RE: Using % type functions/using RPG IV -- RPG400-L

Paul Cunnane said:
>     At the risk of becoming this group's answer to ESR, this 
>is the whole 
>     point of open source.  Opening the source is not 
>synonymous --- by a 
>     long shot --- with `losing control.'  On the contrary, it 
>is one of 
>     the single biggest ways of ensuring the quality of the code.

I'm familiar with the Open Source concept, and indeed with some of ESR's
work (I even hang out on Slashdot (www.slashdot.org) from time to time).
However, I don't think that the situation I was commenting on is Open
Source in that sense - or if it is, I don't think that it would
generally be recognised as such.  I may, of course, be wrong.

I get the impression from people's comments here that some vendors of
off-the-shelf AS/400 software provide the source to their customers, and
then don't provide any support.  And from some of the scathing comments
I've seen it doesn't seem like the vendors would be interested in
incorporating fixes or enhancements done by their customers.  So the
result is not  a collaborative effort towards improved software for all,
as the Open Source model would imply.  Instead it's more of a "set the
customers adrift and hope they know how to handle the sails" approach.

>     You say that your customers come to you when they find bugs --- 
>     without the source, all they can really do is find anomalous 
>     behaviour.  Your company then taxes itself with finding 
>the actual 
>     code that is in error, and fixing it.  

That's true, but doesn't it make more sense that we, the developers,
spend that time -- that's part of our job -- rather than the customers
-- who, after all, have their own work to be doing.

> The single most common net 
>     effect of this is that the vendor does not fix the bug, 
>or at least 
>     not in a timely fashion.

That depends on the way the vendors deal with their customers.  I think
we are generally better than you suggest, but I'm not in the best
position to judge.

>     
>     On the other hand, if I have access to the source code, I 
>can use my 
>     expertise to find the bug and kill it.  I can then share 
>the results 
>     of my efforts with the software vendor, who can QA my fix, and 
>     distribute it if appropriate.  This leads to quicker 
>results for me, 
>     cheaper and higher quality software for the vendor, and much more 
>     potential for high-quality code for all the vendor's 
>other customers.  
>     Software development is not a zero-sum game --- with open source, 
>     everyone wins.

I agree in principle.  I'd love it if we went over to an Open Source
model; not least because I could then legally post code examples here,
or at Leslie's site, or elsewhere, which I can't do at the moment.
However, I can't see it happening soon.

Still, IBM have made some things Open Source, I believe, so who knows...

If you detect some contradictions in my comments, well, hey, I'm human.

Cheers,

Martin.

--                                                                     
Martin McCallion                 
Midas-Kapiti International
Work:  mccallim@midas-kapiti.com
Home: martin.mccallion@ukonline.co.uk

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