Re: esound and playing mp3's ?

[sungod <sungod atdot org>]

R Pickett wrote:

> Let me get this straight.
> 
> Reducing your statement to its logical conclusion, we get "don't comment on a
> product to the developers until they announce it is finished," since anything
> but 'grate softwarez d00d' could be construed as 'judgment.'
> 
> As far as I know, no Open Source product is ever finished unless it is
> abandoned, so, to reduce further, what you're saying is "don't give feedback
> to the developers, they know what they're doing."

i don't think anybody's implying that, and i'm sure you know it. what i
(like the others who have responded negatively to your posts before me)
would like to see, on the other hand, is for your criticisms and
implementation ideas to be expressed with a little more tact and with a
little less negativity. your initial approach was nothing short of
confrontive, and that sort of attitude is not called for in an
environment where each coder is giving his code away for free in his
spare time. please try to keep that in mind as you read the responses to
your posts, and craft your suggestions accordingly.

> Jeez, folks, is it really that for this project, you can only make critical
> comment if you can offer a patch to fix it?  I was hoping to help out in what
> ways I could, but it's starting to look like my type of help ain't welcome
> here....

if you can't offer patches, your critical comments better be phrased a
lot more politely than this, and without the giant chip on the shoulder.

that said, i do agree with your general assertions about esd. i'm
looking forward to watching it mature into a library suitable for use
with audio production, with the same kind of flexibility as imlib gives
to graphics, but with professional-level features like smpte timecoding
and the like someday, for complete, professional-level audio
manipulation at the desktop level. something like that would give
quicktime a serious run for its money. i also agree that esd should
probably be a little more friendly with its usage of esd, but understand
the limitations the coders are trying to overcome to get it there.

i would also encourage those working on esd and similar projects to make
their code as polished, professional, and bullet-proof as possible, to
make it usable even in the most critical of mission-critical
applications. i once charged that unix is currently used in environments
as diverse as nuclear submarines for systems control, and that gnome
should be solid enough to join it there. i'd like to reiterate that
charge now.

however, i don't believe in condescending to the people who are
contributing the real code to the projects. raster, ricdude, et al are
putting a lot of work into this project, and have developed some
absolutely incredible stuff, so i think you should show a little more
respect for their proven talents and remember the capability and
generosity these people have exhibited before you approach them with
such self-righteous and condescending fervor.

-- 

"Only one who has mastered a tradition has a right to attempt to add to
it or to rebel against it." -Chaim Potok, _My Name Is Asher Lev_