GNOME knows why there's no Sun up in the sky

The answer to both is Stormy Peters (right).

Peters, previously in charge of open source strategy, policy and business practices at H-P, then director of community and partner programs at OpenLogic, will now be in charge of building the GNOME community.

GNOME, for those of you who came upon this blog by mistake, is a Linux desktop system.

Peters is also a fellow Rice graduate, so when I caught her via e-mail in Istanbul I had to ask what a Rice person like her was doing in a place like this.

The answer, "attracting new developers, working with existing sponsors and looking for new ones."

It's a more public-facing role than what she had at OpenLogic, which is an enterprise developer, and GNOME could use the visibility. Peters admitted part of her charge is "to make GNOME a household name."

This will be difficult.

That's because while enterprise Linux is very competitive with Microsoft, and handheld Linux is potentially competitive with everyone, most observers assume the desktop market has been ceded.

Not so, she said, but her answer did indicate a turn toward mobility for growth.

"The adoption of desktop Linux is just beginning. Just look at things like mobile devices and laptops like the Eee PC, which are used by average consumers. They want an intuitive, easy to use interface not a particular operating system. GNOME can provide that easy to use, intuitive interface."

One step I might suggest is that someone send me a GNOME laptop. I can break anything, I'm easily frustrated, and if I can get a GNOME review unit to do my work, your grandmother (or your Aggie boss) should be no problem.