So I'll come right out and say it: I don't believe for one second in the power of open source for end user products. I compare what the fate of Quicksilver has been since Alcor abandoned it, to where we would be had he stayed onboard, and that's enough for me to shudder at the notion of developing software this way. When you have a bunch of mostly impartial parties hacking around on code that's been left like an unwanted child, it's no wonder the application has been declared "dead" by its once evangelists. Not to fault any of the current contributors, whose work I appreciate immensely, simply the tragically flawed system. The best software is usually developed by a small team of developers who treat their product like their baby, exhibiting full control of their masterpiece; Quicksilver is then probably the worst candidate in history to go open source, simply for what's at stake, but you can't change the past.
That said, I want Quicksilver to succeed with every fiber of my being, so just this once, I'll go against my strongest convictions, and try in any way possible to get Quicksilver back on track. Unfortunately open source doesn't let developers make money from work, losing an entire dimension of incentive, so having a finally working, up-to-date version of Quicksilver on the Mac App Store where it belongs may be a lofty goal as a free app. We may never see the day, but I want to do everything I can in to inch toward that goal. I've tried Alfred, I've tried Launchbar, but their approach is so limited and leaves almost zero room for growth that using those does nothing but make me want Quicksilver to finally regain the legitimacy it more than any other app deserves. So here are my questions. I'm a freelance Cocoa Developer who, while still learning new things each and every day, feel comfortable enough now with my skills to dive in head first. I've had some experience with Quicksilver before (I wrote the OpenMeta Tagging Plugin), but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. The question is, where do I start? What needs to be done? What would be the best course of action to actually know enough to fix those seemingly trivial bugs that have gone unfixed for years? Part of me wants to be ambitious and take a month to study the entire source from front to back, but I know that's sure to fall flat. I apologize for the rant, but it's very sad to see some of the greatest software potential of this generation stagnate so badly with such a flawed system. Any help or encouragemente would be greatly appreciated.
