On Thu, 2016-02-11 at 23:21 +0100, Tobias Ellinghaus wrote:
Basically, the primary reason to write free software should be the fun the programmers have.
I'm issuing my highest disagree. Not that many programmers don't have fun, or that many developers currently think that Free Software is only a bit of fun; but that we have users, they have needs, we're ghastly at serving those needs.
Not to say we promised them anything of course, but the potential to make software that is designed for users instead of developers is there if we want it, that is, if we want to talk to users, take their money and serve users with Free Software. Which of course we're not doing [yet] and which does effect the sustainability and the design direction of all Free Software projects.
Sometimes I really think the FSF let us all down by focusing so hard of politics, they forgot about users, economics and the fantastic kindness already woven in many of our projects.
so much that it's just another day job and no longer the fun hobby is surely a bad idea and going to drive away contributors.
Many contributors will contribute for lots of reasons. Certainly the long tail should be respected and having lots of small casual contributions is a healthy sign of a welcoming project. But don't forget that there is room for a professional class too [not better social class, think economic interface mixin] who's job, and fun, can come from thinking hard about what other people want, people who aren't programmers and who don't have the power to contribute through code.
Thinking of others is hard, it's hard to listen, it's hard to discuss and process ideas over multiple levels of sophistication. I don't mind that it's something most people would rather not do, but it'd be a sign of a great project when there are people who looked after users. I don't want people to have hard jobs they don't want to do, but I don't want us to get into the mindset that only one type of developer with one type of agenda is possible in the Free Software ecosystem.
Kind Regards, Martin Owens