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Journal Allen Zadr's Journal: Don't leave the Free/Open Source Software "community" 16

Journal by Allen Zadr
This journal is specifically in reply to the_mad_poster, but really applies to anybody who is fed up with the few zealots and OSS apologists out there.

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Not all Open Source supporters are loud-mouthed zealots. I, for one, make a decent living from I.T., and I use both Linux and Windows regularly. I consider myself a F/OSS supporter, but I also realize that F/OSS isn't perfect.

I have submitted patches to F/OSS prjects. Mind you, only a few times, and I'm far more likely to Email the authors with suggestions than patches. I know how OSS works...

What I'm saying is that a lot of people know how F/OSS works. Many are less likely to pipe-in when a negative announcement is made, but instead focus on improvements. This leaves the zealots and apologists responding to issues.

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That leaves one of F/OSS projects bigest holes as the reason why some, like the_mad_poster, are leaving. Lack of one or more spokesmen. Each project is a separate entitiy, loosely grouped by freely used and usable F/OSS licenses. There is no official direction.

Does F/OSS deserve to loose your support, just because it has so few intelligently defending it (as opposed to simply bashing Microsoft and ignoring the issue)? Talk with actual OSS developers and you'll find a dedicated group of thoughtful, intelligent people who are not likely to do PR, but are likely to try to make a better product.

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Don't leave the Free/Open Source Software "community" More

Don't leave the Free/Open Source Software "community"

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  • Going to lump everyone together and judge them by the "worst" of the bunch? Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

    Seriously, it's like saying "I was a huge fan of X, before all the losers started liking it". Maybe you don't like most open source types, fine, but if you're willing to leave (and presumably stop using any open source) because of it, you're being narrow-minded.

    IMHO it's good you're going. Too many people think open source developers are there to provide the world with software. In re
    • See, now, why did you have to go and proove my point?

      This sort of admonishment of the "casual" user is exactly the type of thing that drives people away from F/OSS. My local hospital has a Windows XP machine in the Emergency Room. Damned if my doctor knows how to practice "safe surfing". So long as he knows how to save lives, he's good with me.

      Point is, the Doctor uses a computer as a tool to get something done. Nothing more, nothing less. If Mozilla is put in place instead of I.E. the good Doctor pr

      • What twisted little world do you live in where I proved a point of yours? Unless perhaps your point is that nobody has tolerance for whiners?

        You're free to use open source, but not to demand that it be done your way. Or rather, the developers obligation to you is only as great as your payment to them.

        I'm sure you're out to prove something and you'll pretend that this proves something. You'll say "Quote: Open source developers to users, 'Fuck off!'"

        To which I say, you weren't offering anything to anyone,
        • You're free to use open source, but not to demand that it be done your way. Or rather, the developers obligation to you is only as great as your payment to them.

          Whatever happened to professionalism - that is, creating software that is as good as it possibly can be, as easy to use as it possibly can be, and as well crafted as it possibly can be?

          Maybe it's just me, but I view it as a privilege to write software for end-users. It's my job to make it the best software they could possibly use for the task at
          • Great, I've got a lot of software I want but that I haven't gotten around to writing. Contact me later today and we'll work up a spec sheet. I'll need it on a timetable though. Oh, you'd better test it too, because I plan on selling the beta to customers and yelling at you if it doesn't work.

            Or do you suddenly want $80k a year and benefits to put up with that?

            Until you start paying a professional wage you don't have any right to start making demands. You can ask for features, and if you help fix the progr
            • Sure, you want everything as bug-free as possible, and easy to use is great, but what if I simply write a command-line utility to solve some admin problem. Should I spend weeks writing a GUI for it and making sure that every set of bad parameters is caught and explained? Or should I simply release it to my friends (and whoever they want to send it to) and let them add what they need? Isn't some gain from limited software better than no gain because no software was released?

              Depends on whether or not you're
              • Yes, fame can be worthwhile in an economic sense. (Strangely, it doesn't seem to get the women interested.)

                And yes, it's a cop-out to expect users to do your work for you. But I don't think it's a cop-out to point out that it's a volunteer effort and they're getting something for free. The difference is one of feeling entitled to something versus to being greatful for it.

                It's like hanging out all day at my place and using my pool, then threatening to never come back unless I add a diving board. Sure, the
                • It's like hanging out all day at my place and using my pool, then threatening to never come back unless I add a diving board.

                  Actually, it'd be more like what you said, but instead of threatening to never come back because of the lack of a diving board, you're threatening to never come back unless you remove all the broken glass and dirty needles from the bottom of the pool.

                  But! You say.. "You can fish them out yourself... and if you don't touch the bottom, you won't hurt yourself".

                  It's still a problem,
        • As I suspected in your original post to my journal.... I'm now convinced that you never actually read the journal entry that you are replying to. My journal entry did not state that Open Source is Dead, ever.

          First and foremost - my journal is a reply to someone else who is leaving because of elitists and apologists. That post (not this journal entry) stated , "FOSS will die". Your reply to my journal entry looks more like a counter-reply to the same original post.

          By you taking an elitist, "Open Source

          • I read your journal entry but my post was directed towards people with TMP's attitude, that open source was dying unless it started catering to people. The content of your reply post made me think you were the original poster who you replied to with a link to the journal. It didn't really seem to matter though because you're apparently arguing the same position.

            To be honest, I didn't see you making much of a point in your journal entry when I just looked. It seemed merely to be a collection point for a dis
            • O.K. - you do qualify as an Open Source developer. Interesting.

              Seriously, I'd be really curious about this... has anyone ever written you and rudely told you that you need to add a feature to a program that you wrote? If even one person had the gall, I could see where you've gotten this point of view.

              You can say that Open Source is not designed for an individual, this is true. But to say that Open Source is not frequently designed for the mass of End-Users in general can only be said on a project by pr

              • has anyone ever written you and rudely told you that you need to add a feature to a program that you wrote?

                Nope. I've actually had very good luck with my stuff. My experience with whiners is all second-hand. I've seen it happen to other developers. My stuff tends to be niche oriented and I hand it out via my friends so they're more polite.

                I would assert that Mozilla (still backed by Netscape) is designed for the mass of End-Users.

                I would agree. Mozilla, and Open Office, and IBM's Linux patches, are al

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