The Kingdom of Philtopia

I love open source software, I really do. It has provided us with so many powerful tools to do any number of tasks but…there is one cloud on this sunny day and it’s a big one.

Developers!

Here is generally how it works:

1. Software gets developed to accomplish something better or for the first time
2. Software catches on and gains momentum
3. Software hits a high point of perfection and everyone loves it
4. Developers go crazy with fame and start trying to reinvent the wheel into their application several times over incorporating anything they can code into the software
5. User base becomes annoyed
6. Developers state they know better or just plain ignore the complaints
7. User base goes away
8. Software stagnates
9. Another project starts to achieve the same task but more efficiently than original project
10. Repeat

Stop it!

• You do not know better than all the other developers of the world, just stick to what was good and make it better
• Listen to the community
• Don’t be an arrogant ass towards your co-developers because you had a dream that a hot chick told you to implement this feature so it must be done for the greater good!

In the last 10 years I have seen this happen so many times and it just annoys the hell out of me. I can honestly say that it is probably this that drove me to become an Apple user where everything stays limited, controlled and simple. Yes I know point #6 runs rampant as an Apple user but the simplicity and anti bloat factor makes up for it.

It’s never too late to change though, you can stop fighting amongst yourselves, listen to your users and still turn your project around at any point. Remember, even though your software is most likely free it doesn’t mean your user base shouldn’t be treated as customers.