I think that the problem with the first part was that ESR's rant mode sent other people in rant mode also.
This part gives a fine and understandable conclusion of what he really meant.
FOSS developers like to pride themselves that they are not driven by marketing, and thus have the time to release bugfree code. This is right up to a certain point.
I have worked as a programmer in an administrative environment, and I got the same complaints from my boss on the conclusion of my first assignment, that it was flawless, but too technical and did not take into account the requirements of the user.
I did not rewrite the application, but I spent more time in other applications talking with the people who needed them. All following applications where perceived as better and the users also gained confidence that they could ask me much (not anything) and that they would get a good solution in a reasonable time.
This is not an easy process. This means that you have to do more work. Not only functional requirements are needed, but also user requirements. The functional part of the software can be (mostly) written and tested on its own, but for the user interface the ability to build and present prototypes is a big requirement.
I think that the Linux Documentation Project should have something about user interface guidelines. That would be a big advantage.
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Rant to rant
Posted by: defurnej on March 01, 2004 11:43 PMI think that the problem with the first part was that ESR's rant mode sent other people in rant mode also.
This part gives a fine and understandable conclusion of what he really meant.
FOSS developers like to pride themselves that they are not driven by marketing, and thus have the time to release bugfree code. This is right up to a certain point.
I have worked as a programmer in an administrative environment, and I got the same complaints from my boss on the conclusion of my first assignment, that it was flawless, but too technical and did not take into account the requirements of the user.
I did not rewrite the application, but I spent more time in other applications talking with the people who needed them. All following applications where perceived as better and the users also gained confidence that they could ask me much (not anything) and that they would get a good solution in a reasonable time.
This is not an easy process. This means that you have to do more work. Not only functional requirements are needed, but also user requirements. The functional part of the software can be (mostly) written and tested on its own, but for the user interface the ability to build and present prototypes is a big requirement.
I think that the Linux Documentation Project should have something about user interface guidelines. That would be a big advantage.
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