But then the only users who get the features they want are programmers, who are a fairly atypical type of user. I understand that you don't owe users anything,

But then the only users who get the features they want are programmers, who are a fairly atypical type of user. I understand that you don't owe users anything, but if you don't want to create software that's useful and pleasing to them, why bother creating open source software at all. You could get the same enjoyment from coding for profit or doing logic puzzles.