'Take out a subscription to The Register. Then cancel it, and sign it Disgusted Wikipedian' [printer-friendly] • The Register
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/23/wikipedia_gift_spurned/
Author and broadcaster - and veteran OpenOffice user - Andrew Brown wrote a piece in The Guardian a fortnight ago demolishing [1] some of the more absurd myths around open source software projects. Frustrating bugs went unfixed for years, he noted, giving lie to the myth that simply because anyone could, in theory, make improvements, then improvements that users care most about would actually be made. Brown has written two books using OpenOffice, and performed his duty as a diligent user. If this was commercial software, he'd be a MVC, or "Most Valuable Customer", and if OpenOffice was an airline, he'd be bumped up to First Class every time he showed up at the airport.
But what was particularly interesting was the range of responses to this critique, because they mirrored the responses received by The Register from Wikipedians. I have a theory about why these are similar, but first let's see what people said about Brown's piece. He published them on his blog here [2] and here [3].
You can find Mr Holly's entirely sane-and-normal looking website here [4] - it's highly recommended. While on the subject of canine metaphors:
We have no idea. Presumably the Hive Mind of thar interweb will complete it - like it might complete a blook [5] or a flook [6].
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1660763,00.html
http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/2005/12/ooo_feedback.html#001660
http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/2005/12/more_ooo_feedback.html#001661
http://www.peteholly.com/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/14/blooker_prize/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/17/blooker_prize_letters/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Linuxbeak
John Doe blogger named Person of the Year (18 December 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/18/time_magazine_poty/
Web 2.0 meets its Alamo? (12 July 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/12/netscape_diggs_portal/
'ARRRRRGH!!!! GRRrrrrrr!!!!! RAAWWRRR!!!!! ... Dummy' (24 March 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/fotw_wikipedia_primal_scream/
$10m for a Wikipedia for grown-ups (19 December 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/19/sanger_onlinepedia_with_experts/
Who owns your Wikipedia bio? (6 December 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/06/wikipedia_bio/
'Take out a subscription to The Register. Then cancel it, and sign it Disgusted Wikipedian' [printer-friendly] • The Register
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/23/wikipedia_gift_spurned/
Author and broadcaster - and veteran OpenOffice user - Andrew Brown wrote a piece in The Guardian a fortnight ago demolishing [1] some of the more absurd myths around open source software projects. Frustrating bugs went unfixed for years, he noted, giving lie to the myth that simply because anyone could, in theory, make improvements, then improvements that users care most about would actually be made. Brown has written two books using OpenOffice, and performed his duty as a diligent user. If this was commercial software, he'd be a MVC, or "Most Valuable Customer", and if OpenOffice was an airline, he'd be bumped up to First Class every time he showed up at the airport.
But what was particularly interesting was the range of responses to this critique, because they mirrored the responses received by The Register from Wikipedians. I have a theory about why these are similar, but first let's see what people said about Brown's piece. He published them on his blog here [2] and here [3].
You can find Mr Holly's entirely sane-an
d-normal looking website here [4] - it's highly recommended. While on the subject of canine metaphors:
We have no idea. Presumably the Hive Mind of thar interweb will complete it - like it might complete a blook [5] or a flook [6].
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1660763,00.html
http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/2005/12/ooo_feedback.html#001660
http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/2005/12/more_ooo_feedback.html#001661
http://www.peteholly.com/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/14/blooker_prize/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/17/blooker_prize_letters/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Linuxbeak
John Doe blogger named Person of the Year (18 December 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/18/time_magazine_poty/
Web 2.0 meets its Alamo? (12 July 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/12/netscape_diggs_portal/
'ARRRRRGH!!!! GRRrrrrrr!!!!! RAAWWRRR!!!!! ... Dummy' (24 March 2006)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/fotw_wikipedia_primal_scream/
$10m for a Wikipedia for grown-ups (19 December 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/19/sanger_onlinepedia_with_experts/
Who owns your Wikipedia bio? (6 December 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/06/wikipedia_bio/