why yes, usibility is important
one of the coolest things about Free Software is that it allows for much faster bug fixing than traditional development (generally does). as Eric Raymond is fond of saying, many eyes make bugs shallow. the Free Software concept encourages communication - between developers and between developers and users. the sense of community that the Free Software idea fosters helps users bring to light the problems and failings in the software they use.
I just found what I think may be a bug in Firefox. there are four steps to reporting a bug in Firefox. two of them are downloading and installing new web browsers.
let me repeat two key pieces of information:
1. Free Software has the opportunity to be better because of the ease of communication between users and developers.
2. in order to report bugs in Firefox you must first download and install a Firefox nightly build, and then download and install a Mozilla Application Suite nightly build.
Firefox is a big and popular project. I imagine the number of reported, unfixed bugs is huge. I've really got to wonder, however, about what kind of sample of the Firefox user community is represented in those bug reports. how many normal users are going to download and install two new, unstable browsers; test the bug in that browser; and then report a bug?
don't get me wrong, Talk Back is a great feature, and Firefox version 1.5 incorporates a "Report Broken Website" feature. however, for Free Software and Open Source Software to really shine (in reality and in the minds of users), bugs and other problems need to be easy to report, and those reports need to be looked at and addressed.
I just found what I think may be a bug in Firefox. there are four steps to reporting a bug in Firefox. two of them are downloading and installing new web browsers.
let me repeat two key pieces of information:
1. Free Software has the opportunity to be better because of the ease of communication between users and developers.
2. in order to report bugs in Firefox you must first download and install a Firefox nightly build, and then download and install a Mozilla Application Suite nightly build.
Firefox is a big and popular project. I imagine the number of reported, unfixed bugs is huge. I've really got to wonder, however, about what kind of sample of the Firefox user community is represented in those bug reports. how many normal users are going to download and install two new, unstable browsers; test the bug in that browser; and then report a bug?
don't get me wrong, Talk Back is a great feature, and Firefox version 1.5 incorporates a "Report Broken Website" feature. however, for Free Software and Open Source Software to really shine (in reality and in the minds of users), bugs and other problems need to be easy to report, and those reports need to be looked at and addressed.