Re: A way for average users to influence development.
Originally Posted by
Kvark
Personally I believe it is vital that users, not only developers and companies, can have a say about development.
I may be wrong, but I thought that users could have a say in development by frequenting mailing lists and forums, helping out, and in turn making polite requests. You've probably seen this before, but let's pretend for a moment that I'm writing an audio-player program (like XMMS, or something). I'm developing this app with the following opinions in mind:
1. I don't like Gstreamer, and think that a GUI app ought to wrap around commandline tools.
2. I do not use MP3, and do not want to deal with the legal issues surrounding MP3; I don't have time for such idiocy.
3. I don't want to be another cook stirring somebody else's stew. I want to make my own stew, in my own kitchen, and make it my way. So I'm writing my own app instead of contributing to an existing project.
User Alice, who loves Rhythmbox and thinks that Gstreamer is a cool idea, sends me a polite email asking me why I'm not contributing to Rhythmbox since it "needs developers". I politely explain that I would rather do my own project and see it through from start to finish; I have a resume to pad.
User Bob, a teenager with 69GB of bootleg MP3s downloaded from the P2P service du jour, sends me a couple K of poorly written flamage that boils down to the idea that Linux isn't ready for the desktop because my little app doesn't do what he wants, and that if he wants me to keep using Linux I had better put aside everything I want to do and cater to him. I reply to him, saying quite simply that I do not tolerate such rudeness from paying customers, and he is welcome to go back to using Windows.
And then there's user Charles, who likes my little tool (and keep your wisecracks to yourselves, please) but doesn't like having to use a separate app to rip CDs to Vorbis so he can have my player pump them through his speakers. Given that I can use commandline tools to rip Vorbis as well as play it, his suggestion is reasonable and fits with the rest of my project. I tell him that I can't make any promises, but I'll probably have rough CD ripping support in the next release.
The moral of this story? Be polite. I won't speak for other developers, but if I was developing a F/OSS project, and a user asked me nicely for a feature, I would either politely decline and explain my reasons, or plan to implement the new feature in an upcoming release. If users want a say in development, they have to remember that they are not paying customers, that they are making requests of volunteers, and that if they are too rude the developers might just make like Atlas and shrug.
Originally Posted by
Kvark
To be powerless on this issue is just as bad when it comes to software as having no right to vote is when it comes to politics.
I don't agree with this analogy: having software that isn't just right is certainly inconvenient; I spent years wrestling with LaTeX and never quite grokking it because there wasn't a decent word processor available for Linux until OpenOffice.org got rolling. But while imperfect software without having a say in the development of said software is inconvenient, being unable to vote is likely to cost you your property, your liberty, and your life.
My sole duty is to my own happiness and well-being. I recognize no other.
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