Re: The <whatever> developer syndrome

In article <p06001f03bbaaf0e98056@[10.10.0.3]>, Tink wrote:
> At 2:08 +0000 10/9/03, Steve Hutton wrote about Re: The <whatever> 
> developer syndrome:
> 
>|In any case I don't think it's worth getting worked up over how
>|developers may or may not respond to feedback.  Individual feedback
>|to Open Source projects still has a much better chance of having
>|an effect than it does with commercial closed source products.  And
>|if that's not good enough, hey, you have the code.  Seriously.
> 
> Sorry Steve, I don't agree with you on this one. I own lots of 
> commercial and shareware software and I have never ever been called 
> names, insulted or humiliated by the their customer service, helpdesk 
> or developers feedback. Whenever I mail them a question or suggestion 
> I always receive a email back with a polite answer like 'thanks for 
> your suggestion we will/will not consider it for our next release'. 
> or at least a message the will look into the problem.

Ok, I wasn't really talking about the odds of getting a polite
or rude response.  Obviously you are more likely to get a rude
response from an individual than someone paid to be a customer
service contact.

What I was talking about was the chance of actually getting a feature
request or suggestion taken seriously.  With commercial software
there are a lot of layers between developers and end users.  In
my jobs as a commerical developer it has been rare for me
to see direct feedback from customers - the whole organization
is in fact set up to insulate the programmer.  Of course, there
are program managers whose job it is to distill customer feedback
into developer requirements.  But only the biggest/most important
customers are given direct contact with developers.

> It's my experience that in the Open Source world as a user you seem 
> to be fair game and inuslt/being rude/humiliate users is accepted 
> behavior. When I complain about answers or comments I received 
> shoulders a shrugged or people smirk because they think it's funny.

Certainly, some open source developers are rude and immature.
So are some commercial developers - maybe that's why they are
shielded from the public ;-)

I don't deny the phenomenon, I'm just trying to be realistic here.
This is a natural system and I don't think it's going to change
itself.  Personally I have always been impressed by the level of
decorum shown by the core kde developers (there are a few notable
exceptions).  So if KDE has an external attitude problem, I think
that just proves the point that it is the nature of the beast.

I don't think large open source projects can ever produce an
ideal customer service department by professional standards.
(I also now believe - as much as it pains me - that a large
open source project will never be able to create an ideal desktop 
- think KDE vs. OS X)

However, I have come to accept that these things are OK.  Large
open source projects like KDE, while not perfect, are still a
tremendously positve gift to the world.  And they actually provide
the first 80% of the work needed for anyone to pick up and use
to create something closer to ideal.

[...]

> As for fixing bugs, isn't the developer who developed a piece of 
> software responsible for his/her own code? It probably is not much 
> fun, cleaning up the stuff you made just like when you were a child 
> and your mom made you pick your lego after you played with it. At 
> least with my mom, don't feel like it and it's no fun didn't sit well.

Yes, if the project is in KDE cvs, the devloper has an obligation to
the KDE project to fix the code.

In the case where a developer releases code independently, I don't
think he's responsible for fixing anything.  The source is there.

Steve


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