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This attitude is why I don’t share much software anymore, even if I spent a lot of time developing it and someone else might find it useful. All it takes is som

This attitude is why I don’t share much software anymore, even if I spent a lot of time developing it and someone else might find it useful. All it takes is someone claiming I’m being “deliberately misleading” (even though the license explicitly says “this software is provided as is without warranty of any kind, express or implied”) and for that someone to hire a lawyer. At that point I’ve lost. It doesn’t matter that the claim is baseless. This only saddens me a bit because there are so many people out there sharing software that nowadays my meager contributions won’t be missed. However I do wonder how much truly useful software does not get shared due to these liability concerns. A corporation has to weigh the goodwill they get from sharing software versus the potential ire of angry self-entitled people who think they are entitled to free support and extra disclaimers beyond those in the license. Why bother?

scarygliders 5y ago
When I embarked on my 3rd party application for Elite: Dangerous, I made the decision very early on, not to open source it, even though I use Python libraries etc. which are. It also uses PySide under the LGPL. The reason I did that was because I did not want the extra overhead which comes with "running a software project". I do, however, run a Discord "server" which serves as both a news channel and a bug reporting and support channel. However, that has actually helped control the amount of demands I receive and by now users are aware that "I wrote Captain's Log for myself. It's useful to me and I package it for others to download and use too if they want to." - and that's the basis on which I release that application. I'll also take note of suggestions on the "#wishlist" channel and if I agree that a particular "wish" is something I'd like to see in the application then it may eventually get added. All the above, including the time I spend on looking at the Discord stuff, I provide on my time. I receive very little donations and only on a once in a blue moon basis.
Jiro 5y ago
All I said is that, since most projects accept bug reports, if you don't, you should say "this project doesn't accept bug reports" rather than complaining that people have expectations that after all, are correct for the vast majority of projects. Is that really so hard?
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scarygliders 5y ago

When I embarked on my 3rd party application for Elite: Dangerous, I made the decision very early on, not to open source it, even though I use Python libraries etc. which are. It also uses PySide under the LGPL. The reason I did that was because I did not want the extra overhead which comes with "running a software project". I do, however, run a Discord "server" which serves as both a news channel and a bug reporting and support channel. However, that has actually helped control the amount of demands I receive and by now users are aware that "I wrote Captain's Log for myself. It's useful to me and I package it for others to download and use too if they want to." - and that's the basis on which I release that application. I'll also take note of suggestions on the "#wishlist" channel and if I agree that a particular "wish" is something I'd like to see in the application then it may eventually get added. All the above, including the time I spend on looking at the Discord stuff, I provide on my time. I receive very little donations and only on a once in a blue moon basis.

Jiro 5y ago

All I said is that, since most projects accept bug reports, if you don't, you should say "this project doesn't accept bug reports" rather than complaining that people have expectations that after all, are correct for the vast majority of projects. Is that really so hard?

deleted 5y ago
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