Myth: You have to be a developer to get the most out of Free Software
I’d like to address a misunderstanding about Free Software that gets repeated very often and hopefully clarify a few key aspects along the way.
Next time someone tells you that you have to be a developer to get the most out of Free Software ask yourself how many softwares do you have to deal with in a month. When the OS boots, there’s a lot happening behind the curtains. Let’s just throw a number out there, say 25 (but knowing it’s way more then that). Being a developer doesn’t magically extend the number of hours you have in a day. Being a developer isn’t in contradiction with having a life. And most importantly, it doesn’t give you instant knowledge of those 25 softwares. You may know the language for 60% of those, maybe even 100%, whatever. Most of the time, a developer is just a user, like anyone else, although maybe better prepared to deal with the proper channels (unless he’s an asocial prick or dealing with one).
Like any user, you have access to the source, the documentation, forums, mailing lists (and archives), etc. You generally also have access to the people responsible for all those resources: the community. If the community doesn’t keep up with the demand, it will collapse. Before that happens though, it’s possible someone will see the value provided and chime in. It’s the community’s responsability to integrate and facilitate the integration of new contributors in a way that makes sense for the community as a whole.
So what we have is a process that lets someone walk right in, dangling his bag of marbles, and directs him where his set of marbles would be put to greater use. If there’s no match, or maybe he just decides to keep all his marbles to himself, that’s fine too. Nobody is forced to participate but everyone is encouraged to.
Let’s take it back to Joe Developer, or Joe User as we call him now. Joe could really use Software X, only if it had Feature Y… Joe finds out he’s not alone wanting this feature and the maintainers of Software X aren’t against the idea, only nobody has the time to do it right now. It just happens that Joe works at Business A and convinces his boss to pay a share of the development for this feature. Another user is surprised to find out one of his collegue is already familiar with Software X and would be willing to work on Feature Y if his boss approved. Some money changes hand and pretty soon Joe gets his new feature and everyone lived happily after that.
Think of your house (or appartment). There’s plumbing, electricity, carpentry, paint, etc. Nobody is expected to handle all those facets. You pick the phone book, find an electrician and make the call. Whatever problem you may have, you trust him to fix it. Where you see sockets (and a little smoke earlier), the electrician sees the source code that makes your house work. It’s a commodity. If you know your trade, you can understand, modify and build from it. The only articifial barrier here is the accreditation.
(this is a small excerpt from a longer piece I’m writing and might release bit by bit)
