On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Matthew Seaman < m.sea...@infracaninophile.co.uk> wrote:
> Glen Barber wrote: > >> On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 5:03 AM, Wojciech Puchar >> <woj...@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> wrote: >> >>> You remind me of a tech I once worked with who thought all customers >>>> were stupid. Maybe they were... >>>> >>> the difference is that FreeBSD is free software. >>> >>> or is not? >>> >> >> How is that relevant? >> >> > The tech was being paid to do a job, so he really was contractually obliged > to be nice to the customers. FreeBSD isn't under any sort of obligation, > contractual or otherwise to do anything. > > Well, apart from the exceptions where developers have been hired or given > grants to implement bits of functionality, or companies have decided to > task > their employees with developing FreeBSD drivers[*]. Even so, while the > obligation of any individual may not be directly to the FreeBSD project > itself, > the result is effectively just that. > > Not to mention the moral obligation that developers accept to debug and > maintain > the code that they give to the project. Sure, no one can demand that a > developer > drop everything and /fix/ /this/ /now/ but most developers, most of the > time, > will respond extremely quickly to well-formed bug reports concerning their > areas > of interest. > > The difference is the degree and nature of the motivation to work on > FreeBSD > related things. Ideally developers are self-motivated. They do it because > they want to, not because they have to or because they won't get paid if > they > don't[+]. It's not an entirely black and white distinction -- after all, > employees aren't slaves. If they really can't stand being nice to the > idiot > customers, they always have the option of seeking alternative employment. > Cheers, > There being no more need to add anything, with that simple and clear clarification from Dr. Matthew, let us all bow and say Amen! to this thread. Amen. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Okay guys. This is Kenya. You pay taxes because you feel philanthropic, unlike our MPs!" -- Kenneth Marende, Speaker, 10th Parilament. _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"