On Mon, 2006-06-12 at 14:32 -0700, jdow wrote: > I spent a lot of years doing that and the pressures > twice came close to killing me, once from pneumonia and once from > simply burning out so bad even cooking my own dinner was an intolerable > burden. One thing I learned VERY well over the years is that corporate > loyalty is a one way street. I feel your pain! I worked in the Chemical Industry for 26 years, the notion of winners / losers almost did me in as well. Having to be a winner 115% of the time to make budgets and forecasts as well as increase meant someone had to lose and that is was good to make someone else bleed, better it wasn't you. I got to where I liked it. I liked making losers as that made me the winner. Now, I'm on the land, recovering from wasting 26 years, repainting a tractor, doing an open-source project that I expect to receive compensation for after initial personal investment, and maybe assist some folks along the way to make better decisions. Not much, just enough to keep it rolling along on it's own. I keep my expectations and personal expenses low, and it's not a bad way to live now. I do believe in Open-Source, I have no problems with the GPL at all. I doesn't restrain me in any way, as I can give away the software and provide support for a fee, which is fair and just. Most importantly, Linux teaches me to share openly and still earn a coin or two. Becoming Bill Gates is not a goal for me, it is a goal to stay away from having been there, looking to win at all costs. Goodwill Industries in Roanoke VA sells older machines with FC3 on them for around $100. If they used Windows it would be at least another $80 toll for MS towards personal computer ownership. That's why I get on a tear about making it more user friendly for the people with limited incomes and computer experience. I agree that if you are going to do an Open Source project the Documentation needs to be in Plain English so that those folks aren't left feeling even more ignorant, which hurts the pride of folks that don't need their pride beat on any more than it already has been. It's called Empathy. We with high S.A.T. scores and IQ.s can personally and spiritually benefit by making allowances for those less gifted than ourselves. Otherwise I create winners and losers all over again, intellectually. That is not very good, according to my perspectives now. It can be dangerous, personally, to distance myself by writing Documentation that serves only to show just how far along I am intellectually and if you don't understand you're stupid. So, Joanne, I do suggest that proper documentation skills is as important as the code development itself. To me, it's as important to teach someone something that might actually give them personal increase towards individual development, as it is to give them some free code. Can I expect or demand that of someone? Nope. In a better world I can hope for it though. :) Ric
