There seem to be quite a few varieties of communication problems on this list. One issue is that you have to remember that this is the "commercial" variety of open source as Ximian is selling professional tech support for a product--I'm not saying this is good or bad, just that expectations have to be further adjusted in terms of how new features are introduced. The focus of the developers is going to be different than a small, open source project with a few core developers. I don't know how things work at Ximian, but I suspect that they are more concerned about what support issues will arise from introducing new, and possibly buggy or non-standard, features that could be difficult to provide tech support for eg. complaints that marking e-mail urgent is "broken" when you send e-mail to client X. There is going to be some culture of CYA with any commercial product because you can't use the cop-out of "We told you this was free software so you're SOL until we get around to fixing that bug."
There also seems to be a lot of loaded communication with an emotionally charged subtext. Call it "unprofessional" or "lack of tact" if you will, it seems to spawn a lot of unproductive communication as people get offended, attack, or get defensive. I wish that people would be more responsible about what they are putting out there. Some people on this list are just not tactful and sometimes plain rude--that is their hang-up, so just grumble to yourself that so-and-so is a whatever and try not to take it personally. I won't think any less of you because someone else made an assinine comment that was directed at you, in fact I will probably think less of the person who sent it. I apologize for my own smart-assy, sarcastic remark about people marking e-mail "important"--it was about my own frustrations and had nothing to do with this e-mail list at all. On Sun, 2002-06-02 at 23:00, Seth Hollen wrote: > I agree, that's not a professional comment. The original author was > simply pointing out that some else had figured out a way to do something > similar, not that something was better or even that it could be applied > to Evolution. > > Take care, > > Seth > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > On Sun, 2002-06-02 at 22:20, Ken Barber wrote: > This is an example of the attitude that I spoke of in my first post to this > list. > > Apparently no one is allowed to challenge any statements by the developers > claiming that something cannot be done, even when there is proof that someone > else IS doing it. > > If they're not interested in improving Evolution, then I believe that I am > wasting my time here. > > Have a good life. > > Ken Barber > -- > "It is only your own knowledge that you can claim to possess or ask others to > consider. Your mind is your only judge of truth -- and if others dissent > from your verdict, reality is the court of final appeal." > --Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged" > > > On Sunday 02 June 2002 04:07 am, Not Zed wrote: > > On Mon, 2002-06-03 at 03:30, Ken Barber wrote: > > > On Thursday 30 May 2002 03:14 am, Not Zed wrote: > > > > If we mark a message 'urgent' there's no saying that any client will do > > > > anythign with it, infact there isn't a 'standard' way to indicate such > > > > a thing anyway. So if we did it, it would probably be messy and only > > > > work fully with another copy of evolution. > > > > > > It works just fine in KMail..... > > > > This happens to be a list about evolution, if you hadn't noticed. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > evolution maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution -- "Jonathan F. Dill" ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) UMBI CARB IT Coordinator Experimental Support Site http://concept.umbi.umd.edu _______________________________________________ evolution maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution
