Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on July 20, 2003 07:40 AM
Open Source developers are also users of their own software
They are technically adept users, not casual users. Technically adept users do not represent the mass of computer users today.
how quickly the ease of installation has improved in distributions like Red Hat or Mandrake. Or look at all of the end-user features that have been added to Mozilla, such as pop-up blocking, and Spam filtering.
But the bulk of Open Source software has not made that leap.
serious disrespect for customers, just look at Microsoft.
At the same time, they make the user experience better. Obviously, a large number of customer do find value in Microsoft's software - they buy it or steal it. Many don't - they don't use it. But the key issue the OP mentioned was the user experience, not the customer experience. For that matter, the customer experience under Linux is non-existent, except from commercial redistributors like Redhat.
Windows 3.1 User Manual. It was hopeless, because the documentation was crap -- the information was simply not there.
If you are still running 3.1, you deserve every pain you suffer. The world has moved on - get more current examples.
Actually, the same argument can be said of trying to get my wireless ethernet to work with Linux. The documentation and software just isn't there or isn't working. I, for one, have better things to do than fix this problem - I have work to do which actually feeds me and which I can much more easily achieve in Windows.
You still end up paying less, yet getting more, than you do with closed source software.
Only if you're interested in the internals of the software. Like I said, I have work to do. The only thing that matters to me is if the software works or not. If it does, great. If not, it's not worth my time and effort.
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Re:Nonsense -- OSS attitude beats the alternative
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 20, 2003 07:40 AMThey are technically adept users, not casual users. Technically adept users do not represent the mass of computer users today.
how quickly the ease of installation has improved in distributions like Red Hat or Mandrake. Or look at all of the end-user features that have been added to Mozilla, such as pop-up blocking, and Spam filtering.
But the bulk of Open Source software has not made that leap.
serious disrespect for customers, just look at Microsoft.
At the same time, they make the user experience better. Obviously, a large number of customer do find value in Microsoft's software - they buy it or steal it. Many don't - they don't use it. But the key issue the OP mentioned was the user experience, not the customer experience. For that matter, the customer experience under Linux is non-existent, except from commercial redistributors like Redhat.
Windows 3.1 User Manual. It was hopeless, because the documentation was crap -- the information was simply not there.
If you are still running 3.1, you deserve every pain you suffer. The world has moved on - get more current examples.
Actually, the same argument can be said of trying to get my wireless ethernet to work with Linux. The documentation and software just isn't there or isn't working. I, for one, have better things to do than fix this problem - I have work to do which actually feeds me and which I can much more easily achieve in Windows.
You still end up paying less, yet getting more, than you do with closed source software.
Only if you're interested in the internals of the software. Like I said, I have work to do. The only thing that matters to me is if the software works or not. If it does, great. If not, it's not worth my time and effort.
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