[NCLUG] re: 'we have met the enemy, and he is us'

[Alan Silverstein]

Long $0.02 rant follows...

> "I'm just asking that Linux application developers think their
> projects through from A to Z, with Z representing a polished product
> that installs successfully with minimal fuss."

Hah!  In that case, Linux is doomed.  My lengthy experience as a
software engineer is that hardly anyone shares my level of perfectionism
(at least three sigma off the norm), and even people who do, can't keep
enough in their heads to produce really polished products, and often
can't agree between themselves what "perfect" looks like.  Software done
RIGHT is HARD, really, really, HARD, possibly beyond the ability of mere
mortals.  We continually settle for flaws and imperfections out of
necessity and expediency.

Really it amazed me repeatedly over the years just how incomplete and
sloppy a job was done by so many of my equally highly paid co-workers.
But I promise you that pointing this out only makes people unhappy and
does not create positive change...  :-)

The whole business is weird.  If you're building brick walls, you're
likely to hire someone based on their demonstrated ability to build good
brick walls, and you would never sign off on their finished work without
looking at it.  But I never met a manager (at HP) who was willing to
DEMAND examples of past work from interviewees (despite our legendary
tough technical interviews), nor one who would, as a routine practice,
inspect the deliverable finished work of their subordinates for quality
(mine included).  One even told me this would be unprofessional and not
respect individuals' own quality ethics.

As I learned about open source, I thought, well good, at least the
community will inspect each others' work and reject junk.  So it's
disheartening to read that even today Linux suffers from ultimate
failure of friendliness at the (G)UI; that it's from, by, and for
geeks...  Oh well.  As always, "The finest eloquence is that which gets
things done."

Cheers anyway,
Alan Silverstein