[Desktop_printing] Kicking off the Open Printing Summit

[Bastian, Waldo]

>Hi all,
>
>If you are on the desktop_printing mailing list, you have been
contacted
>about the Open Printing Summit which is tentatively scheduled for the
>March/April timeframe.  In order to close on the timeframe / location
>for this meeting, I have put together a very short survey for everyone
>on this list to take.  It asks the following questions...
>
>      * Name
>      * Desktop Organization / Project
>      * Company
>      * What is your tentative plan for attending the Open Printing
>        Summit?
>      * Timeframe preferences
>      * Location - East Coast Geography Options
>      * Can your company/organization provide a meeting place for the
>        summit? The meeting will be limited to 50 people. Would need
>        some room for breakout working sessions.
>      * Please enter any agenda items that you would like to see at the
>        summit that are not currently on the agenda.
>
>Take the survey at:
>
>http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB224WDCE5A4K
>
>The Open Printing Summit logistics (including the agenda) will be
>tracked at:
>
>http://groups.osdl.org/workgroups/dtl/desktop_architects/desktop_printi
ng/
>
>The starting point for the Open Printing Summit agenda is:
>
>1. Making printing user friendly - it should just work
>      * Usability
>      * Consistent methods for printing, job handling, and printer
>        administration
>2. Hardware support
>      * Drivers and PPDs, preferably from printer manufacturers and
free
>        software
>      * Plug and Print (not plug and play; plug the printer and play
for
>        hours with different drivers)
>      * Auto-download and auto-install of drivers
>3. OpenPrinting.org implementation
>4. CUPS 1.2 integration with desktops, apps, drivers, distros, etc.
>5. More?

I think the printing summit will offer an excellent opportunity to
discuss whether it makes sense to work towards a certification &
branding program for Linux & Printers. The key ingredients for such a
discussion would be input from printer vendors and Linux distributors
and their position on such an initiative. The printing summit will be a
unique event where representatives of both will be together.

If sufficient support exists for the general idea of a certification and
branding program the technical implications could be considered: What
would be meaningful technical criteria to decide whether a specific
printer model is supported on a specific Linux disitribution and is it
possible to define technical certification criteria in such a way that
they can be applied to printer models and distributions in isolation, as
opposed to specific combinations of printer model and distribution?

Cheers,
Waldo
-- 
Linux Client Architect - Channel Software Operation - Intel Corporation