[mythtv-users] Why Free Software has poor usability ?

Raphael rpooser at gmail.com
Wed Aug 6 03:55:19 UTC 2008


Nick Rout wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Raphael <rpooser at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Nick Rout wrote:
>>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 5:04 AM, Udo van den Heuvel <udovdh at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>>>> It is a certain area of problems that would have been fixed by now in
>>>> some way in commercial software.
>>> I say what? You must be joking! A problem that no one else can
>>> replicate? You think you would get ANY response from the average
>>> commercial software company as a lone user with unusual usage
>>> complaining about an alleged memory leak? At least you got some
>>> traction on this list with people trying to help. Most commercial
>>> software companies wouldn't even have responded in my experience. But
>>> anyway this is OT this discussion.
>>> _______________________________________________
>> Not in my experience. I've had software companies actually help my debug
>> my own code before, after I assumed the bug lied in their own work.
>> Didn't have to do it, but they did anyway. I was just one guy, no one
>> else was reporting the same problem.
>> Sure I agree many software companies will just take your money and leave
>> you high and dry. But not all are like that. Also just because something
>> is FOSS doesn't suddenly mean the support is going to lightyears better
>> than anything else. There are also usergroups for people who use
>> commercial software that help each other just as we do. Their capacity
>> is somewhat diminished by the lack of anyone on the list who actually
>> has access to the source code directly. Nonetheless, I find it odd that
>> people seem to assume as soon as you're not using FOSS anymore, there is
>> no such thing as a community of people who are willing to help each
>> other....
> 
> Well try getting something in word or outlook fixed!
> 
> I guess the thing is that with FOSS there are often quite a big group
> of "support" people because they CAN read the source, or get access to
> the developers.
> 
> Each camp will have mixtures of good and bad support.
> 
> The thing is that neither camp has a monopoly on good or bad support.
> For Udo to say his problem would have been fixed by a commercial
> company is as ludicrous as saying no FOSS software has good usability.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> 


All good points.
Being able to see the source and work from that angle is a big advantage 
of course when trying to help others. I never look into the myth source, 
but it's go to have people who do. As to the original subject I 
personally find it pretty usable compared to other commercial programs 
in fact.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list