Re: [ECOS] How do you like eCos

[Robin Farine <advanc at dial dot eunet dot ch>]

Ho Lewin,

"Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" wrote:
> <snip>
> What you are saying here boils down to "it is free, therefore you must
> expect the quality to be below par", and I do not accept this. And really
> the only change I am proposing is very sensible: Whoever maintains a set of
> instructions for installing a set of tools should keep available for
> download a snapshot of the exact versions that the instructions reference.
> Yes, they will be out of date at the end of the week. But at least a person
> can get started. You can't learn how the tools work if you can't build them.
> 
> I was thinking very positive at the start, but in the face of zero results
> it is difficult to retain this state of mind.
> <snip>

I meant that with eCos we have two main choices: either we pay a few
hundreds of K$ for special support from Red Hat and then we get a
private channel to increase the pressure on eCos developers/maintainers,
or we do not pay anything but we benefit from the eCos mailing-list
which provides a means of reporting specific problems or discussing
about potential improvements. This second choice compares with any other
free-software project, something like:

	"This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY 		WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A 		PARTICULAR PURPOSE."

It also implies that we shall make a personal effort of collaboration to
improve it rather than asking others to do the job for us. Note that I
do *not* mean that that's what *you*'re expecting, but I have seen many,
many times things like:

	"I have downloaded your software XYZ but when I tried to install it, I
got an error 		message saying blah blah blah. PLEASE HELP ME!"

but naturally no indication of version, date, OS, tools, FTP transfer
mode, cygwin mount type, ... and sometimes it makes me loose a bit of
self-control.

I apologize if my previous posting hurted you and thanks for answering.

Robin