"Of all the myths that have grown up around open source software, perhaps the most pervasive is Eric Raymond's aphorism that 'Many eyes make bugs shallow', suggesting that if lots of people can view a program's source code, they will find and fix its errors more quickly than commercial products whose code is jealously guarded. The only problem with this is that it's not true - certainly not in one of the flagship projects of open source, OpenOffice."
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Member since:2005-06-29
More importantly is how much of a pain in the ass some bug reporting systems are.
First you need an account, then you have to make sure it's not a duplicate bug report by searching through some sadistic search page, then if it's new you have to go through another slightly less sadistic page to submit the bug report and wait for anywhere between hours and days for someone to reply, usually telling you you're on a waiting list.
Don't get me wrong, I love OSS, but I've had to go through bug submission web pages before and it was so miserable I've learned just to leave it to everyone else. When I can submit bug reports by e-mail again I'll be a very happy guy.
BTW. I write some of my own programs as part of learning how to program, and I usually release them under the GPL or under a closed source freeware license. Either way I give out an e-mail address to send the bug reports to. Setting up a miserably poor designed, criptic torturous page for bug reports is a very good way not to get them.
Member since:It is unrealistic to expect bug reports to come through email for a large project. It would take forever to read through everything and the majority would be bug duplicates. You also wouldn't have the info you need to test the bug since most users don't understand scientific methodology.
Member since:I sadly have to agree with you. I write some extensions for firefox and I have accepted the fact that even though I have instructions all over my site explaining how to fill in a bug report I always get the same thing, "I have a problem with your extension it doesnt' work on my pc." I end up asking the same questions: What os, what browser version, what extension version, what were you doing when it happened, can you provide steps to repeat the bug? Usually people only answer one or two questions before sending the bug report. It is almost as if people want to help out but once they find out it will take some work they disappear.
Member since:
2005-06-29
I'd be willing to bet that 95% of users of software don't know how to write a proper bug report on any piece of software.
What's your point?