generic vs closed platforms [LWN.net]

generic vs closed platforms

Posted Jan 18, 2012 18:32 UTC (Wed) by jrn (subscriber, #64214)
In reply to: generic vs closed platforms by michaeljt
Parent article: LCA: Addressing the failure of open source

> Perhaps a way of improving this would be finding more ways in which non developers can meaningfully contribute to free software, or at least lower the bar to entry. On the one hand that would make free software more fun for them - and I think that fun is a much understated reason why people use free software - and on the other it would make programmers keener to keep them happy.

Bug reporting was traditionally one way. While bug reports in general don't seem to be in short supply these days, good ones still are.

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generic vs closed platforms

Posted Jan 19, 2012 5:10 UTC (Thu) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]

One problem with that: developers willing to accept good bug reports are also in short supply. The clever ones tend to become disinterested pretty fast.

generic vs closed platforms

Posted Jan 19, 2012 9:36 UTC (Thu) by michaeljt (subscriber, #39183) [Link]

> Bug reporting was traditionally one way. While bug reports in general don't seem to be in short supply these days, good ones still are.

Actually I have to admit that despite my own "hand-waving" talk above, I haven't quite given up on the idea of people getting together to offer software bounties, if the right conditions can be had. I'm actively considering trying to set up a portal for that, based on the idea that the task set should be based around a bug ticket on a project's bug tracker (so that project developers can review it and have their say/give their advice before people start putting in money, and can guide the person doing the work) and that the bounty is a bonus to the person doing the work, but almost certainly not their main motivation (perhaps they are also affected by a bug, or want to get to know a project's codebase better or to gain new experience...)