FC4 or FC5

[Ed Greshko]

jdow wrote:

> Seems fair to get my whining in when I sit here and read people whining
> about their missing favorite feature. Maybe my whining will educate
> them about why they have something to whine about. They want ZZZ then
> they can bloody well do it themselves. Don't expect folks like be to
> spend the time to develop it for free for them.

I still don't know why you equate "feature requests" with "whining".
And I still don't know why you think that a common user can implement ZZZ.

> I know about Qt. The entire GNU/Linux world is so large and complex
> I have no idea what OTHER items I'll run afoul of if I develop.

So, you don't develop under Linux.

>> I know quite a few people that have MSDN subscriptions that plunk down a
>> few $K/year.
> 
> There is some peace of mind associated with that. If I develop off
> that single package I KNOW what licenses I need to obtain. As it
> happens one more license was needed for the Matrox DigiSuite SDK.
> There are no other licenses in between me and delivering to a
> customer commercially.

Hummm...other people seem to know what licenses are needed within the
world of Linux development.  Seems as if you are finally admitting to a
shortcoming.

>> Yes, you may have paid more for support of RHEL than XP.  But, what
>> applications come with XP?  You've paid more for the OS....but RHEL
>> includes OpenOffice.  So, you need to add the cost of MS Office to your
>> calculations.  Do you need a C-compiler?  Hummm....is that additional?
> 
> And if I need OpenOffice for some reason I can download it from
> OpenOffice.org. But, the kind of software I write will not require
> any form of openoffice SDK. On the other hand some of what I write
> might lead to an openoffice owner purchasing a license for my work
> to use it on his machine, perhaps with openoffice.

I'm not sure, but I think you have a calling in politics.  You have an
uncanny knack for not answering the questions and direct the discussions
away from the point.

> Don't have an exchange server. I simply have a large email database
> that makes migrating a PITA. I know what is wrong with OE. Thunderbird
> is an unknown. Switching would not be "a pleasure" I fear.

I am starting to see where your limitations are.

>> I don't know what is more appropriate in this case.  "Woopie" or "BFD".
> 
> Your choice. I was simply explaining I am NOT particularly fond of
> Windows. It is baroque and broken. It is a market. I am hungry. So
> I feed the market.

Yes, patting yourself on the back for a few lines of kernel code did
that.  The truly rich people need not tell you how much money they make.

>>> That was self defense. I needed to access some specific hardware. The
>>> kernel tools for that access were broken. I wrote the software on the
>>> Amiga. So I fixed the cooresponding code in the kernel. That is all in
>>> accordance with the rule, "you get for free what someone else wants to
>>> do. If that is not what you want - do it yourself. Don't bellyache."
>>
>> Is asking for features bellyaching?
> 
> After the first few times it sounds like it. Don't ask, do it yourself.

Again the assumption that everyone is capable of doing it themselves.

> And those who are not developers forget that developers have families
> to feed and doing development for free does nothing towards feeding
> the families. Ask once and please try not to sound like you are
> demanding it.

One man's request is another man's demand.
> 
>> I wonder how many times you've looked to purchase commercial software
>> only to find that product X has feature Y that you want and product A
>> has feature B that you want....but you can't find product Z that has
>> feature Y and B.
>>
>> So, what do you do?  Could it be that you compromise and get the product
>> that has the "best" fit?  But now, of course, you can't hack the code to
>> add in the missing features so you "bellyache" to the vendor.  They then
>> go off and do a cost analysis to see if anyone else is interested in
>> that feature and if they will sell more product based on adding the
>> feature.
> 
> Well, if I was not a developer it'd not get done. I'd have to pick one
> or the other. Now, if it was commercial software and I asked - and
> dozens of others asked, the developer would see more food on the table,

Unless the developer is the owner of the company that does not happen.

Everything you say keeps coming to $$$ and food on the table.  You seem
not to be able to exist in the GPL world....while clearly others have.

> grit his teeth, and graft in the features. It means money to do that.
> If it's for free and it's not something a Spoo Linux distro considers
> important to its business model and if no developer with spare time
> thinks it'd be a neat challenge, it has a snowball's chance in <that
> other place> of happening.

Spoo Linux distro doesn't have decision making power over the
applications included in their distros.

If the developer of an application doesn't have the time or feels a
feature request isn't a good idea it won't get done.  Not too different
in the commercial world.  The questions asked are different and the
deciding factor is ROI.

> (Note that I don't care if my work becomes GPL after I am paid for it
> at a reasonable rate for the hours spent on it. As it happens nobody has
> done that with anything significant that I have done.)

I could understand that....

> I figure I am needlessly repeating myself above. So have your shot at
> it and be done. I made my point. I am a developer. I see requests for
> this, that, and the other thing as a request for my time and effort
> with no recompense offered. After awhile I get as offended by it as
> a medical doctor who is approached by "friends" with "I have this
> ache in my frazzleblort..." expecting free medical advice.

You want to be a commercial developer.  You should probably stay away
from lists such as this one.