[ros-dev] Interesting article

[Aleksey Bragin]

That's because smart people understand that Linux is not an operating  
system for desktops.


On Sep 29, 2011, at 7:52 AM, dmex wrote:

> Kinda surprised Linus would even mention or care about users  
> considering the
> Linux kernel is not built or optimized for desktop machines.
>
> http://apcmag.com/why_i_quit_kernel_developer_con_kolivas.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ros-dev-bounces at reactos.org [mailto:ros-dev- 
> bounces at reactos.org] On
> Behalf Of Adam
> Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2011 7:59 AM
> To: ros-dev at reactos.org
> Subject: Re: [ros-dev] Interesting article
>
> One could say it works both ways. developers do not fully  
> understand the
> user's needs and it's all about "look at this new code! so cool!"  
> while the
> users are going "just fix it you stoopid geek" etc.
>
> But Linus has a good point about end users. You could have the most
> fantastic recursive whale saving algorithm (which unlike Johnny's  
> algorithm,
> uses B+ trees instead of linked lists and heaps somewhere) on the  
> planet but
> it is no good if your target audience cannot use it.
> If the target audience can use Johnny's algorithm but not your more  
> super
> efficient one, they'll use Johnny's algorithm even though it is a  
> hundred
> times slower.
>
> A classic example is Heidi Eraser - was a fantastic product until  
> the head
> developer guy decided to use .NET (in version 6.0) and now when people
> complain about it he ignores them and just goes "Oh the code's a  
> lot better
> and much cleaner than before and it doesn't matter what the end user
> thinks..." and shit. Sure the code *might* be better but now you  
> have a huge
> runtime, shit that runs in the background, and a crappy and  
> difficult to use
> interface. And you've lost Windows 2000 support.
> Needless to say now I am writing my own erase utility since even  
> that is an
> easier task than attempting to use their stupid interface. While  
> that is
> being written I'm sticking with the older version.
>
> This also brings me to another thing about massive changes in code:  
> if it
> ain't broke then don't fix it.
>
> I agree with Linus on this one.
>
> On Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:56:52 +0400
> Aleksey Bragin <aleksey at reactos.org> wrote:
>
>> FYI:
>>
>> This is Linus' interview. http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Feature-
>> Articles/Linus-Torvalds-s-Lessons-on-Software-Development-Management/
>> ba-p/440
>>
>> He very correctly outlines many things. One of the most important:
>> "The other thing-and it's kind of related-that people seem to get
>> wrong is to think that the code they write is what matters. No, even
>> if you wrote 100% of the code, and even if you are the best  
>> programmer
>> in the world and will never need any help with the project at all,  
>> the
>> thing that really matters is the users of the code. The code  
>> itself is
>> unimportant; the project is only as useful as people actually find
>> it."
>>
>> And this:
>> "Way too many projects seem to think that the code is more important
>> than the user, and they break things left and right, and they don't
>> apologize for it, because they feel that they are 'fixing' the code
>> and doing the right thing."
>>
>>
>> WBR,
>> Aleksey Bragin.
>
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