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No it isn't. As with any open source volunteer project you are not a customer, you are a user, and no one has any obligation to do or correct anything for you
by PuffinBlue 8y ago
No it isn't.
As with any open source volunteer project you are not a customer, you are a user, and no one has any obligation to do or correct anything for you or anyone else.
No one in such a project is beholden in any way whatsoever to meet the needs of any particular user or set of users. This particular point often causes spluttering disbelief and knee jerk reaction. Understand it carefully.
Yes, not meeting the needs of the largest set of users can cause the project to lose users or fail to grow. So what? Many open volunteer projects aren't out for glory and greatness, or millions of users. They're out just to build something _they_ need or are passionate about. All the better if others want to come along for the ride and benefit too.
There is nothing bad about telling users 'no we're not doing it' and by extension 'if you want that, build it yourself and we'll welcome it'.
It is quite staggering how many times 'users' will make demands or say 'do it this way' but feel offended when told 'do it yourself'. Users feel utterly entitled to make demands of project members and are utterly incredulous when such demands are turn back on them.
- dane-pgp 8y agoTo be clear, I would not have objected to jdk saying "if you want that, build it yourself and we'll welcome it". I completely accept that developers of open source volunteer projects have no obligation to fulfil any development request from any user, but the gp did not demand or even request any change. They gave their opinion about how software should work, and they asked a rhetorical question about data loss. I just think that jdk could have made their point in a much more welcoming way, if they had been as polite and positive as the gp.