[Sussex] A little translation please

[Andy Smith]

On Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 12:15:37PM +0100, Steven Dobson wrote:
> Andy
> 
> On Fri, 2006-06-23 at 10:28 +0000, Andy Smith wrote:
> > On Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 11:12:43AM +0100, Steven Dobson wrote:
> > > Did you personally pay anything to Linus Torvalds, Alan Cox, RMS
> > > and all the of millons and millons of other software developers
> > > that have spent their time and skill to produce the software that
> > > you use?
> > 
> > Not directly no - but neither did they turn up in my mailbox, say
> > "1.8 million people are using Linux; please can one of you write a
> > device driver for my USB kettle?"
> 
> I would first like to point out the my orginal post turned up in your
> mailbox not by my design, but by yours.  You signed up to the SLUG mail
> list.  A list run by and for the memmbers.  Part of it's role is to
> provide a method for those that need some help to ask those that may be
> able to provide some.

I am also on the linux-raid list but do not expect the maintainer of
the RAID subsystem to post asking people to implement a new RAID
level for example.  People post problems and others give them
suggestions about how to fix them - themselves.

> > I'm trying to tell you that your strategy is not likely to be
> > terribly successful.  I am telling you this as a Free software
> > author who has needed people to do translations in the past.
> > Contacting random non-users of your software and saying "there's a
> > lot of you here, can some of you do some translations for me
> > please?" is not likely to work.
> 
> But it was successful.  Armin (thanks again) responded that, as a natice
> speaker of German from Austria, he be happy to help.  I am a believer in
> "If you don't ask you don't get" way of thinking.

Okay, can you help me with my ironing? :)

Not everything that works is a good idea, not everything that
doesn't isn't.

But I must admit, I had thought your translation task was much
bigger than it actually is.  If it's really only 10 or so strings
then fair enough; I thought you were asking for a much bigger
commitment which would have been about as successful as going to
Gatwick and asking a checkin person on the Lufthansa desk to help
out.

> > I susepct that of the people you have helped over the years on this
> > list, very few of them use the software/web service you are
> > developing.  What stake do they have in your product?
> 
> And I can ask what stake to I personally have in helping them get their
> systems working?

Community.. useful advice can be given in 5 minutes for almost any
operating system issue, but you're asking for raw grunt work.

For example if someone asks me how to build a fileserver with
software RAID and LVM, I can bash out an email in a few minutes with
some useful advice even though the task itself when they do it may
take them a few hours.

> > You may have heard of the term "scratching an itch".  Does the
> > prospect of translating someone else's work in a field that is
> > uninteresting to you scratch any itches?
> 
> Isn't the point of "scatching _your_own_ itch" that you will scratch
> someone else's ictch too?  I want to use software that is accessable to
> all.  Not just speakers of a forign language but those that need
> assistive technologies to use a computer.  If I knew of a blind user on
> this list I would be asking for their help in testing by software for
> use by those with visual problems.
> 
> So while those I am asking for help translating now may not be uses of
> my software, I am hoping that the itch we both scratch is better
> software for _all_!  I would not be supprised if Armin favoured software
> that could present text to him in German over software than was English
> only.  As far as I can tell he has no need of such software, his command
> of the English language is exerlent.

It is not clear how one of your helpers scratches their own itch by
helping you produce software for your clients, that they will
likely never use themselves.  I don't think this is really anything
to do with Free software as basically you are looking for people to
do grunt work with most likely very limited benefit beyond you and
your client.

> > > For me the FOSS movement is not about giving software away for free, it
> > > is all about helping each other out.  Together we are much greater than
> > > the sum of our parts.
> > 
> > It's one aspect, and I have helped you out by giving you this advice
> > for free.
> 
> You're first reply wrapped in the "ironing" dig just put by back out of
> joint.  The advice it did offer was lost on first reading because of
> that. 

And I found your first post quite annoying as it appeared to assume
that since there are a lot of people on the list then some of them
must be available to do your job for you!

However, if a 5 minute job is all you were looking for, fair enough,
my apologies.  The sort of thing that can be exchanged for a pint as
you later offered. :)

Cheers,
Andy
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