Point taken ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Brown" <da...@westcontrol.com> To: <mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 4:22 AM Subject: Re: [Mspgcc-users] Win98 Segmentation fault
> Douglas, > > You seem to have misunderstood the idea of free, open source software, and > what that implies. The authors have far more limited resources, especially > for testing, than commercial developers. The produce software which you can > try to use if you want to - they give no guarentees. They also give no > guarentees that information (such as "this port should run fine on windows") > are strictly accurate. For the majority of people doing serious development > work, "windows" means something in the NT line. It is what the msp430-gcc > group use (when they use windows), and it is what most users use. If you > look pick ten random major open source projects that have windows ports, you > will find that nine of them refer almost entirely to NT, and say that you > might get it to work on Win9x if you are lucky. > > Can we dispense with the innapropriate car analogies? Just to make it clear > here - if you pay money for a car, you can expect it to work like a car or > you can demand you money back - that is a fundamental consumer right (in > most countries, anyway). If someone gives you a car and says "Here - try > this if you want to. I can't be sure that it works, of course, but you are > free to do what you want with it" then you have no rights for complaint > unless you can prove that they deliberately sabotaged the car in an attempt > to harm you. And the equivilent of "spilled the passengers onto the road" > is "trashed your machine after installation" - this would have raised a lot > more alarms than a "failed to run" problem. > > Things would be different if someone were to burn the tools onto a CD, and > package it along with a simple jtag debugger and a printed copy of the > manual, and sell the package for $100 (perhaps an idea for the msp430 gcc > developers?). Then you have a right to expect the software to work > (although not necessarily bug-free), despite the warenty on the gcc code. > > > Do you understand why people have been reacting negatively to your posts? I > can only really speak for myself, but I think others share these thoughts > (and I expect to be flamed if that is not the case). It's not because no > one cares about whether msp430-gcc runs on Win9x or not (we would all like > it to run well on as many platforms as possible - but Win9x has very few > potential users, and takes a disproportionate amount of testing and > development effort). It's the implication that the developers are > responsible for the problems some people have running msp430-gcc on Win9x, > and that they are obliged to fix it, and that you can merely wait for new > version to be posted. Open source software is much more of a two-way > process. Lots of users are not interested or able to debug or fix the > source code (although if you complain enough, someone will tell you to do > exactly that), but there are lots of other ways you can volunteer to help. > Providing information about what worked and what did not work (such as you > have done now, regarding the two builds), is a big help, and offering to > help testing is another. If you want to get the latest version of > msp430-gcc to work on Win9x, then ask how you can help - don't just > complain. > > David > > > > > > > > You miss the point entirely.....The issue is continuing to pretend that 03 > > 06 is a solution for the WIN98 or WINME platforms wastes time. The answer > > was to use an earlier version 02 10 that doesn't have the compatibility > > issue and at the same time alert others not to waste their time trying out > > 03 06 for WIN98 and WinME. > > I corresponded with an author who wrote a project article in Circuit > Cellar > > and he too was unaware if the issue so sadly many readers assumed 03 06 > was > > viable for Win98 or WinMe. The article went to press and much time was > > wasted by readers trying this out on win98 winME. Some will want to fix 03 > > 06 some will not, others will see it as a lost cause, but nobody wants to > be > > misled. > > Now as to warranties misrepresentation is not a warranty issue. You can't > > give a 4 seater Ford away with a back seat that spills the passengers > onto > > the road and avoid culpability by saying it wasn't warranted. Nor can you > > say you ought to have bought a Chevy .If your Ford doesn't carry > passengers > > you have to rip the seats out to avoid culpability. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Peter Jansen" <peter.jan...@aad.gov.au> > > To: <mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > > Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:48 AM > > Subject: Re: [Mspgcc-users] Win98 Segmentation fault > > > > > > > I have seen this posting about the segmentation faults a few times now. > > > I think the answer is if you have the problem and can reproduce it then > > > fix it. The source for all the bits are available so figure out what is > > > wrong and post a patch to which ever piece of code is causing the > problem. > > > > > > If you don't want to fix it and suggest someone else should who has no > > > interest in fixing problems on a system they are not using then I think > > > you will be waiting a long time. > > > > > > If you don't want to fix it then do what is suggested and use a platform > > > that others are using and is known to work. > > > > > > Its a free open source project, if you have a problem fix the problem > > > and sent the patch to the project owner. If you read the warranty it > > > states that the product is not fit for any purpose but may be useful, > > > well if you want to use it in Windows 98 I guess its not useful. > > > > > > I don't want to look at the problem as I don't run windows 98 (because > > > its unstable and Win2k/Linux are fine). > > > > > > Regards, > > > > > > -- > > > Peter Jansen > > > STS > > > Australian Antarctic Division > > > Channel Highway > > > Kingston > > > TAS 7050 > > > AUSTRALIA > > > Ph (03) 62 323 533 > > > Fax (03) 62 323 351 > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek > Welcome to geek heaven. > http://thinkgeek.com/sf > _______________________________________________ > Mspgcc-users mailing list > Mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mspgcc-users
