Funny how people behave sometimes:
I remember from the times I was still in the Closed Source user fraction, I sometimes send bug reports and/or wishes which were simply ignored, as I was a insignificant small user, not investing much money into software, although from a private user perspective, it still was a horrific amount: I remember having payed sFr. 4000.- on AshtonTates Framework 3 when it was released, as well as more than sFr. 1200.- for a complete MS-Office Suite quite some years ago. Years later the school was offered license packages for their computers which made software a bit more accessible for us teachers, but still we payed for. I know for sure that the bugs we filed from the school software were as ignored as my previous private user ones, ditto for the wishes. Occasionally we had some security updates where we sometimes discovered that the security hole had been there since years, but we were still happy to have it finally fixed. On the whole, we were just the cattle supposed to use the software as is and pay money for so the bosses could get rich.
When I discovered Free Software, it was a whole new word: bug reports and/or wishes were answered most of the time, especially if one did the homework exploring the bug databases looking for duplicates. Although the answers were not always what one expected and not always very polite, at least I was sure that someone had read it and reacted to it. I didn’t have to pay by default but could make donations if I was pleased with the software I got. It was a whole new user experience, something quite a lot of the users still in the Closed Source world would love to experience. I had and still have a tremendous respect for those Free Software developers who listen to the users (most of the time), and I feel respected as a user. Of course, as with most of the Free Software around, it exists mainly because the developer made it to suit her/his needs, occasionally integrating user wishes because they fit in the whole. One doesn’t have to use this particular software but can choose form more than one for the same task (remember, once upon a time in the other world we had no choice).
One thing that is not known from (or not thought of by) most of the users: if they want a particular feature that can not be integrated by default because of lack of time/money/whatever, they can pay a developer to integrate it. The source is free and can be modified by a skilled developer, so every user can find someone he pays to work on that feature. Of course I’m talking about reasonable features that do not demand years of work and can be done within that particular project.
The world is changing all the time. You get aware of it when you look in the mirror: you change too within time, even if it’s only on the outside :-). The way we use computers has changed a lot in the last 30 years (yes, I use computers since 30 years!), and most of the time the integration of new ways was made in the Free Software world before the Closed Source one. I remember database software existing and working smoothly in the *nix world long before the MS-world or the Mac-world. Ditto for the security features for private data or internet access, my first Linux computer back in 1998 was by far more secure than all the Windows PCs I had before and after that time. I switched to Free Software only in 2000 and never looked back with regret, but then, I might be a bit more geeky than others and have never been afraid to read a manual (does this qualify for geekness BTW?). Still, in the pharmacy, for various reasons not always clear to my little pharmacist’s mind we still use Closed Source software on closed operating systems and I sometimes feel desperate at the lack of usability and features in this environment as I’m used to so much more possibilities in my new world.
I’m very pleased to see that the progress is still going on in my world, KDE 4 is showing brilliantly how the way we use computers is changing and how Free Software is not staying behind. Of course, there will always be those who don’t like changes and refuse to follow progress because it forces them to integrate new concepts in their already quite narrow mind. And yes, changes do not always go smoothly, especially not in bleeding edge software based on new concepts and using new technology. Using a whole new technology also means that not everything we are used to from the old one is immediately available as it has to be brought to that new technology and is not working the same way as it used to. That means a lot of time investment and sleepless nights and sweat and tears on the developer’s side which sometimes the user tends to forget.
So, Thank You, Free Software Developers! I like my new modern and shiny world 🙂
