Re: [Gimp-user] HATE the new save vs. export behavior

[Jay Smith <jay JaySmith com>]

On 05/05/2012 10:30 AM, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
> On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 12:21 PM, Ken Warner wrote:
>
> > but many posts calling for civility have come from people who want to divide
> > the user base into two groups where one group is somehow more entitled to
> > use GIMP than the other because of the things they do with GIMP.
>
> You know, it's quite frustrating that after all the explanations
> people still seem to get this wrong. So let's try again.
>
> We are not separating people into better of worse users, or the
> deserving and non-deserving, or entitled and not entitled. This would
> not be a constructive approach.
>
> What we _are_ doing is _focusing_ on a group of users who are
> underloved by free software. We are building workflows around their
> needs. We are _targeting_ those users.
>
> Maybe not everyone can see the difference, but it's right there. Hence
> attributing any kind of discrimination to us would be utterly wrong. I
> wish people really stopped doing that.
>
> Alexandre Prokoudine
> http://libregraphicsworld.org


Alexandre,

Please allow me a few words...

a) The users whose workflow has been made more difficult are 
_understandably_ upset.  They were using a program in a certain way that 
worked well for them.  However, either unknown to them (maybe they 
should have been paying more attention?) the focus of the developers 
changed/evolved over time in a way that is not helpful to those users 
AND/OR those users simply did not realize (months and years ago) that 
they were using a program that was going to move away from the way in 
which they were using it.

   Part of what seems to be missing here is humility and respect on the 
part of the developers ... would it be too hard to simply say "We are 
sorry ... even though we are the ones doing the work and we have chosen 
to go in a particular direction, WE ARE SORRY!"  Sometimes those simple 
words can go a very long way.  It is like saying "I am sorry for your 
loss"... there is not a darn thing that I can do about the fact that 
Uncle Harold has died, but I _am_ sorry that it has happened and that 
your life will change as a result.

   On the other side, however, the upset users have not, IMHO, shown 
adequate understanding or appreciation for what the developers have 
GIVEN to them over the years.  Maybe it is a case of a good thing that 
must come to an end for certain users.

b) The users could have paid more attention to the conversations the 
developers were having ... I am an "ordinary" user and *I* knew this was 
coming because I monitor the developer list.

c) The developers UTTERLY FAILED to manage public relations on this.  It 
was completely obvious to me (from monitoring the discussions on the 
developer list) that this subject was going to touch of an enormous 
storm of anger among some users.

   If the developers don't like the angry reaction they have received, 
perhaps the developers should examine how they could have done a better 
job of communication ON THE USER LISTS to warn people of what was 
coming.  I am not saying "ask", I am saying "warn".

   In what I have observed over the years as rather typical attitude by 
open-source developers, the developers did not seem to think about (and 
certainly did not execute) good ADVANCE public relations on this 
subject.  The attitude of "we did it, like it or leave it" is just not 
well received in this day and age.

   At the same time, users must understand that the developers are 
(despite what the developers might think), only human.  They are 
fallible.  They screw up.  They make bad decisions.  However, the 
developers are the ones doing the work!!!!  Anybody that does not like 
the direction that an open-source program is going can branch off and do 
their own work.  I know that 99.99% of users, like me, do not have the 
skills to do that, but that is the price we users pay for using free 
software.

   Users of open-software have an extremely high loyalty and commitment 
to the particular software they use.  They feel that it is "theirs". 
That they "own" it.  That is all well and good until the software goes 
in a direction that is different from where the user wants it to go -- 
when that happens, there is great anger because there is great emotional 
loss.  Developers have a responsibility to at least understand this 
concept and to attempt to mitigate users' feelings of loss and to 
prepare them in advance for inevitable changes.

   If developers don't feel that they have such a "responsibility" -- 
which would be a reasonable opinion on a developer's part -- the 
developer must accept the anger that will come.  It is inevitable; 
thinking otherwise is unsound.

d) As I said, I monitored, and participated a bit, in the developer 
discussion about save/export when implementation was being discussed. I 
described my workflow and how the proposed change would negatively 
affect me and users like me.

   At that time export may have been part of the goals for the program, 
but it seemed that all aspects were still open for discussion.

   In that process, despite a few people (it was a developer list, 
after all) saying "what about ordinary users", I had the sense that very 
little respect was given for the impact that this change was going to 
have on ordinary users.

   I did not feel that, in those discussions, there was any serious 
consideration of possible ways that the needs of BOTH sides could be 
satisfied.

In summary... I completely understand the reasons behind the export 
behavior and I agree that it is critically important to many users. 
However, with so many thousands of users who do not use the "export 
workflow" that is needed by so many other users, there _must_ be a way 
that the "old" save method can be "turned on" -- that users can switch 
from one workflow method to the other.

I completely respect that the developers have a particular "target" user 
base in mind for the program -- and that must guide development.  Just 
as this is not a word processor, this is not a "simple" image editor. 
However, take a hard look at the existing user base, and ask if it would 
really be so difficult to in some way make the "old" save method 
(efficiently) available for those users.  In my opinion, doing so would 
not dumb-down or lessen the wonderfulness of the program.

Jay