Done right, it might help mitigate some of the outrage of those who find that some 3rd party software installed Growl on their system without (as best the recall) their explicit consent. That would save you guys time and aggravation in the long run.
It might also make it easier for some people who enjoy the benefits of Growl at home to get their employer to permit its use at work. On May 25, 2011, at 11:44 PM, Christopher Forsythe wrote: > > We've had almost nobody ever make this point. While I don't know if I agree > with exactly what you're after, it is a great idea to bring it up and discuss > it. Thanks. > > > On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 10:22 PM, Stephen Judd <[email protected]> > wrote: > All great answers, Peter. > And very reassuring answers. > Post them almost verbatim! > I suggest you put it in the Introduction page, with the subtitle "Who are > we?", right below "What does it do?". > > I offer a couple of edits here: > What is our business model? > We accept donations to cover expenses, but we are not trying to turn a > profit. > > I think on our 10th year I'll donate whatever we have to a charity (that kids > play one is pretty neat) > > We enjoy building useful apps that satisfy people's needs. Period. > We are not trying to capture a protocol, a format, a platform, a > traffic stream, > or any other element of the IT environment. > > > I think the wording is a bit forceful, but it's a good start. > > What do we want out of you? > Nothing but your satisfaction. > > Not even that. People don't have to like Growl, we just have to. > > > We do not require you to sign up for anything. > We do not even run ads. > Please do tell us about bugs, though, if you find any. > > > Posting actual names of team members is also reassuring, because it exposes > data > that wouldn't be volunteered if you were hatching some nefarious scam. > But don't confuse this motivation to make information overt with the > different but complimentary motivation to assign credit to the contributors. > The people who are trying to decide whether to use the product are usually > quite disjoint > from the people who want to find out exactly where the expertise and effort > are coming from. > sj > > > > I really don't think this matters that much to be honest. I know you do or > you wouldn't have typed all of this, so no need to argue the point really. We > have a lot of good faith out there with millions of people at this point is > what I'm saying really. > > Chris > > > > On 2011/05/25, at 10:35 PM, Peter Hosey wrote: > >> On May 25, 2011, at 17:09:53, Stephen wrote: >>> Foremost, I have a suggestion... >>> The second most important thing potential new users of a software system >>> need to know is: Who made this thing? That question stands as proxy for >>> several other questions: >>> What is their business model? >>> What are they likely to want out of me? >>> What are their motivations? >>> Why should I trust their product to not be malicious? >>> Why should I trust their product to not be accidentally damaging? >>> >>> Your webpage is slick and beautifully constructed, and its Table of >>> Contents lays out most of things I might want to know about: >>> Download|About|Applications|Styles|Documentation|Screenshots|Contact|Donate >>> However! Notice that none of my questions above are answered anywhere in >>> those documents! >>> >>> There are some companies whose software I would not trust to install on my >>> machine no matter what it did. (Some are wildly famous, most are wildly >>> not.) And so I'm not going to invest the time to read all the information >>> in that Table of Contents. I need to gain some insight into who you are >>> first. >> >> We're a bunch of volunteers, who work on Growl in our spare time as a hobby >> project. >> >>> What is their business model? >> >> We don't have one; we're not a business. >> >>> What are they likely to want out of me? >> >> Nothing. We accept donations, but we don't charge anything or run ads. >> >>> What are their motivations? >> >> Part fun; part working on a program that a lot of people (including us) find >> useful. >> >>> Why should I trust their product to not be malicious? >> >> Growl is open source (this one is addressed on the website by the >> availability of the source). Anybody can read our source code to see what >> we're doing, and build from that source themselves if they don't trust that >> we build it from unmodified source. >> >>> Why should I trust their product to not be accidentally damaging? >> >> You shouldn't. Everybody screws up. Always keep backups, especially when >> trying a program you've never tried before. >> >> But, we are competent, and nobody's lost data because of Growl yet (that we >> know of). >> >> If Growl or any other of our products does cause damage or any other >> problem, it is accidental, and we ask that please report it to us and be >> willing to answer our diagnostic questions so that we can fix it (if indeed >> it is a fault in our software). >> >>> Please lay it all out somewhere, and raise its profile right up to the >>> level of the ToC. I suspect you have good answers and it will do you a >>> world of good to be forthright about answering all those questions. >> >> There is a Team page listing our names (similarly to the credits list in the >> Growl preference pane), but it's a bit out of date and you're right that we >> should make it more prominent (I couldn't find a simple way to get to it >> from the front page). >> >> I like your idea of a more general “who are we?” page, too. We'll have to >> think some more about how best to do it. >> >>> Next a compliment... >>> Everyone's first question about a software product is: What does it do? >>> And that one you have answered. >> >> Thank you. >> >> You don't know how significant it is for someone to tell us that. We had >> problems for years making it clear what Growl does; it is very good to hear >> that we have done it. >> >>> (It is astonishing to survey the number of programs offered that assume you >>> know what it does without the builders ever saying. An echo of this >>> observation is in the number of programs on your computer right now whose >>> About menus do not explain the merest thing about the purpose of the >>> program.) >> >> Excellent point. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Growl Discuss" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en. >> > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Growl Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Growl Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en. -- eMail: mailto:[email protected] Home page: http://www.smart.net/~rlhamil/ Facebook, MySpace, AIM, Yahoo, etc: ask -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Growl Discuss" group. 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