On Apr 25, 2008, at 11:04 PM, Mark Haury wrote: > Eero Tamminen wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> Once again talking about the hobby developer... >> >> ext Jac Kersing wrote: >> >>> However for a developer, when the software you release becomes a >>> success >>> and is used by a fair amount of users there is no way to keep up >>> with >>> all the messages generated. Reading and answering messages in mail >>> and >>> interacting on forums consumes most if not all the time available. >>> Then >>> development stalls and no bugs get fixed. A developer simply has a >>> limitted amount of time available and needs to make choices. >>> >> For example when your spouse is once again commenting on your "other, >> non-paid job" and how it takes time away from your kids, you might >> not >> have that much patience with users demands which are unreasonable (to >> you). If you need to select between your kid vs. a rude user, >> the decision is really a no-brainer. >> >> >> - Eero > 1. It's becoming clear that part of the problem is that software is > being released as public release or even "stable beta" that is > really very much alpha. If you're releasing software that is riddled > with bugs (or simply insufficient functionality) to a wide audience > then yes, you're going to get a lot of questions and complaints. The > answer is to keep it quiet until it's ready for the average > (clueless) end-user. That goes against the a very important open source philosophy: "Release early, release often!" > 2. If it's just a hobby, why are you releasing your software to the > public? Because this is how open source works. > If you're only doing it for yourself, then keep it to yourself. If > you're doing it for others, then you have to accept the fact that > they may find serious problems or find that it lacks functionality > that is critically important to them. Because open source software can benefit others without you actively dealing with end user's and their overwhelming sense of entitlement. I, for one, am very happy that the GPE folks decided to provide the community with their software. > And yes, anyone who tries your software most certainly *is* doing > you a favor, *especially* if they find a problem of any sort. You > either want others to benefit from your work, or you don't. If you > don't, then don't make it available. The world isn't this black and white. > The bottom line is that yes, I most certainly *am* doing you a favor > by spending my time with this, even if I run out of patience > sometimes or ask a dumb question from time to time. And we're really > on the same side, even if you can't see it. The unpleasant tone you started out with would seem to suggest otherwise. _______________________________________________ maemo-users mailing list maemo-users@xxxxxxxxx https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
