Desktop menu - new category

[Paul Bloch]

Here are some suggestions: Spirit, Spirituality

I think these are broad enough descriptors as it embraces the larger
context for People of the Book (The Abrahamic traditions) as well as
people of other faiths that will likely make a similar
culture/religion-centric distro (like Buddhists, Jains, Hindus,
Integral Theorists, Traditional Tribal religions, etc.).  And as
submenus you could have groups like "Values,
Cosmology/Creation/Science, Sacred Texts/Books, Prayers/Chants, Tools
(I have no clue what Tools would be as a digital artifact but
Religions all have "tools" in the physical world [carpets, candles,
bells, clocks/alarms to let them know when to pray, meditation timers,
etc.).

It's actually an interesting trend to observe that as linux becomes
more proliferated, especially in the Asias and Africa, we'll witness
more and more "localizations" of linux.  I had an interesting talk
with my brother, a developer for call2action.com (an upcoming social
network for being proactive in the world) and I think it's hard to
recognize completely of the significance in this trend.  Commercial
operating systems don't release "Christian versions" or "Muslim
versions."  They can't for political and business reasons, and
probably also, because no one has ever thought about it.  Linux is
outside the confines of business and even politics, it's a globally
shared utility that will begin to mirror the cultures in which it
becomes embedded.  From their we have another interesting concept, the
dynamic between the individual and separate development (evolution) of
those operating systems and the global conversation and adherence to
standards.  It'll be a very interesting form of global culture that
also facilitates and enriches local culture and visa versa.  Not to
mention that we are sharing a common resource, the source code.  Which
if you compare that to a well, it's like everyone is learning to drink
from the same well.  And when you drink water from the same well,
traditionally, that means you are of the same culture, the same tribe.
 Muslisms are sharing with Christians and they with Buddhists, etc.

But there could be a flip side to this or even cogs that stop the
process: forking, segregation, and increasing cultural isolationism.

And this even goes outside of Religion.  What if my group of friends,
or my town, or my city, or my state, has its own version of linux?
One that we customize and distribute amongst ourselves, that we design
around our world?  It's the long tail of operating systems.
Interesting to think about.

Cheers, and goodluck with your operating system!  I'd love to see some
screenshots of it, are you integrating muslim motifs and calligraphy?
I LOVE arabic calligraphy, it's some of the most beautiful writing in
the world.  It would be cool to see if there to integrate cultural
images/patterns, and calligrams into the OS.  It could look really
beautiful.  A calligram of the logo would be awesome.

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 12:40 PM, Justin Clift <justin at salasaga.org> wrote:
> Vincent Untz wrote:
>  > Le mercredi 09 avril 2008, à 22:32 +0200, jmehdi a écrit :
>  >> Hi,
>  >>
>  >> I'm the admin of the Ubuntu Muslim Edition and I want to add a
>  >> "Religion" menu in the Applications Gnome menu.
>  >> I saw here:
>  >> http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/menu-spec-0.9.html#category-registry
>  >> that no category exists to classify "religious" software. What do you
>  >> think about adding such a category?
>  >> Or should I create a "X-Religion" category? Is it best practice?
>  >
>  > I guess it can make sense to add Religion as an additional category. We
>  > just need to choose one main category for this. From the list, I'd say
>  > the ones that look more or less related are Education and Utility.
>  > Utility makes most sense to me.
>  >
>  > Opinions?
>
>  Actually, the thing that I'm having the most trouble with at the moment
>   is deciding upon the correct er... description word.
>
>  "Religion" is probably not the best choice, because many people of
>  spiritual faith *strongly* object to the use of their faith being
>  described as a "Religion".
>
>  Specifically remembering having a conversation a while ago with some
>  Charismatic Christians, and who very much hate their belief being
>  described as a "Religion".
>
>  To them, the word "Religion" has meaning they find abhorrent (?!), and
>  not related to their beliefs.
>
>  Better description word suggestions?
>
>
>  Regards and best wishes,
>
>  Justin Clift
>
>
>  > Vincent
>
> >
>
>
>  --
>  Salasaga  -  Open Source eLearning IDE
>                http://www.salasaga.org
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