On Sunday, June 3, 2001, at 05:54 AM, Joseph Pelrine wrote:
Lots of complaints here. People want a preview of a work-in-progess, and then complain that not everything works. I think that John did a damn good job of just getting this stuff bundled up and distributed. It IS release 0.1, anyway.
The author misunderstands both my intentions and, apparently, the substance of what I had posted. If not, there is a far greater impedance mismatch here than I had thought at first.
A bug post and fix to make software work are generally not considered "lots of complaints" in an open-source community. I was under the impression that our advices, thoughts and contributions were affirmatively solicited.
A bug post and fix to make software work are, in fact, mother's milk and the most fundamental virtue of open source development.
A bug post and fix to make software work are the reason why for-profit entities such as Apple and Netscape give away some software for free.
A bug post and fix to make software work are considered, in most open source communities, to be a very good thing.
Such reports don't come easily. In this case, it took me about 4 hours to figure out that and why "not everything works" (indeed, nothing AT ALL worked).
Ordinarily, people on the Squeak list perceive such efforts, not as snide, but rather as a measure of enthusiasm and support.
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