3 ms·
What matters is to write great software I disagree. This is what I think of as the "Apple stance". Don't worry -- we write great apps and you will like them.
by lutorm 17y ago
What matters is to write great software
I disagree. This is what I think of as the "Apple stance". Don't worry -- we write great apps and you will like them.
However, no software is bug-free or suits everyone. People here are probably not typical end-users, and I can certainly think of the times when I've been forced to use software that didn't quite do what I wanted or that had some bug the vendor could not be bothered to fix. And because it was proprietary, I could not fix it regardless of my motivation to do so.
If you say you're going to cater to everyone's needs and write perfect software, then maybe you're right. But if you're more realistic and aim at making the majority of your users happy and do a cost-benefit analysis of whether it's worth your time to make the minority happy, you will not be producing great software in their eyes. And I'd bet you they'd be happier if they could just patch it themselves.
- shin_lao 17y agoIf I know nothing about computers and software engineering and I have a problem with an open source software, I will have to pay someone to fix the bug (business) or rely on the goodwill of someone else to do it (charity).
- sokoloff 17y agoStill, YOU having that choice is strictly better for you as a user than having the choice be dictated by the original author with you having no alternative, right? In the GPL case, if it's important enough to you and you alone, as defined by being worth you trading some resource you have (time and talent, or money) in exchange for the work, you can get the software modified. In a closed source case, it must be important enough to you to make the case and convince someone else as well.
- NikkiA 17y agoYou can pay someone other than the original developer, which is a HUGE difference. If you want some specific core feature in MS Office, you need to petition MS and hope they'll add it someday. If you want the same core feature in OpenOffice.org, there are experts in the OOo codebase that could do it all around the world, you could pay someone at Sun, someone at IBM, or someone that is freelance, it's your choice, and you have a free market to find who will make the change at the lowest price.
- shin_lao 17y agoSorry, no. Adding a feature in MS Office is extremely easy without the source code thanks to the powerful macros and plugins. There are companies making a living of this. It's much much easier to extend MS office than OOO.