I would generally agree with both of your comments but with one small modification, if I may call it that.
This type of project is slightly different to an open-source project where the users and the developer manage the project between them for no commercial gain. This project, amongst others, is done to help the project developer sell the product and continue development (yes, for our benefit as well) and while I don't think we are owed anything by the developer, as I said earlier, an explanation would help calm peoples nervousness. It's the lack of communication and feedback in any project (commercial or otherwise) that is unnerving. Yes, the community could move forward with the product development but some of us (me especially) are totally illiterate when it comes to development. :( I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to start, so basically it would mean dumping the product and finding something that would work. I've already lost 700Gb of data from a need to re-install OF over a previous release so having to move again if this project stopped would be a wrench to say the least. I am involved with a couple of open-source project myself and know full well the 'expectations' of users and do sympathise with the comments about supporting users and theier lack of understanding that goes with their support requests. Just to go back to a point I made at the beginning, I appreciate the efforts made by the developers and want them to succeed for the simple reason that I will have a good product that suits my needs. I'm willing to put some effort into test/trying/fixing/debugging and generally having a good time playing with this stuff, even if it means losing my data once in a while :)) - but it's a two way street. Regards Bill ----- "Robert Neuschul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > David > > As another OSS developer, may I say: Well said! > > It's also worth pointing out that even if the developers of OF and the > > domain [and even this group] vanished completely and forever tomorrow > > users /still/ have the source /and/ they can band together on their > own > [via Sourceforge or w.h.y.] to provide mutual support and possibly > even > continue the development. > That's the whole point of OSS; one need only look to the history of a > > wide range of OSS projects over the years to see how they have forked > > and merged and extended over time as people came and went or as views > > on the future direction diverged to see that the absence of > individuals > or of the original dev group need not be a terminal event; if a > project > is worth supporting and useful others will usually step forward and > carry it on. > > Robert. _______________________________________________ Openfiler-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openfiler.com/mailman/listinfo/openfiler-users
