[linux-audio-dev] Re: image problem

[Kai Vehmanen]

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, Sebastien Metrot wrote:

> There is this annoying kind of double talk in the OSS comunity: many people
> just talk about how great OSS are and how every body should start using it
> and all that kind of stuff, but as soon as you ask for some professional
> behaviour from the apps and from the developers the only answer one gets is
> "hey, we're just a bunch of volunteers, how can you be that arrogant and ask
> this feature/effort from me?". The point is this: do people here wants LAD

This is a fair question. First, "many people" might promote OSS, but that
doesn't mean unconditional surrender. ;) I mean, I was really quite
offended by Ivica's message where he proposed that JACK developers are
arrogant if they don't implement x and y. OSS or not, that's not very nice
considering how much free time we have spend on this. And really, the
so-called OSS community does not consist of altruistic dummies that work
for free, although suprisingly many people seem to have just the opposite
belief.

On the other hand, it is possible to get very good and friendly support
and help here, but the attitude is everything. You have to be a team
member and contribute (be it mental support, good/insightful comments,
real-world experience with the given area/topic, promoting, coding, money,
free beer, whatever) something. Then you can make demands and complain,
and you will be listened to. If you just complain (like you might do if
you have bought a software from a commercial vendor and do not like it),
it just doesn't work. Of course, you can also choose to not to contribute 
anything at all, but it shouldn't come as a suprise to you if your 
comments don't have the same weight as those coming from contributing 
members. You know, life, give some, get some. ;)

And just to be sure, it really is in our (now speaking as a developer)
interest to listen to user feedback. That's the whole point of releasing 
our software under GPL_or_whatever. Active users are invaluable part of a 
succesful project.

And btw; professional users have the advantage to other "normal" users
that they can offer the kind of hard-to-find insight and experience from
the real-world that is very valuable for developers. So if you are a
professional, becoming a contributing member is really quite easy, if you
just want to make the effort.

-- 
 http://www.eca.cx
 Audio software for Linux!