Talking about other perspectives, this is an interesting, even if maybe
a little disturbing, glimpse at how other people think about platforms:
http://www.plamondon.net/james/02_plamondon.htm

IMO, there's some to learn from that, as well as a lot not to.

Daniel

Andreas Raab <andreas.raab at gmx.de> wrote:
> Hi Darius,
> 
> Thanks for sharing. These are worthwhile thoughts to consider in the context
> of open source projects in general. Of course I don't have a concise answer
> to the questions posed but a tad more "user" vs. "developer" orientation is
> (I think) very helpful for any open source project. This is actually one of
> the reasons why I really like Squeakland - it keeps you honest in the face
> of truly naive users who don't know anything about why things are as
> weird/complex/irritating as they sometimes seem to be.
> 
> Again, thanks for sharing this interesting memo,
>   - Andreas
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: squeak-dev-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> > [mailto:squeak-dev-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On 
> > Behalf Of Darius Clarke
> > Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 2:43 AM
> > To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> > Subject: Jon Udell's observation on a weakness of Open Source projects
> > 
> > 
> > http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/06/22.html#a730
> > 
> > Engines, steering wheels, and open source
> > 
> > "... Creative programming is a deeply addictive behavior...." 
> > 
> > "What open source projects often lack is not the engine, but the
> > steering wheel.... Paul Everitt, co-founder of Zope 
> > Corporation, puts it
> > this way: "We suck at finishing work." Writing documentation doesn't
> > make endorphins flow. Neither does organizing a usability study, or
> > doing triage on bug reports, or writing a bulletproof installer, or
> > internationalizing a product for fourteen languages, or creating an
> > intuitive user interface.... "
> > 
> > "The SpamBayes engine is open source software that could be integrated
> > with any email program. Most open source folk wouldn't want 
> > to actually
> > do that integration. But Mark Hammond saw it as an interesting
> > challenge. He did the finishing work: packaging up the Python
> > distribution needed to run SpamBayes and the plug-in, writing the
> > user-interface code that enables the plug-in to work with my Outlook
> > filters and folders, and delivering the whole thing as a clickable
> > installer."
> > 
> > "I once asked a pair of open source wizards if they were 
> > inspired by the
> > thought that their software could improve the lives of millions of
> > people. Nope. "We build infrastructure for other developers," 
> > they said.
> > "If they use it to make software that makes people happy, 
> > then fine, but
> > it's not what motivates us." 
> > 
> > Some of this the Squeak community does well. Some not so well, such as
> > an intuitive user interface.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Darius
> > 
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> > 
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