Re: bug-buddy 1.1 "West Nile" released

[Dan Mueth <d-mueth uchicago edu>]

Hi John,

I'm glad you honed in on Bug Buddy.  Bug Buddy signals an important shift
in the industry, both for open source software and for eCommerce.  
Historically, open source software was essentially considered C2C.  The
consumers both created the software and shared it with each other
directly, cutting the businesses out of the picture.  This is already far
ahead of the more traditional B2C model, which as we all know has many
weaknesses, especially when taken into eCommerce.  Bug Buddy now reverses
this, moving to the next higher model which will characterize business
models of the future: C2B.  In C2B, the consumer drives everything.  No
longer do businesses or other consumers try to sell the consumer
something, the consumer now initiates the transactions (obtaining
information, buying a product, initiating an exchange of any nature).  
With Bug Buddy, it is now the consumer who is initiating the process by
sending their suggestions directly to the developer for implementation.
This has been predicted by top forecasters to be the model of the next
decade for eCommerce.  What has gone somewhat unnoticed however (except by
several exceptionally innovative people in the field), is that this will
also be the trend for software and technology.  In the future, the users
will help design, write, document, and debug the software they use.  Bug
Buddy is just the start.  It is interesting to question why this is not
discussed more widely.  The answer is that for this to work, all the
software and documentation has to be free. So while the proprietary
software companies cannot make this shift, the open source community will
lead the way to addressing the real needs of the consumer and shifts in
the marketplace.

Dan


On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, john leaver wrote:

> 
> Hi, bug-buddy sounds interesting. I'm an english freelance journalist, 
> currently in San Francisco, reporting on linux-related developments / events 
> for UK media. I have to put together some news for Linux Format (the UKs 
> only national print linux mag) for tomorrow. If you could get me some info 
> asap I'd love to put it in. I'm not too hot on the technical side of these 
> things, so if you could explain it grandma syle, I'd appreciate it.
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> John Leaver.
> 
> >From: jacob helixcode com (Jacob "Ulysses" Berkman)
> >Reply-To: gnome-list gnome org
> >To: gnome-announce-list gnome org
> >CC: gnome-list gnome org
> >Subject: bug-buddy 1.1 "West Nile" released
> >Date: 04 Oct 2000 18:46:18 -0400
> >
> >Hello,
> >
> >From the murky depths of the Mighty Charles, a new version of
> >everyone's favorite B2B eCommerce solutions tool is now available.
> >
> >The goal of bug-buddy is to make reporting bugs very simple and easy
> >for the user, while making the reports themselves more useful and
> >informative for the developer.
> >
> >  * Availability:
> >
> >         - 
> >ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/stable/sources/bug-buddy/bug-buddy-1.1.tar.gz
> >
> >  * Fixes:
> >
> >         - lots of compilation warnings are now gone
> >
> >         - updated translations
> >
> >  * Improvements:
> >
> >         - Some email validation is now done (based on a patch from
> >           Robert Brady <robert suse co uk>)
> >
> >         - IRIX support (David Kaelbling <drk sgi com>)
> >
> >         - doesn't call gdb on directories (for evolution)
> >
> >This release was brought to you by the letter `b' and the letter `t'.
> >
> >Jacob
> >--
> >"I've got nothing to say but that's ok." -- John Lennon