Re: Disgruntled would-be user

Terry Hancock <[email protected]>:
>
> On Friday 09 April 2004 04:33 pm, Laura Creighton wrote:
> > From: terry <[email protected]>
> > >To: [email protected]
> > >Subject: Anygui
> > >Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:56:58 -0400
> > >
> > >So Magnus, did Anygui serve the Linux community in any way or was it 
> > >simply a self-serving effort to enhance your book/thesis? 
> 
> > How most 'american' is this whining.
> 
> Hey!  Does this have to get nationalist?  *I* don't think either 
> behavior would be particularly "American".  :-/

I'm sure Laura was just showing how meaningless the original
characterization was -- or something...? (But then again, who knows ;)

Related stereotypes, and all that...

> I know my country hasn't exactly been "winning friends and
> influencing people" lately, but really.

Sure. BTW, my new (and probably temporary ;) signature has nothing to
do with this -- I just heard Burns say this on The Simpsons, and found
the quote priceless :-]

> I'm sorry you get mail like that, Magnus -- I hope it doesn't
> discourage you.

Sadly, it does. Very much. But hopefully, only temporarily. (As some
of you may have noticed, I've actually managed to get out another
release of Atox today, so...)

> It's really stupid that people think they have a right to benefit
> from others' free labor -- so much that they can insult and abuse
> people if they don't see the end result.

Yeah. But on the other hand, I think it's useful to be aware of the
dangers of being too overconfident when starting a project too -- that
is, the danger of misleading people. Giving the impression that a
project is more solid or mature than it really is. Taking it slow and
whatnot.

On the other hand: I remember that when I got a Unix (and --
indirectly -- Internet) account at my university, I actually had to
read some netiquette documents and signt a paper to the effect that I
had read them (such as the Shapiro paper mentioned on my Netiquette
page [1] -- I wish more people would at least glance at this sort of
thing). IIRC there were some admonitions in there (or maybe I picked
that up later, somewhere) to not assume that anyone owed you anything.
I guess believing this (the "freerider spirit") is quite an easy trap.

> And if anigui hasn't come together fast enough, it's as much because
> of those of us who are being lame-assed slow about doing our bit.

Heh. I think there are several reasons. Here are two I think have been
quite important:

  1. The Second System Illness. Pretty standard, I guess. Being too
     ambitious after learning ones lessons from the first incarnation.

If we had been less ambitious, or somehow been able to do the
rewrite/refactoring stepwise, keeping a working system all the way, we
might have had a working second release before enthusiasm petered out.
Then it would have been easier to maintain the system (and maybe the
enthusiasm?)

  2. The lack of easy/automated testing. This would have let each one
     of us do much more work, and, more importantly, to do more work
     on our own.

For example, the main reason I haven't just hunted down all the bugs I
could find and released 0.2 is that testing all back-ends on multiple
platforms is more than a handful for a single person.

Both useful lessons. Not sure exactly how we could have gotten around
the testing bit, though.

> For which I apologize, BTW. :blush:

:)

If you're anything like me, deadlines and nagging may be necessary, at
least for the more boring parts (that also have to be done). Because
of my focus on my Ph.D thesis, I haven't been able to do that (*or* do
any serious development of my own).

> Did you actually know this guy? Or was this just a random troll?

Just a random troll, out of the blue.

> Also -- I always assumed Magnus was European.  *Is* he American?

I'm Norwegian, actually. (And I don't drink -- so the stuff about
enjoying my brew by the canals didn't really fit too well either...
Oh, well. We do have a river near where I live, and I'm sure there are
non-alcoholic brews I can enjoy. :)

> Cheers,
> Terry

[1] http://hetland.org/netiquette

-- 
Magnus Lie Hetland  "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay
http://hetland.org   to live in the land of the free."  -- C. M. Burns


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