On Sat March 28 2009 3:44:21 pm Sven Burmeister wrote:
Am Samstag, 28. M�rz 2009 18:44:10 schrieb Richard:
While exploration is a good thing, it is also true that given that 4.1.2 is *supposed* to be a 'user' release, unlike the previous 4.x releases which were supposedly for (my term) 'cutting edge addicts' only, then DOCUMENTATION should be included, or at a minimum, given this is supposedly a replacement for the current, functional, old, outmoded, ancient, static, dead-end version of KDE 3.5.x, the new version should include a list of features that are done differently or not included in this version relative to the older versions that *are* documented.
There seems to be a saying that I think is true for bathrooms and programming "The jobs' not done until the paperwork is done". I think this applies to KDE as well. The release isn't done until the documentation is done. Beta level releases should have at least beta level documentation included.
Documentation is really something everybody can do, so you are free to contribute to it. If nobody does, there won't be any. given the resources, developers will focus on developing and leave the rest (support and docs) to the non-developers.
Sven
Absolutely wrong IMO. Not everyone has the ability to communicate using the written medium and I submit that no one has the ability to document something that exists only in the mind of a 'coder'. If a 'developer' is so disorganized that he/she can't write down what his code does in some kind of a human language, it will only be by accident if an 'untrained public' 'beta tester' will find all of the hidden secrets. If a 'tester' is good enough to uncover all of these hidden undocumented and unmapped 'features', it is likely that he/she is not also able or inclined to document anything as the talents used in discovering hidden or undocumented features are quite different than those required to document them and their excuse is just as valid as the 'developers': "I don't have any time because if I spend my time documenting, I won't have time to discover the undocumented features." Developers like KDE primarily do it, IMO, because they love what they do, because they want the satisfaction of producing something the people want to use, something that beats the crap out of Monopolistic predators like M$ Windoze, or whatever blows thieir skirts, but that likely being the case, they should realize that their project is much more likely to succeed if they do the job right and completely and not depend on 'leave the rest (support and docs) to the non-developers' who are not in a position of knowledge to know what is supposed to work, what is available to test, what is different from previous releases that had similar features, etc. One thing you are right about though, if NOBODY (including the developers) step up and do the documentation, it is a pretty sure bet that the project, KDE in this case, will never rip the title from M$ or anyone else. It is just that for a developer or anyone else to EXPECT others to provide the basics of documentation and support is absurd. Richard -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-kde+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-kde+help@opensuse.org