4 ms·

It really is the "how do you pay for it" question, always, no? How do you incentivize quality? We've seen two approaches that definitely don't work super well

by jrm4 3y ago

It really is the "how do you pay for it" question, always, no? How do you incentivize quality? We've seen two approaches that definitely don't work super well to deliver consistent quality. One is "proprietary, make people buy per unit" and the other is "free and open source." (And note: I say the latter as a huge FLOSS fan. I'll still push it all day -- but only because I think freedom is more fundamental than quality in this regard; preserve freedom first, then we can think about quality control.)

drewcoo 3y ago
If we're talking about "how do you pay for it," then there are not just two models. Closed source products can be sold outright, rented, subsidized via ads, some combination of those, and more. They can even be given away as tax write-offs or loss leaders or somesuch. All of those models also exist for open source products! It turns out that customers aren't paying for source access so much as they're paying for working software. No one can agree about what "quality" actually is. Mostly, it's a word used as a weapon whenever someone wants to bully change into happening. Or not happening, for that matter. But a weapon either way.
- jrm4 3y ago
  Of course, I didn't mean to suggest that there were only two at all, just that "here are two that DON'T work for this." Good point on "quality," it makes a lot of sense to try to look at the thing we're talking about here without talking about "quality" or "software." There are problems and opportunities in this technological space; what good ways are there to handle those, noting that much of the work that needs to get done for them isn't likely to occur without payment? Something like that.
082349872349872 3y ago
Also: quality for whom? What Eloi consider quality and what Morlocks consider quality are, if not opposed, at least in strong competition due to opportunity cost. (if it's not obvious, I spend my efforts on quality for Morlocks, and am willing to leave the much-more-time-intensive quality for Eloi up to "the market")
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  One metric could be 'number of hard crashes per thousand end-user usage hours'.

by jrm4 3y ago

drewcoo 3y ago

If we're talking about "how do you pay for it," then there are not just two models. Closed source products can be sold outright, rented, subsidized via ads, some combination of those, and more. They can even be given away as tax write-offs or loss leaders or somesuch. All of those models also exist for open source products! It turns out that customers aren't paying for source access so much as they're paying for working software. No one can agree about what "quality" actually is. Mostly, it's a word used as a weapon whenever someone wants to bully change into happening. Or not happening, for that matter. But a weapon either way.

jrm4 3y ago
Of course, I didn't mean to suggest that there were only two at all, just that "here are two that DON'T work for this." Good point on "quality," it makes a lot of sense to try to look at the thing we're talking about here without talking about "quality" or "software." There are problems and opportunities in this technological space; what good ways are there to handle those, noting that much of the work that needs to get done for them isn't likely to occur without payment? Something like that.

082349872349872 3y ago

Also: quality for whom? What Eloi consider quality and what Morlocks consider quality are, if not opposed, at least in strong competition due to opportunity cost. (if it's not obvious, I spend my efforts on quality for Morlocks, and am willing to leave the much-more-time-intensive quality for Eloi up to "the market")

MichaelZuo 3y ago
One metric could be 'number of hard crashes per thousand end-user usage hours'.