Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 23:46:47 -0700 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com> To: Licia <licia@o-o.org> Cc: Rick Hamell <hamellr@dsinw.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: application developers [ was Jordan the Confused (Was: Jordan The Evil!) ] Message-ID: <13345.924677207@zippy.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 20 Apr 1999 15:48:03 CDT." <Pine.BSF.4.05.9904201542130.14401-100000@o-o.org>
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> It's a frustrating situation, and I would go so far as to say that > the problem isn't even lack of support, but lack of feedback. App > developers will tend to go where their efforts are most appreciated I think what you need to understand here is that the equation simply cuts both ways. Users won't even bother using an application unless it solves a problem that's currently unsolved or solves it in a way which is obviously better than the other available methods. Coming to grips with a new application, or even evaluating it, takes time too and there are literally hundreds of thousands of applications out there now competing for user mindshare - just take a look at freshmeat.net sometime. Even if you do manage to get a few users for an application, keep in mind the fact that it may only be a short-term thing until some other apps developer completely outclasses your offering and relegates it to the software scrap heap. :-) I've had this happen to any number of things I've written and contributed over the years, some of which took non-trivial amounts of time to develop too. Software is just like that, and if there's any truism to be uttered here at all it's that you really should develop applications first and foremost for yourself and treat users as an almost secondary concern (I'm assuming a non- commercial application here, of course). That does appear to be how almost all the really enduring software (emacs, perl, even Unix itself) got its start - some hacker decided to do it not for fame, glory or adulation so much as the simple fact that there was no tool for doing what they wanted available and it _pissed them off_. :-) I know of no better motivator, myself, and it's what led me to do the ports collection, for example. I was *tired* of having to remember how to build all the various bits of software I needed to make a new machine a comfortable work environment, so I decided to do something about it. It was never important to me, at least initially, that anyone else use it. :-) - Jordan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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