Wrong paradigm

Wrong paradigm

Posted Dec 20, 2004 8:24 UTC (Mon) by craigmcc (guest, #26784)
In reply to: Wrong paradigm by freethinker
Parent article: The Linux roadmap

>> ..and have no assurance that needed features and capabilities
>> will be built into Linux.

> "Oh, dear me, we're so helpless. We want these features and
> capabilities and we're totally at the mercy of the kernel
> development team to put them in there. We couldn't possibly
> code them ourselves or hire someone to do it."

> Sounds like some people still don't understand how to work
> with free software...

Alas, this attitude is exactly why FOSS is not being accepted at the rate it really should be. In order to gain mass popularity, Linux software developers need to understand that:

* There are people in the world who are not
technically capable of "code them ourselves" --
in the case of the Linux kernel, I'd certainly
classify myself in that camp, although I am more
than middlin' capable at software development
within my domain of expertise.

* There are people in the world who are not
willing to "hire someone to do it" and then
have to figure out how to (a) hire such people
(or acquire an appropriate contractor), (b) figure
out how much to pay them, (c) understand how to
manage them.

The reality of the world is that many people are more interested in the results of the software development process than in the process itself. Microsoft (and many other commercial software companies) understand these principles -- that's why you can actually make money at software. But it comes down to goals.

If the attitude proposed by this response continues to be the standard attitude of FOSS developers, then we'd better assume that our potential market share is limited to the number of users both capable and willing to either do it yourself, or hire it done. On the other hand, if we truly want to offer a compelling alternative, we need to (gasp!) listen to the needs of our (potential) users, and meet them on their turf, instead of ours.

The real world doesn't care about whether they "know how to work with open source software." The real world only care about solving their problems. Are we willing to help, or are we going to continue to sneer at them?

NOTE - either answer to this question is perfectly legitimate -- just don't be surprised when the consequences of these two choices are different.

Craig McClanahan

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