On Tuesday 08 October 2002 08:38 am, Todd Flinders wrote: > Let's not forget the end users might also be programmers. As a programmer > I appreciate the increased efficiency and better design. What if we want > to tinker with the code? What I'm trying to say is that there's more than > one angle to address. It's an evolving process. If there are ideas to > improve the system, that's great, but I don't think we should get too > harsh.
There is an important point to consider, however. If one is intending to be a commercial vendor of software, one of the MAIN considerations has to be useability/ease-of-use. Ease of code maintenance or code efficiency for programmers MUST be a secondary concern. Debian can get away with the latter, as can a lot of raw open source projects (unfortunately). In all too many cases, developers of opensource software don't give a damn for the user, all they care about is having fun coding, making efficient code, scratching an itch. If the interface to their code is a useability nightmare, too bad - don't use it (their typical response). For a commercial company seeking users and money from users, this is a bankrupt attitude and is economically untenable. While I can appreciate that revamping code can make it easier to maintain or update from the developer point of view, you must NEVER lose sight of the fact that end-user useability issues are very VERY important and should actually take front and center station. It doesn't matter how easy to maintain, how stable, or how efficient a piece of code is if it is simply not easy to use. Many simply will not use it or will move to another distro/product that IS easy to use. I am not actually taking a nasty shot at Mandrake here, as it remains my distro of choice at this time. I do seek to remind the Mandrake developers that they are a commercial operation seeking new users and big money-making accounts. You cannot, under any circumstances, sideline useability/ease-of-use for the sake of the ease and comfort of your developers and still remain a viable commercial enterprise. There seems to be some valid complaints about the revamping of rpmdrake from the user point of view, for instance. I don't know personally because I cancelled my 9.0 order based on reviews online and comments in this list - I will wait for 9.1 to give Mandrake a chance to fix new bugs and useability issues. That said, it may be/should be possible to simply correct some of these user issues without wrecking the easy-to-maintain-and-upgrade desires of the Mandrake developers. As much as is possible, and even at the expense of some developer/coder comfort, the end-user experience should be maintained or enhanced - this is what makes more customers and return customers. praedor -- Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor...the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and gladly so. --unknown
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