From: Ben Francis on Saturday, August 02, 2003 11:04 PM
The big challenge for open source software writers going forwards is to go out and actively seek input and advice from graphics designers and similar people as well as the many people for whom the computer is just a piece of office equipment, entertainment centre, etc . People who, basically, couldn't give a toss about the software as such but just want a tool to do the job and will ask the awkward questions like "why can't I just switch it on and use it?".
<snip>
Keith
Again, what is the motivation for these people?
Aye, there's the rub! Motivation.
As many posts have pointed out, the majority of Open source software is written by people who are scratching their own personal itches of various kinds. They have a problem and they solve it in a manner that works for them. Up until now most of the software writers have been enthusiasts that are happy with command-line and text config file solutions. I don't see this changing anytime soon and I think it would be wrong (immoral actually) to suggest any sort of pressure should be put on people to write software in any particular way.
My hope is that, as the take up of Open Source software spreads outside of the original community, there will be people who become involved who are motivated to make it more accessible to others. Rather than creating software that extends the underlying functionality they might prefer to encapsulate or package the work of others in ways that makes it more accessible to non-technically minded people who just want it to work. A sort of 2nd generation Open Source movement if you will. I think this is starting to happen with things like Knoppix, Morphix, Mandrake, etc.
Regards,
Keith ____________ The material thing before you, that is IT. Huang-po