Five Fundamental Problems with Open Source?

meriksen asks: "I found a very interesting paper which I am sure will stir up a hornets nest. Despite the growing success of the Open Source movement, most of the general public continues to feel that Open Source software is inaccessible to them. This paper discusses five fundamental problems with the current Open Source software development trend, explores why these issues are holding the movement back, and offers solutions that might help overcome these problems." What do you think of the issues given in this paper, and how do you think the Open Source community should address these issues?

"The lack of focus on user interface design causes users to prefer proprietary software's more intuitive interface. Open Source software tends to lack the complete and accessible documentation that retains users. Developers focus on features in their software, rather than ensuring that they have a solid core. Open Source programmers also tend to program with themselves as an intended audience, rather than the general public. Lastly, there is a widely known stubbornness by Open Source programmers in refusing to learn from what lessons proprietary software has to offer. If Open Source software wishes to become widely used and embraced by the general public, all five of these issues will have to be overcome."

But...

[TwistedSquare]

What about Free Software?

*ducks*

The webserver shoulda been running apache...

[GPLDAN]

For starters, the webserver should have been running apache, so it wouldn't have been slashdotted. Nothing worse than not having to read an article bashing the open source movement, because the IIS server was slashdotted....

Reason #6

[pknoll]

6. No Profit!

(I keed! I keed...)

Mozilla

[lorcha]

Easy to use. Easy to install. Better than closed-source alternatives (no popups, no IE viruses). Last, but not least, passes the mom test. My mom successfully installed and is usining Mozilla. All by herself.

Now if I can only get her to quit forwarding me those retarded chain letters we'll be all set.

Re:er ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, if Dell started shipping open source software, all the UI/documentation/quality problems would solve themselves. Sure.

Re:Product Websites / Download Options

[gl4ss]

yeah that's why I recommend realplayer to everyone.

not.

Re:Motivation.

[dasmegabyte]

When I fixed my deck last weekend, I half assed it. I only put lattice on the side facing the street, figuring that I didn't care what my neighbors would think.

I sure don't want to get my software from somebody with the same mentality!

Re:Motivation.

[computational super]

Plus, she's a chick, and they always get lipstick and fingernail polish and stuff on the screen, covering up the useful parts of the UI.

Re:The webserver shoulda been running apache...

[larry bagina]

sure.
>
> help
help: Command not found.
> dir
dir: Command not found.
> win
win: Command not found.
> windows
windows: Command not found.
> help
help: Command not found.
> fuck
fuck: Command not found.

Re:The webserver shoulda been running apache...

[gandy909]

... The writer is *female*....

And as everyone knows, females are the only members of the species who seem to need documentation anyway... What male would ever admit to needing such a thing, unless he was out of toilet paper!

Is she high?

[adamofgreyskull]

In this post, I use the general term "Violent Puppy Rape", though often I'm exclusively discussing consensual sex between adults.
I enjoy watching violent puppy rape.

Lumping the latter in with the former helps no-one, least of all the puppies.

Except...

[adamofgreyskull]

...most documentation isn't even good enough to wipe your arse on, free, open source or otherwise..

Re:Is she high?

[TwistedSquare]

I think RMS would probably say that Free Software is open source, but not Open Source.

courtesy rules!

[pikine]

I think the problem with "programming for the self" has mainly to do with the fact that people not wearing enough hats ... no, I mean, people who don't say enough "thank you" to the developers who kindly provide what it is for you to take for granted. Most free software or open source projects are started for the programmer to solve his/her own itch. The audience is narrow, and features are biased. There is much for improvement. However, many users don't express gratitude, yet continue to demand if something doesn't quite work for them. The developers really aren't asking much, but a nice simple, "thank you." After you say that magic word, then you may ask, "but if you don't mind, could you also improve the software in this way or that?" I'm sure the person will be more than happy to do it for you. Remember that nobody is working for you, not even for free. This is not what free software is all about.

Before I posted this comment, I did a search on Slashdot on the word "thank" but found no stories or comments. I'm a bit curious as to why people don't recognize the importance of expressing gratutide.

I'd like to say to all of you, thank you all for creating free software for us to use. And thank you those who created Slashdot.

I'd much like to see that one day, courtesy will become the main driving force behind free or open source software.

Re:The webserver shoulda been running apache...

[larry bagina]

actually, that is actual output from the tcsh shell. I started under bash, but help actually did provide some help, so I had to switch shells :)

Of course, there's also this classic snippet [gnu.org]:

Let's look at a typical novice's session with the mighty ed:

golem$ ed

?
help
?
?
?
quit
?
exit
?
bye
?
hello?
?
eat flaming death
?
^C
?
^C
?
^D
?

---
Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is
generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm
the novice with verbosity.

ctrl-x

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but you can't really blame emacs for not using a convention that was established at least five years after the first emacs implementation.

Stallman's first emacs was written in '76.

Apple Lisa came out in '81