Hi Darrell,
I'm not going to address the technical content of your email, much of which I
disagree with from a purely factual perspective, because I do not believe it
is possible to make progress on technical topics when there is a wall of
denial and negativity in the way. So I will instead focus on one specific thing
you wrote which really tells the whole tale as to why it is currently
infeasible to make progress on these matters:
On Saturday, February 11, 2012 19:57:44 Darrell Anderson wrote:
> The KDE4 developers do what they want.
We do what we understand to be best given our resources, the requirements of
today's applications and users and based on feedback from those who use KDE
software. We come to these conclusions after a lot of research and testing.
Ultimately, yes, we choose what to do and we don't always get the best answer
on the first try, but the processes we engage in is a very different thing from
simply doing "what we want".
So let me now quote slightly out of order:
> if they would be as honest and admit they develop the software for
> themselves and not others.
What you are asking for is for me, and the rest of the team, to *lie* so as to
fit *your* desired worldview. What nonesense. The reality doesn't fit your
expectations (you think we're selfishly "doing it for ourselves", we maintain
and demonstrate that we aren't) and so instead of modifying your worldview you
want the world to stand on its head and match your flawed perspective. Perhaps
you should simlpy adjust your conclusion and accept that we are writing
software for others, but that the results of that process (for whatever set of
reasons) are not what you wanted. Would that be so hard?
> We don't bother anybody.
You need to go back and read the last set of release announcements for TDE or
any of the numerous comments written on public blogs and web forums by TDE
users, who quite obviously draw conviction and encouragement to do such things
by the leadership and core group around TDE who express the exact combination
of negativity and ignorance we see expressed time and again. Examining the
reality shows that your statement is utterly untrue.
Perhaps you don't percieve TDE as "bothering anybody", and I accept that as a
real possibility: it seems more likely than you being delusional or
intentionally lieing. Maybe it will be an eye-opener to step back and consider
just how you and the other TDE people come across in public. To say TDE, both
its development team as well as its user base, has "bothered" people is akin
to saying that Mount Everest is slightly high.
> Why do they believe they have standing to bother and attack us?
Ignoring the hypocracy in your question, I'll give you a straight answer:
a) TDE has taken code many of us worked on for years and is taking it in the
direction TDE sees fit. Not normally a problem, but in this case TDE often does
a less than spectacular job of it. Diminishing someone else's work and doing
the long-term users of it a disservice is not great, is it? Yeah, it annoys me
when people use my software, which they still refer to as "kicker", with
someone else's changes to it which actually make it less stable rather than
more, something I worked years on to achieve, and then have the balls to
suggest that "TDE is improving things". Normally, this point on its own would
be, while unfortunate, ignorable, however:
b) When a developer does come here and asks to unfork one component (kwin,
e.g.) for everyone's benefit, the response is pathetic and juvenile, not the
sort of thing I expect from mature software developers.
c) TDE and the people around it have repeatedly made public statements about
the state of KDE software. Some of it has appeared in headlines on Slashdot as
part of a TDE release announcement, to name one example. To expect no response
to be made to such public assertions is to live in a fantasy world.
The way to get along with each other starts by those who brought the
negativity in the first place to find peace within themselves and start behaving
accordingly. The problems TDE reaps are the problems TDE sows.
Stop pretending to be a victim and start behaving like people who are trying
to take control of your own positive destiny by developing technology you
love.
--
Aaron J. Seigo
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