are mirrored in community repositories. Source, too, if possible, not only binary.

I personally remember Panorama as the only useful application for Fremantle, from the whole Nokia store. But, my memory may be too short.

Main phone now and over years?

I am greatly attached to qwerty hardware keyboard. A phone without one is not a phone I am going to use - even if you gift me one, I will be likely to either sell it or give it away, depending on circumstances.

  1. Nokia N900 - my first mobile phone, and the daily driver over the years;
    1. micro-USB port broken off the board, hoping to attach a new one.
  2. Nokia N950 - was used as phone for a short time;
    1. SIM holder broke (three pins out of six), and N950 was gathering dust;
      1. recently I tore away the SIM holder, and am waiting for new SIM holder to arrive, to solder it to the board;
    2. will be incredibly difficult to repair if something breaks in it.
  3. BlackBerry Passport - has interesting capacitive keyboard
    1. not going to even try to get it, because of the locked (unless I'm mistaken?) bootloader.
  4. Yotaphone 2 - has interesting approach with e-ink screen;
    1. will be acceptable only with Sailfish-or-Nemo on it, instead of Android.

Also, can somebody tell me which of these devices do separate modem from main-board, and which of them do allow "malicious modem" to possibly take control over whole system? It's said that most smart-phones are vulnerable to baseband-processor-attack; including BlackBerries and Cryptophone (Galaxy S3?).

So far, the only phones which were heard by me to be secure from "malicious modem" (or "weak modem" controlled by "malicious tower"; not much difference, for end-user) are Blackphone and Neo900. If you can make the list longer, you are welcome.

Neo900 and Jolla?

  • I am definitely supporting Neo900. Given that supply of 'new' Nokia N900 and spare parts for them is not limitless, manufacture of new devices capable of running Fremantle is desperately needed, to avoid slow decrease in number of Fremantle users.

Even though Neo900 is currently in prototype stage, it is already bringing positive results through existence of Fremantle Porting Task Force, with aim to reverse-engineer some of the most complex "binary blobs".

Also, Neo900 is raising awareness about security issues in current smartphones. Which are largely getting ignored by most mobile phone manufacturers, if I understand correctly.

  • Jolla... They have a nice idea with the Other Half. However, I am still not convinced that Sailfish OS is any better than Nemo Mobile.

And, I would definitely get a TOHKBD as the Other Half, if I ever got Jolla. Though, thermal imager also looks nice. Is it possible to stack two Other Halves?..

Overall: I am not currently getting Jolla (too flat), but it's an absurdly interesting device.

Best wishes,

Wikiwide.

Links

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