6 Jun 2002 (updated 6 Jun 2002 at 07:56 UTC)
»
Open Source Development
The way of which most Open Source software evolve is
rather strange, to those outside the community. But it does
make sense, and is working well...
It all begin with a programmer "scratching his personal
itch". An Open Source programmer usually writes software to
address his own needs, if not for fun. Because of his love
for the software, and the fact that he himself will be using
it, the programmer puts in extra effort in developing the
software. Of course, the software is then shared, usually
under the terms of an open source license.
Another programmer discovers the software, and find that
there are something missing, from his point of view.
Therefore, he implement the parts he needs, and send his
patches back to the original author to be included in the
next release. Collaboration among the programmers is done
over the Internet, usually via email. Such collaboration
effort is made possible by the mutual trust within the
community. This cycle repeats continously until...
When the software gain a massive following. There will be
a small team of zealots working on the software like mad,
while the rest doing their parts by submitting patches,
reporting bugs, etc. At this point, the software should be
stable enough for production use, but the development
doesn't end here. As time goes by, it improves in all
directions, tho' at a slower pace, for it always has the
great Open Source people behind it.