Do you think if someone or a group could provide a framework dedicated to supporting this scenario it could help open-source developers and users in terms of both time and money? Or do you think it wouldn't have a very significant effect on these inherent hurdles? Do you think such a framework is even feasible? Are most open-source developers self trained or do most have some sort of educational background like a university or tech school? (Not that there are probably too many universities or tech school that teach good software engineering).... I wonder if a payed subscription to this type of framework would be effective. Would people pay to subscribe to a automatic trouble shooting repository. I'm guessing not... > -----Original Message----- > From: civileme [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 11:05 AM >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Mark Johnson; >> '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' >> Subject: Re: Polite software (was RE: [newbie] Is this a joke?) >> >> This is not a gripe, just an observation, but it seems like >> for most people >> (including me) their linux system is usually in a constant state of >> broken-ness, or in some way always marginally handicapped. >> Why is that? I >> realize that software is difficult to write just in general >> and operating >> systems and things like desktops are even more difficult, but >> it appears >> that there is a fundamental problem with how software deals >> with exceptions. > > ============================================================ > > Well, the real story is that we don't spend enough money on > software. If you > want good error messages, it has to come from the programmer. > The programmer > needs time and training for this to happen. Right now, we > are against a wall > with people regularly working 14-hour days just to get a > distro to you. Bugs > cannot be solved because the model of inspection is proven > not to work, by no > less than Microsoft where every programmer is shadowed by a tester. > > Proper design is needed so the job gets done right the first > time--then the > level of bugfixes will be lower, the interaction of various pieces of > software will be lesser, and the initial product will be much > better. This > requires training, and this training is _VERY_ expensive. Take 30 > programmers out of action for 3 weeks to train them, make > another three weeks > by magic for them to plan out the activities of the distro, > add another 5 > weeks to get the text of error messages meaningful and right > and translated > into 40 odd languages, and pay for a couple of trainers > (peanuts compared to > the lost time expense) then somehow by magic keep up with the > competition > while you are missing half your between distro programmer time..... > > It is expensive to have good programmers. We have the best > because many are > here because this is free software, but still the amount of > time required for > this job is enormous and most work grueling hours. So it is > expensive. > > So if enough people really want more informative error > messages and better > wizards and tools, it can be done. The obstacle is really cost. > > Civileme >
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