[time-nuts] Releasing sources (was Re: Brooks Shera)

NeonJohn jgd at neon-john.com
Thu Mar 28 18:16:16 UTC 2013



On 03/25/2013 09:36 AM, Jim Lux wrote:

> One reason is that if one DOES release source, one will wind up
> supporting it, because generally, we all nice people and helpful, and
> it's hard to tell someone no when they send an email asking how to get
> it to compile on Version N+3 when you used version N, etc.  This can be
> a real distraction from whatever else you are doing.

Boy, you can say that again.  And open source hardware is even worse.  A
couple of years ago I put up an open source induction heater on my site.
 Everything included - schematics, board layouts, CAD files, theory of
operation, how to wind the transformer - in short, everything I could
think of.  There's even a kit available from Fluxeon.com.

Yet I probably spend an hour a day responding to emails about that
project.  Approximately 100% of the questions are either answered on my
site or by a little googling.  It's getting to be enough of a burden
that I'm considering taking the page down.

I'm a dedicated supporter of Open Source but this experience has
tempered my enthusiasm a bit.

> And then there's the folks who argue with you about your implementation
> or coding style.

Or electrical design style.  I think that the people who want to argue
design, especially "what if I did this?" type arguments are more
tiresome than the software know-it-alls.

People need to really think and do their Google homework before hitting
the email button on a project site.

John


-- 
John DeArmond
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
http://www.fluxeon.com      <-- THE source for induction heaters
http://www.neon-john.com    <-- email from here
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net
PGP key: wwwkeys.pgp.net: BCB68D77



More information about the Time-nuts_lists.febo.com mailing list