It's Like This...Or Maybe Like That... (Part 1.1)

Greetings from the Open Source Software Lab

Port 25 — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:39:02 GMT

Bryan has previously blogged about the project partnership between the Penn State University (PSU) College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and the Open Source Software Lab (OSSL). I am at the OSSL here at Microsoft this summer and next as

re: It's Like This...Or Maybe Like That... (Part 1.1)

CDarklock — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 04:05:49 GMT

However, the user *is* paying the open source developer what that developer has asked to be paid - exactly as he has done with the lawyer. The lawyer has simply asked to be paid more, because he accepts a responsibility to the client.

In both cases, I would argue, the user has been presented with a fee that matches the value received. The developer's generosity in providing and supporting the software extends exactly as far as he wants it to extend, and no farther. Since he does not provide anything he does not want to provide, he is NOT in fact rendering a service to the user: he renders service only to himself, and the user only realises a benefit as an accidental side effect.

Because the developer does not have, and the user cannot enforce, any responsibility... there is really no commitment here, and payment is simply not warranted. The open source system only really works with a foundation of trust, which we had in spades during the heyday of NSFNET and the AUP, but which has been demolished by the "anyone and everyone" internet of today. It now functions excellently within a few small subcommunities, but hideously in the general population.

re: It's Like This...Or Maybe Like That... (Part 1.1)

ssjdrn — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 00:55:32 GMT

To CDarklock: The difference is, the user is not paying that open source developer upwards of $200 an hour for his time and effort.

Your writing is hideous

stats_for_all — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:50:00 GMT

The first step in "usability" is the ability to write a coherent sentence. I requote below your quasi-sentence below. This is a stylistic disaster. I will not embarass you further, but you may want to review simple English usage.

Please do not confuse the use of terms like "phenomenological" and airy references to Foucault with concrete thought. Usability derives from clarity, strive for clarity and usability will follow.

"With that said, the next point release on our path to part 2 will address an issue raised by ssjdrn who surfaces (in my words) a tension between two principles I have always taken for granted: efficient signaling and disciplinary control through normalization that is keeping me up at night (literally—when Spence and Foucault, respectively, aren’t jibing for me, I can’t sleep. You can ask my wife.)"

re: It's Like This...Or Maybe Like That... (Part 1.1)

CDarklock — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:17:44 GMT

One minor point I want to raise:

I'm not speaking exclusively about usability. There is an equivocation in the open source community which introduces a major usability/adoption issue, specifically the idea that because you enjoy the *right* to provide your own technical support, you must also accept a *responsibility* to provide your own technical support - even to the point of editing and recompiling your software.

In the legal realm, this would be like entering a lawyer's office for a consultation, only to be ridiculed for not identifying the exact statute in question and constructing a potentially valid defense scenario before arriving. After all, how can you expect someone to help you if they don't know what the problem is and what you want them to do about it?

This doesn't happen with lawyers because the legal profession *understands* that their clients are not lawyers, do not want to be lawyers, and generally view the practice of law as a variety of black magic. But when you examine the open source community, they seem honestly mystified at the idea that a user might not want to be a developer himself. They actually appear to view it as a variety of madness.