[IAEP] maintenance

[Kevin Kirton]

Hi,

Just to make a comment about maintenance of software modules.
I think people do care about it, but it's mainly a problem of
organization. And that's OK.
Proprietary software is based on equations relating to the ratio of
$in to $out. It's really easy for people to relate to that.
Open source software is based on a more complex set of motivations,
some of which involve $, but some that don't even see $ on the radar,
which is so foreign to everything proprietary software stands for.

When $ stop for proprietary software, that software stops (or it
becomes Fedora or something).
But the good thing is this.
The momentum for open source is so much wider and unpredictable, it's
an awesome thing to watch.
I think, as a basic principle, we should just decide which software we
want to give our time to, and accept whatever happens, and make
readjustments as required.
But consider this for a comparison. If you were a red hot programmer
back in the 70s or 80s or even early 90s, you could make educational
software that mattered basically for only two operating systems, Mac
and Windows.
But now, in the early 2k-tens, any motivated teacher can make software
that can be make available around the world tomorrow.

Just a thought.

Kevin Kirton
Australia