You do seem to have very strong opinions about open-source, and demand very high standards. Would you care to tell us how many open-source projects have you created or at least been an active developer in?
On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Ken Springer <snowsh...@q.com> wrote: > I do, but that's no excuse for being nonprofessional in what you are > trying to do. Adding features while ignoring bugs is nonprofessional. > > I do have some "free" software installed, some open source, some not. But > I get updates and bug fixes from the "free" software, not so much from the > open source software in the way of bug fixes. > > > On 10/23/13 10:50 AM, Ernesto Posse wrote: > >> You do understand that a lot of open-source software, including LyX, is >> developed by *volunteers*, do you? >> >> >> On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 12:33 PM, Ken Springer <snowsh...@q.com >> <mailto:snowsh...@q.com>> wrote: >> >> On 10/22/13 10:19 PM, Richard Talley wrote: >> >> I originally picked up on LyX because I needed to produce some >> technical >> manuals quickly that looked good to management and that didn't >> make me >> deal with the WYSIWYG nightmares of Word and its ilk. >> >> LyX really came through for me. >> >> Now I'm helping a friend apply to graduate school. I used the >> KOMA-script v. 2 letter class to typeset his letter of intent. >> Looks good! >> >> Now on to the résumé. Let's see what's available. ModernCV looks >> good, >> under development for seven years. >> >> Except it won't accept last names much longer than the author's >> name >> without hyphenation. Searching produces lot's of hacks to deal >> with this. >> >> Run the example that comes with LyX. Note in example says, 'The >> moderncv >> class offers lots of customization possibilities; some are >> explained in >> the preamble of this document; for more information look at the >> documentation of the LaTeX-package moderncv.' >> >> Yeah, right. The README for moderncv is very short and includes >> this: >> 'Until a decent manual is written, you can always look in the >> "examples" >> directory for some examples. Documents can be compiled into dvi, >> ps or pdf.' >> >> The example LyX file points to documentation that doesn't actually >> exist. There is no 'more information'. Nothing is explained. >> Seven years >> of development and there's nothing that Aunt Tillie can use. >> >> I know what I'm going to hear, 'Do it yourself', 'That's how >> open source >> works'. I agree. Perhaps I'll find the time to work on the >> documentation. In the meantime, I need to produce a document >> NOW, not >> work on the documentation for the tool to produce the document. >> >> Lesson: Please don't point to ghost documentation. If you have >> the time >> to produce something that you expect people to use, you need to >> make the >> time to explain how to use it. >> >> (Disclaimer: this doesn't apply to LyX itself, which is richly >> documented. Just to accessories to LyX and to open source >> generally.) >> >> -- Rich >> >> >> To all, what I'm about to write doesn't specifically to LyX, but as >> in Rich's disclaimer, it applies to the open source community in >> general. >> >> I totally understand Rich's frustrations, although he clearly states >> his comments about the ModernCV site do not apply to LyX. >> >> >> When I bought this Mac, it was more than I should have spent. I got >> into the open source programs, and encouraged others to do so. >> >> I no longer encourage others to use it. Myself, I'm slowly moving >> back to commercial software. A fair question is, why? >> >> There's no universal answer to the question. I'll just do some >> quick comments, and leave it at that. >> >> 1. Web pages make claims as to the abilities to do a job. But the >> software is buggy, or some features just don't work. >> >> 2. Some pages ask you to become involved, and file bugs. You do, >> and I did. But, after a year and a half, the bugs are not even >> assigned to anyone, much less fixed. One bug was assigned for >> awhile, but the assignment has been removed. Both are classed as >> minor. Well... They aren't minor to me!! If the developers >> don't/won't fix it, then: >> >> a. Why would I use the program? >> b. Why would I recommend the program? >> >> The program I filed the bugs with is one that wishes to take on a >> commercial program in the marketplace. And they add new features, >> some of which are inevitable buggy. But the attitude exhibited by >> not fixing existing bugs is very unprofessional. If you are a >> business, with competition, you want tools that work, not tools you >> spend a lot of time finding work arounds. >> >> 3. When the new version comes out, and the developers have broken >> something, they say it's a "regression". Oh, BS!! That's just >> political spin for not saying they screwed up and didn't catch it. >> I would appreciate the pure honesty of admitting a mistake than >> political spin. >> >> 4. My impression is, for most open source software I've tried over >> a period of time, the quality assurance/testing program to look for >> and find bugs is seriously flawed. Some bugs are blatant, and I ask >> myself, "How did they miss that?" >> >> >> >> So, the open source community, as a whole, has lost a supporter. >> And they have a long, long way to go if they want me to recommend >> them. >> >> That being said, I've started a small writing project, for fun for >> now. Part of the writing will be done in a commercial program. I >> will give LyX a try, 2.06 is installed, but haven't had time to >> start using it. >> >> >> -- >> Ken >> >> Mac OS X 10.8.5 >> Firefox 24.0 >> Thunderbird 17.0.8 >> LibreOffice 4.1.1.2 >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Ernesto Posse >> >> Modelling and Analysis in Software Engineering >> School of Computing >> Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario, Canada >> > > > -- > Ken > > Mac OS X 10.8.5 > Firefox 24.0 > Thunderbird 17.0.8 > LibreOffice 4.1.1.2 > > -- Ernesto Posse Modelling and Analysis in Software Engineering School of Computing Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario, Canada
