Good Bye FC5

[Lyvim Xaphir]

On Fri, 2006-05-19 at 00:19 -0500, Christofer C. Bell wrote:
> On 5/18/06, Steffen Kluge <kluge at fujitsu.com.au> wrote:
> >
> > What on earth gave you the idea that free software development is a
> > democracy?? If you contribute something valuable you have influence, if
> > you only hold your hand open you have to take what you're given. No
> > amount of whining in public mailing lists is going to change that.
> >
> > Think about it.
> 
> We contribute by using the software.  If people end up not using, then
> all the development effort is wasted.  Then again, maybe the few
> hundred people that work on GNOME want to have their own private
> desktop while everyone else finds something else to use.
> 
> Think about it.
> 
> -- 
> Chris
> 

Exactly.  There is no widely used software that is developed in a
vacuum. M$ depends heavily on focus groups, in order to find those
features of their GUI that would be appreciated by the public as a
whole.  They understand that users will vote with their pocketbooks,
therefore they are very sensitive to their interface with the public,
which is the GUI.

In the Linux world, users are also voting.  They vote by using the
software. Or not.  This is not trivial, on the contrary it is quite
profound, as Chris has pointed out.  This is the nexus where the
software becomes relevant or non-relevant.  Bug reports are fine for
bugs, but a bug report with commentary on particular behavior is likely
to elicit responses of "this is not a bug, but the expected behavior";
or more likely no response at all.  There is therefore a place for
commentary on behavior and this is exactly one of those places.

LX
-- 
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Kites rise highest against the wind -- not with it.
-- Winston Churchill
Registered Linux User #268899 http://counter.li.org/
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°