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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Open source vs Closed source... What makes Open Source tick.
From:       Juan De Vincenzo <juandevincenzo () gmail ! com>
Date:       2009-07-29 8:02:39
Message-ID: 2c6dc0b00907290102t590b2946lc3f47a5382557fd6 () mail ! gmail ! com
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I just have one thing to tell you: your trolling skills are very poor...

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 4:51 AM, viwe lolwane<ghostnet2000@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Michael
> If 7 versions of Microsoft Operating system are all craps why is it that
> they still up today
> dominate the desktop market, even when KDE is distributed for free sure if
> KDE was
> such a good system users would have opted to use linux/KDE instead of
> Microsoft OS. I
> doubt that KDE is user friendly than Microsoft, I have seen many post
> complaining about
> userbility on this mailing list, it seem that the user friendly of KDE still
> needs to be looked
> at.
> The model that open source uses, I would think that it has many weakness for
> example it is
> very hard for unexperienced programmers to get into the movement because of
> very poooooor
> documentation, For someone to contribute to the program he must be a very
> skilled developer.
> I know there are areas where non developers can work on like translation but
> my focus is really
> on the development side.
> I would like to end this post by asking this question, Is it possible that
> someday linux will dominate
> the market or Microsoft is here to stay?
>
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 4:04 AM, Michael Howell <mhowell123@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Tuesday 28 July 2009 02:15:50 viwe lolwane wrote:
>> > Hi everyone.
>> > Just have a general question on open source, I would like to know what
>> > is
>> > the reason behind
>> > the success of open source development, looking at the success of
>> > products
>> > like linux, kde
>> > this are world class software products..  when you look at the
>> > development
>> > process of open
>> > source I can deduce that documentation is rare, the developers operate
>> > on
>> > environments like
>> > mailing list, forums, they rarely meet.
>> >
>> > How are reliable are open source softwares compared  to closed source
>> > softwares developed
>> > like organizations, and i would also like to compare the development
>> > process used by both. is
>> > it fair to say that open source software must be full of bugs and errors
>> > compared to closed
>> > source because it is designed by volunteers  but again it has been
>> > successful. is the future
>> > of development an open source development process or are we doomed to
>> > fail?
>> >
>> > What is really good about Open Source, and what are the disadvantages.
>> Firstly: Open Source software is written by individuals and companies.
>> Closed
>> Source software is written by companies and individuals. For example,
>> Trolltech wrote Qt, which backs KDE, and many companies have written
>> drivers
>> inside Linux.
>>
>> Now, to compare distributed OSS development vs. non-distributed CSS
>> development (in other words, the typical models for both).
>>
>> In a distributed OSS model, all defects are immediately visible: already
>> discovered ones are in the bug tracker, and unknown ones are visible in
>> the
>> code, ready to be found. Problems can be found before they are triggered,
>> giving well-tested OSS, such as KDE3.5 very stable.
>>
>> In a top-down CSS model, defects are kept secret, to give investigators
>> the
>> illusion that the software is bug free. Bugs can last for a very long time
>> in
>> virtually unchanged code for years.
>>
>> In a distributed OSS model, vendor lock-in is impossible. Since the code
>> is
>> available, interoperability can easily exist. Giving KDE as the example
>> again,
>> we can look at the KIO, KParts, Plasma, etc that allow for KDE apps to
>> work
>> and act the same.
>>
>> In a top-down CSS model, the same work-together attitude does not exist.
>> The
>> win32 APIs are crap (yes, I said it, the raw win32 APIs are crap crap
>> crap);
>> even Microsoft-developed software usually contains their own layers
>> between
>> the win32 APIs and internal program structures. Microsoft Office and
>> Windows
>> Media Player are shining examples: neither of them use anything resembling
>> the
>> appearance of any other Windows applications. This can also be argued as
>> being
>> the fault of Microsoft having no UI standards, except that KDE3 didn't
>> have
>> any UI standards, either, but was still very consistent.
>>
>> In a distributed OSS model, the people making the software want good
>> software.
>> Often, they wish to use the software they are making. This can be a very
>> good
>> thing, because it means that the software will not include annoyware, will
>> not
>> contain DRM, etc. It can be a bad thing, too, because the software is
>> often
>> not very user-friendly.
>>
>> In a top-down CSS model, software is made to be sold, and to be sell-able.
>> Things such as nagware, DRM, crippleware, etc, do exist. As an extreme
>> example, look at the seven (yes, 7) versions of Windows 7. Microsoft wants
>> people to buy the same software twice, and makes the software to ensure
>> that
>> happens by selling people crippleware to start with, and ensure that you
>> want
>> the Ultimate version, even if you'll never use the features it provides,
>> by
>> not making the difference clear.
>> However, this also means that the software will be designed to be user-
>> friendly, so that people will buy it.
>>
>> --
>> Please don't send HTML mail. If you forward mail, please remove the
>> garbage.
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Michael Howell
>> mhowell123@gmail.com
>>
>>
>> >> Visit http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to
>> >> unsubscribe <<
>>
>
>
>
> --
> viwe lolwane.
> S A Square Kilometer Array Telescope
>
> cell +2782 367 9417
> Phone (w) :021 531 7282
> Fax:021 531 9761
> Website: www.ska.ac.za
>
>
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>>> <<
>
>
 
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