Reality check

[Hiji]

>   3.  Ask nicely

This is key, and I completely agree.

However, there is a more fundamental problem here.  I
don't see "bugs" in a black vs. white type of view; in
fact, I can classify bugs in two ways:
1) A bug is something that has always been broken
2) A bug is something that is broken, but it once
worked

When it comes to #1, I say, "Yes, ask nicely. 
Hopefully, someone will step up to fix it.  If you
need to, pay someone to fix it."

When it comes to #2, I say, "Explain nicely.  You
broke something which once worked; you caused this
bug.  Fix it.  It's the right thing to do.  Don't
expect to get paid for something you broke."

And of my biggest concerns about the growth of Wine,
it's always been about #2.  First, it was Photoshop7
which worked perfectly (and from what I understand,
Disney poured money into getting this to work), but
then someone broke its ability to run for close to a
year; no one stepped up to fix what got broken. 
("Success" popup window, anyone?)  Now, it's about bug
3148 which magically showed up after December of 2004;
aside from Vitaliy who was kind enough to look into
it, no one has stepped up to say, "whoops!  Sorry, I
seem to have broken that by accident.  I will try to
get that fixed."  Even something as simple as an
acknowledgement will help ease the situation.

Do I want to pay someone to fix something that they
broke?  Absolutely not.  That's like having someone
say, "I will wash your house windows for free."  You
say, "ok."  Then, they break your windows by accident,
won't fix them, and then say, "If you want, you can
pay me to fix your windows."

Is it is the right and responsible thing to do for
someone to step up and fix bugs that they cause? 
Absolutely yes.  Open source or not.  Absolutely yes.

Hiji


	
		
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