more lockup laptop problems with dapper

[Brian McKee]

On Saturday 02 September 2006 21:54, Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> Brian McKee wrote:
> > Well, I was snarky, I'll grant you that, but your follow up is quite
> > different than you initial remark.  Your initial quote clearly says it
> > takes paid developers to create quality accountable work.  That isn't
> > true, and there are many examples which you must be aware of.
>
> trying for a snark free zone ;-)

Somewhere to the left of Valhalla - watch that first step! :-)

> > I am not claiming that simply NOT paying developers is all that's
> > required either...  So far I think the various open source models are
> > producing many quality products, but that doesn't mean every one started
> > is going to succeed, and it doesn't even mean that it's the easiest way
> > to develop those products. Heck, waving money around will always produce
> > code a heck of a lot faster and more consistantly than asking somebody to
> > donate time, but it hurts quality, not helps it.
>
> I lived in high-pressure software development environments for 18 years
>   before my hands went pop.  I spent a fair amount of time looking at
> what made different groups in good versus bad in order to decide whether
> or not I wanted to learn how to program using speech recognition and
> continue my career.  Hint: I opted out except for stuff I do personally
> and small-scale stuff for clients.
>
> But there was almost no correlation between money availability above a
> certain threshold and quality of software.  What produced the most
> quality was a team that trusted each other enough to say "I'm being
> blonde, what am I missing in this problem."  Any management the trust of
> the team enough to understand the team calmly working was far more
> productive than one that was in panic and working lots of overtime.  And
> yes, I lived through one company in which a vice president walked
> through and said "it's too calm, make everybody come in on Saturday for
> the next couple of months."

I've no direct experience, but that certainly sounds right.
The quality of the participants is (always?) the biggest factor.

What do you think of the argument that says 'a labour of love done beacuse
the developer wants to do it' will produce better quality code?  By removing
all that pressure, and making it easy for him to either sleep on a problem or
kick it around with any and everyone, doesn't that aleviate all those issues
you discuss?

>
> But to come back to my original comment stripped of snark, I should have
> said that why isn't there a fund that ATI card owners can contribute to
> to pay for development and make sure it's done right.  Personally, there
> are lots of projects I would contribute to their furtherance and some to
> their hindrance.  But at the same time if we took up a fund to buy out
> Microsoft, I think we would be lucky to collect two quarters and a
> dribble of spit.

Well, 'hiring' a programmer to produce code is certainly an option.
How do you 'make sure it's done right' though?   I guess that problem
exists regardless...

>
> I personally believe we have been training our users too much to expect
> free (i.e. no cost) and not enough on how much it costs to remain free
> (i.e. liberty).  No matter what version of liberty you talk about, it's
> never cheap.

Is that our training?  or just a reflection of current society?
I do agree that there should be more emphasis on 'what actions you can do
that will help pay back' but hey - free means 'free to take what you want
and ignore the rest of that philosophy stuff' too right?

I'm hoping the soft sell approach will make sure the largest number
of people possible will see it, and hook the people willing to think
about such things sooner or later.

> > Hoping your driver mess is fixable,
>
> thank you Brian.  I appreciate your putting up with my moment of
> irritation.  Hopefully as I get older, they will become fewer until I am
> so senile that I no longer remember what I'm being pissy about before I
> open my mouth.

Bah - my reply was arguably worse than yours - no biggie, and
my apologies in return.   I'm the youngest in a large family - a little
friendly abuse makes me feel at home :-)

Brian
-- 
If your Internet access seems sluggish, just blame slow readers at the
National Security Agency - Robert X Cringley

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