You’re talking about paid software, right? I understand that if you pay for something you want a minimum quality in the product because you exchange a value of yours for a value of another.
But if it’s free, if anyone has any responsibility, it would be the user supporting the author to thank him and encourage him to include support, documentation, bug fixes, tutorials, etc. If not, you don’t exchange any value with the author so you can’t claim any additional value.
Why am I explaining something so basic? Because it’s not one or two or three people. When a community lacks a head, the human tendency is what it is, and you end up thinking that the quality of the ecosystem is achieved by demanding more instead of contributing, as happens in a healthy community, then you vitiate the system. That’s why it’s normal that when an author of a free plugin finds a job, he abandons the project, because his community instead of taking care of him, demands or ignores him. But of course, as all this is free and there are many people who help, it has an aura of happiness that is only perceived from the outside.
well, just to add my 2 cents, most open source projects I had contact with, is free for you to use, and you pay for the support, at least the engineering software do that.
Sorry to come back late to this but Brett Cannon (long time Python contributor and current steering council member) is good on this. I think all legal and moral responsibility here sits with McNeel.
Open source code is like me putting a stack of USB drives with my open source code on them on my front lawn with a sign that says “FREE”, and you coming by and taking a USB drive when you want the latest copy of my open source code.
That’s the actual, typical relationship I have with most users of my open source code: I push out a new commit, you use it, and we never speak to each other.
I think I mean responsibility for the overall user experience via this McNeel website and the broader rhino and GrassHopper ecosystem: if the website allows people to share things for free with partial or outdated documentation then that is a McNeel design decision (possibly a correct one) and not the ‘Fault’ of the people who gave their work away free.
Of course many open source authors do feel a responsibility about the work they contribute and that is a factor which leads to open source burnout but I think they shouldn’t feel guilty if they move on to other things and users should understand this context. I wonder whether platforms like GitHub, pypi, nuget could make this aspect clearer.
Yes, we try hard to keep the apps updated (by contacting its developers), but that’s not always easy (they have another job, or they don’t want to develop their plug-ins further…). But for some users the current app, even if it’s not updated, might fit their needs, and this is why we let the plug-ins listed.
I think for most food4Rhino users is clear that the developer of a 3rd party app is the one and only responsible of it, and not McNeel. If that’s not the case we should make it more clear at the FAQ.
Why not just saying ‘tested for V5,V6’ and ‘Use at own risk’, ‘Eat or die.’ Maybe user can poll if it worked on other versions and platforms.
Everybody is self-responsible, not ‘McNeel’ nor the developers. That’s also why I don’t believe it’s helpful if people get a public voice on that platform. The majority of people is not in the position to judge about other’s charity.
Seriously, any human should know that relying on others work is a risk. It is a decision you make, ideally completely unbiased. This decision does not even depend on if you pay for it or not. It’s also completely irrelevant how you like it and what you would do better. It’s just about what do you gain without sacrificing too much independence and security.
People quickly blame others if something doesn’t work as expected. Instead of investing some time to find a solution, many people start to bombard others with opinions and suggestions. If a developer wants to hear that, then there are many platforms out there to set up a community project.
Ok, just adding my two cents, I had some colleagues say they hate Rhinoceros because stuff don’t work, or something was missing, etc, some regular folks don’t even know they use plug ins , between us in the forums it is impossible to find someone like that, but, no one I know access this forum, or any other forum, to ask for help
Because saying something is garbage is easier than finding a solution… I wonder how many of your colleagues are able to develop a CAD program or at least a CAD Plugin? I mean you don’t need to have the skills, but then people should just be careful with evaluating others work. As a developer it can be quite frustrating to hear that. Especially, because many “evalutions” are not very objective.
There is a difference between “XXX does not work” from someone who has tried to learn how it should work and “XXX does not work” from someone who assumed they knew how XXX worked based on knowledge and experience with YYY. “All CAD programs work essentially the same” so if you know how to use one or two you know how to use all appears to be a not uncommon attitude.
I recently tried to compile all official McNeel French language online material (docs, tutorials, scripting reference, videos) for my colleagues. It was… … … I don’t want to try that again.
It’s a complicated puzzle yes, but I think there are smart ways in which it can be done. First step would be to have an always present main navigation bar to get to some main category pages, while that same main navigation bar (floating drop down?) would always provide a way to get back on track if getting lost or simply not finding essential info without wasting time. A terrible experience especially for new users. I still get lost at times.
The “deadwood” hosted on Food4Rhino is a small problem compared to the mazy mcneel sites.
I know, and I agree with you, I lost the count of how many problems I solved in the very first google result.
you don’t know how happy I am because we hired some more people and now we don’t have enough solidworks licenses, so I am “forced” to work with rhino.
The only reason I still use solidworks, is because there is one step on the way that they require me to present the 3d model on solidworks, and for solidworks analysis tools to work properly, I can’t fillet stuff on rhino because it becomes a spline surface on solidworks, making impossible to measure radius and etc.
I have my plans to develop some plugins myself after i finish college
, between us in the forums it is impossible to find someone like that, but, no one I know access this forum, or any other forum, to ask for help