developer and free/libre software enthusiast
I'm a Nokia Qt Ambassador
Happy New Year to everybody, and happy holidays!
Here is little something I made for the occasion using only Inkscape and Gimp:
For the alternative version (text differs) and larger resolution, visit:
http://white-dawn.deviantart.com/art/NY2oo9-107291548
BTW, this is the largest digital artwork I made till this moment – the original resolution is 2700×1500 pixels.
So, I read the Drive-by Mockups post by Nikolaj Hald Nielsen which is about the new amarok mockups that can be found at kde-look. So, I found out that some people consider the [Amarok] developers to be “quite strange” and stubborn.
One of the reasons for justifying the claim was that the sentence Nikolaj wrote “The truth is that we are aiming squarely at ourselves, as we are some of the biggest music fans out there…” was found to be “extremely arrogant” by one of the visitors.
It reminded me of when I said something similar on my blog – that I develop Lancelot for myself. And I am aware that this type of comment sounds strange, and a bit arrogant, but it is not. So, I’m passing what I wrote as a reply on Nikolaj’s blog here:
I’m sorry if I was the one who started the ‘I develop for myself’ wave of responses (some time ago concerning Lancelot) but you have to understand the developers to understand what that means.
We do what we do because we like to do it. I don’t know any free/libre software developer that develops things he/she doesn’t use (I did for some time [Kamion], and then I got bored and started developing L).
So we are developing for ourselves. And the good thing is that most of the time, what suits us, suits the users as well.
Sometimes you get criticized, and if the user proposes the solution to his discomfort, and you like the solution, you implement it. If the solution is completely opposite and clashes with everything you stand for, you give the polite answer describing why you don’t want to make that happen.
And, then, there are trolls that are just able to say ‘this is ****’, ‘you’re a bunch of ****’ or something similar.
What would you feel if someone, without specifying any specific reason, starts bashing something you have been dedicated to for a couple of years? You could ignore it. You could ignore it a couple or more times. But, eventually, you will have to snap and vent yourself through a reply.
So, be happy, be polite and with a smile in your heart and on your face, and the world will be a much nicer place to live in. (yes, that’s an order 
)
