I just love hearing "You're doing it wrong, and you're not doing enough because you don't care about exactly the same things I care about. Also you have a bad attitude."
But, after you've submitted your 427th patch to make yet another library Windows compatible because yet another Linux dev decided to shell out with a 'grep' command it seriously starts to grind you down over the years.
It's not just Unix bigotry. I've noticed a serious trend towards Linux bigotry (or rather, the GNU toolchain), as I've run into my share of problems with libraries that wouldn't build properly on Solaris, too.
What I would like is for developers to think in advance about writing cross platform code instead of just, "Oh, I'll just toss this out there and wait for the patches", which is how it often feels.
Re:'nix bigotry is teh suck
chromatic on 2008-05-14T17:03:12
It's not just Unix bigotry. I've noticed a serious trend towards Linux bigotry (or rather, the GNU toolchain), as I've run into my share of problems with libraries that wouldn't build properly on Solaris, too.I agree, having tried to write cross-platform C code (which is an order of magnitude more difficult than cross-platform Perl, Python, or Ruby code). Of course, it doesn't help that the default Solaris compiler is apparently dumber than most forms of rocks. (Not Shale. Shale is particularly dumb.)
What I would like is for developers to think in advance about writing cross platform code instead of just, "Oh, I'll just toss this out there and wait for the patches", which is how it often feels.Mostly that attitude seems to come from fixing lots of broken code, whether their own code or code they want to work on their own platforms.
I'm particularly annoyed by the phrase "your demand to be paid (in jest I hope)." No, it's not in jest! If you want something done, you assume the burden of getting it done! We are not a commune; your goals are not identical to mine. Sometimes we can benefit each other by working together. Sometimes the benefits are nonmonetary and this happens quite naturally. Other times the only way for us both to benefit from cooperation is for one of us to provide the benefit to the other in the form of some kind of compensation.
Look, I don't donate any time to making Perl software work on Windows. I don't donate any time to making Perl software work on UNIX, either. Generally speaking, I don't donate any of my time to open source projects any more, except when it benefits me. How come nobody berates me? How come nobody berates non-programmers for not learning programming and contributing their time to making all software work on Windows? If it's okay for all of the rest of us to forbear, it's okay for you, too.
The full quote was "I believe your demand to be paid (in jest I hope) exactly illustrates the arrogance I spoke of when it comes to issues like this." Truly, the arrogance is obviously on the other end. What kind of arrogance must you have to assume that all people share your goals identically and should therefore work for you, unpaid?
Re:paid
slanning on 2008-05-15T13:10:41
What kind of arrogance must you have to assume that all people share your goals identically and should therefore work for you, unpaid?American arrogance, fuck yeah!
Wait... I missed the point, didn't I?
Re:paid
pudge on 2008-05-15T20:17:11
No, Americans are capitalists: we'll happily pay you. In USD, of course.What kind of arrogance must you have to assume that all people share your goals identically and should therefore work for you, unpaid?American arrogance, fuck yeah!
Re:paid
jdavidb on 2008-05-16T15:55:45
rotfl. Somehow I never got a message for this. Glad I came back and saw it.
For the record, I think of it as socialist utopian arrogance, which I don't see as unique to America, although we have plenty of it.
Remember, it's only wrong to use force to bring about your vision if you're one of the bad guys!
:P :)
