Re: The importance of civil communication on the list (was Re: Fucked up gnustep-make)

[MJ Ray]

Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf <lars.sonchocky-helldorf@hamburg.de> wrote:
> Am 15.02.2007 um 15:32 schrieb Jeff Teunissen:
> > Why, why WHY in the name of all that is good should anyone in a  
> > Free Software
> > project act professional?
> 
> Because we want GNUstep to be successful? Because that means GNUstep  
> has to be used in professional environments for that? Because we  
> gain, given GNUstep is used professionally, better code review,  
> better stability, more applications developed using GNUstep, more  
> testing, lesser bugs.

I agree with Jeff Teunissen's view - professional is not necessarily
a good thing.  The professions used to be just things like lawyers,
where the people express no view besides that what they were paid to
express.  I'm sure most of us can think of programmers like that and
they're not much fun to work alongside IMO.  They also drop to base
insults and violence if they are frustrated, sometimes.

I also agree with Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf's view in some ways.  There
are benefits if professionals do use it.  I disagree with the seeming
assumption that GNUsteppers have to impersonate IBM to get them to use
it.  I feel the best thing is for everyone to have fun, as far as
possible.

Which brings me to the start of this thread: would it really be much
less fun if everyone tries not to curse on this list and apologises
when they do?

> > It's not a company, it's a hobby.
> 
> That attitude of some currently shows in GNUstep. Some professional  
> developers I talked to regard GNUstep as a playtoy of grown up boys  
> because of the overall quality. If for instance the Apache guys had  
> the same attitude nobody would (and could) use Apache (professionally).

I've owned a company with one Apache guy and worked with another.  They
seem to be hackers working on stuff they love, more than professional.
They swear sometimes.  Artisanal would probably be a better term.

I disagree with the comment on quality.  I'm here, using GNUstep on
all my computers, because the overall quality is better than its
competitors.  It ain't perfect, but it doesn't suck.

Regards,
-- 
MJR/slef