[kdepim-users] Identities in Kmail

[David Jarvie]

On Monday 15 September 2008 22:46, Stan Goodman wrote:
> At 00:22:01 on Tuesday Tuesday 16 September 2008, Ingo Klöcker
> <kloecker at kde.org> wrote:
>> > decision on the part of the designers. I wonder if they bothered to
ask users before deciding.
>>
>> No, we didn't. Back in the days we mostly implemented what we needed
ourselves. Like it or not, but that's how most Free Software is written
in the beginning of a project. Once all features the developers
themselves wanted/needed have been implemented, the developers either
start to listen to the users or they drop out of the project.
>>
>> Nowadays, KMail's core developer(s) are chronically overworked and they
have hardly time for implementing new features. New features are mostly
developed by "outsiders", e.g. as part of a Google SoC project, and
obviously those "outsiders" again implement what they need or what they
think is fun implementing. Other features were implemented by the
developers working for KDAB for their paying customer.
>>
>> So, in the end, the sad truth is that it doesn't matter whether we
listen to our users or not because we simply do not have enough
resources to care. Okay, that's a bit too pessimistic. We do listen to
you and we do care, but still we can't do much about it. Unfortunately,
email clients aren't sexy anymore (if they ever were).
>
> "Sad" is not nearly a strong enough word. "Cop-out" comes to mind.

Don't you realise that KMail is developed mostly in people's spare time,
for no money? So anything you get is really a bonus. The developers do
take users' views into account when deciding which new features take
priority, but their time is very limited. If KMail doesn't provide what
you want, the answer in free software is simple: add the feature yourself.
If you don't have the technical knowledge to do this, then either find
somebody who has the time to do it, or pay somebody to do it. You didn't
pay for the software, so nobody has a _duty_ to provide the features you
want.

-- 
David Jarvie.
KAlarm author & maintainer.
http://www.astrojar.org.uk/kalarm

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