Re: AbiWord is too buggy for Bonita

> The point is that complaining is not
> constructive. Complaining is just a waste of time.

I thought I made it clear, in my first two mails, that I didn't write to
complain, but to help you achieve better results in the adoption of
AbiWord by Windows users.

My criticism was meant to be constructive, I wasn't just bitching.

However, I was quite taken aback that two people posted blunt responses
asking for bug reports and patches. My feeling was that if those you
had already received had not helped, then any I might submit were not
likely to either.

I was not aware that you were sorely in need of more resources for
Windows development. What I thought was that you were happily coding
away on Windows, blind to the effect that your work was having on people
trying to use it on that platform.

It is all too common for open source developers to respond to criticism,
even constructive criticism, with a request for bug reports. That
doesn't win anyone any friends. I got much the same response elsewhere
when I lamented the loss of my contract proposal to open office's bug.
I couldn't see how any amount of bug reporting, now matter how
well-documented and reproducible, would get my text back.

It's important to consider the image you present to the public, when
responding to their comments. Alan's and Dom's posts, pointing out that
you need more help with Windows, were much more constructive.

I won't be able to do much to help for a few days, but I expect I can do
a lot of good after that. I'll start by going through your bug
database, to see what I can reproduce.

You should know, I feel the money I spent on my spotlight license is the
best money I've ever spent on a development tool. It might be non-free
software, but I've been able to write some free software that's better
as a result.

At some point I expect I could get a similar tool for Windows. It
depends one whether I get paying work that calls for it. But if I do,
then I'll buy one, and certainly use it to help out abiword.

Best,

Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com/
crawford@goingware.com

    Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.
Received on Thu Mar 17 22:31:23 2005