Gingko Desktop

Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 29, 2018 at 08:53 AM

Oh dear. Some fragile personalities, I feel.

Firstly, I suggest a fruitful forum should always involve a modicum of self-irony: i.e. don’t take yourself too seriously.

Second, I’ve got no problem with criticism as such, but do find the sometimes highly cynical terms used by certain commentators a little offensive. The ad-hominem attacks on Adrian were a good example, hence my attempt to restore the balance.

I think most people who contribute to this forum are appreciative of small, independent developers, while at the same time perfectly capable of making judgements on whether such developers are overcharging for their wares, or not providing enough support, and so on.

I’ve criticised developers here myself (e.g. Glam Software, just the other day), but I try and refrain from imputing grisly, cynical motives to them because, at the end of the day, I have absolutely no idea what problems (personal, professional, commercial) they may be facing, or whether they’re an overstretched one-man band, or whatever. So I prefer to confine myself facts (the developer is IMHO charging too much for the app; the developer is not issuing regular updates) rather than musing on the developer’s purely theoretical business/personal inadequacies.

May I suggest that slanging developers off just because they’re not doing exactly what you want them to do is counterproductive. Make suggestions by all means. Express regret or disappointment. But don’t start building unpleasant, negative scenarios based on purely theoretical imaginings of commercial exploitation. That’s unfair and unfounded. As a small businessman myself, this is something I feel very strongly about.

Best wishes to everybody, in any case.
Bill