On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 05:34:36PM -0800, Brad Templeton wrote: > On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 07:05:36PM -0500, Jay R. Ashworth wrote: > > On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 06:48:24PM -0500, andrew burke wrote: > > Screw the users. They're getting a *lot* of *really sweet* code FOR > > FREE. They didn't have to pay Isaac or, in general, anyone else, *any > > money* for what they got. And they were made aware that the code is > > prerelease -- if in no other fashion, by the version number. > > Ah, but this misses out on the two reasons we want the users. One > is only important to some developers, the other is important to all > developers.
I know, Brad. I was just being loud. :-) > The one that's only important to some is that some developers of OSS > code because they want their code to be used. If I didn't care about > users I wouldn't put any care into docs, or maintainability by others > or any number of other things. I think the majority of OSS coders > truly want their code to be used, many of them also want the accolades > and thanks and groupies. Some want donations. Some just want the > knowledge lots of people are making good use. Some don't care about > any of this. Isaac *says* he's in the latter category, most of the time (unless I'm misinterpreting him :-), but so does Linus. You end up with better code that way. > The second factor, however, is more compelling. Having more users makes > your software stronger. It makes it more tested and more robust. It > gets it tried on lots more platforms. And, perhaps most of all, it > gets more people to do development and add features and send in fixes. > Developers all start as users. Nobody sits down and says, "I think > I'll write code for this program I have no interest in running." > And some users even contribute useful ideas even if they don't have time to > code them. Debugging is parallelizable. Yes. > So while it's not true that you _owe_ the users anything, and they > should indeed be thankful -- it is still the case that "Screw the users" > is the wrong philosophy. Not for the users, but for the developers. Well, to a certain extent, there's another curve in that road: those who *do* those things *aren't users* anymore. They're developers, however small, and IMHO *any* contribution into the gift economy, however small, earns you brownie points (assuming it doesn't cost other people lots of dev time), that you get to spend later. > This doesn't mean bow down and treat the users better than paying > customers, to cater to their whims. It just recognizes their place > in the OSS value chain is not simply as leeching consumer. Certainly. But if you don't want to be "just" a user, you have to contribute *something* that the project leader *perceives* as a contribution, which sometimes takes positioning, or politics :-). And if you *don't*, then the desirability of your input -- especially in a project as early-stage as this -- is likely to be limited. It's a *wonderful* sociology class. Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth [EMAIL PROTECTED] Designer Baylink RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24 St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274 If you can read this... thank a system adminstrator. Or two. --me
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