>There is this annoying kind of double talk in the OSS comunity: many people >just talk about how great OSS are and how every body should start using it >and all that kind of stuff, but as soon as you ask for some professional >behaviour from the apps and from the developers the only answer one gets is
whoa. professional behaviour from the apps is one thing. professional behaviour from the developers implies an exchange of money. >"hey, we're just a bunch of volunteers, how can you be that arrogant and ask >this feature/effort from me?". let suppose you've ripped a copy of cubase sx from a warez site. you'd like it do something that it doesn't do and you feel its very important for your work. you write to steinberg and complain: "i've been very unimpressed by the tempo options in cubase sx" do you think these guys will even give the time of day to finish your message? you're using free software, you pay nothing for whatever support you get, and you expect us to treat you the way for profit companies treat people who actually pay them? The point is this: do people here wants LAD >to become professional or just stay a bunch of cool guys doing cools things >in their garage? i'll make you a deal. how about i start acting "professional" and have you talk with 3 layers of support personnel before you come across anyone who actually knows anything about my software, rather than answer questions directly (and generally very promptly) myself? Of course good support will mean some exchange of money at >a moment or another but you will never get any money from the public with >half working drivers and half done apps... with all due respect, i feel comfortable giving out this response. several people here on the list know that i've been working on linux audio apps more or less full time (albeit with euro-sized summer vacations) for 3 years with no pay. i'm very lucky that i've been able to do this, especially because it gives me a metaphorical big stick :) i have no problem with people giving me good useful feedback: "i tried to get ardour to sync to MTC but it didn't work. it seemed to keep drifting in and out of sync, and then just gave up and stopped. i'd really like to see this work." i have even less problem with people saying "here's some cash as a contribution towards your work in fixing this". but showing up and saying the equivalent of "i'm unimpressed by the sync facilities in ardour" is rude and disrespectful. --p