free open source software needs fewer engineers and more designers and product people

[evol@social.evolved.systems]

@TodePond the [just] is strong with the foss

[chris_evelyn@fedi.chris-evelyn.de]

@TodePond Yes, yes, yes!

[inscript@merveilles.town]

@TodePond true, but i think platforms that foster good 'computing feelings' are ones that might prioritize the former with the positive side-effect of the latter. not a global statement, more of a hunch. 'scrappy' is innovative in the context of programming, commonplace in the context of design. this is less to single out what i think is a very good idea, than to provide an example of how these perhaps not-arbitrary-enough framings make the work of good software and/or a more accessible developer experience more difficult. im riffing here, very little concrete experience in collaborative/distributed software-making (though i wish that wasnt the case).

[todepond@mas.to]

@inscript
- programmers designing things is a *negative* side effect.
- from my experience, "scrappy" is also rare in the design world.

[inscript@merveilles.town]

@TodePond you could totally be right but one side 'being able' to do the other is what I think excites me about intentionality in computer shit. i dont have enough experience with programmers to want to exclude them from another practice, and i dont think ive ever worked with someonecwho would identify with the term 'designer', I just know 'needing to pick' between one or the other confuses me and makes me less likely to do both.

[todepond@mas.to]

@inscript the facetious division I'm making is in resistance to the status quo arrogance / view that diminishes creative design and product work while boosting the importance of programming. I'm challenging that narrative by inverting it. that imagined inverted world sounds surprisingly not-so-bad, which calls into question our current priorities

[m000gletje@app.wafrn.net]

plenty of foss has a problem of being stuck in a cycle

fossbros want their shit adapted by average joes and yell about year of linux, but it often isn't because plenty of foss is by nerds for nerds, and said average joes are more often than not deemed second class users that shouldn't be cared about because "they have a skill issue"

[todepond@mas.to]

@inscript you should meet some designers!

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@m000gletje @TodePond I’m literally in the middle of writing a long blog specifically about this, it’s extremely frustrating because ideologically motivated early adopters have the most sway over most OSS projects (including stuff like Mastodon) and they’re frankly just weird. They can’t imagine a person who isn’t actually obsessed with computers like they are

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@m000gletje @TodePond Also applies to stuff like Mastodon where its advocates can’t seem to imagine that other peoples’ desired use of social media doesn’t involve talking solely to Linux users, and consider everyone else to be a “clout chaser”

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@m000gletje @TodePond Personally I think you only solve this issue by finding and beating anyone who ever says “pull requests welcome” in response to feature requests

[m000gletje@app.wafrn.net]

i see too many fossbros say we should trade convenience for privacy (which honestly starts turning into a buzzword to fire neurons in people's brains), and i just sit there thinking maybe in such an advanced society aspiring to a stable, peaceful and fulfilling life, we shouldn't trade shit one for another

but try telling them that, they'll call you illiterate and lazy for not wanting to be a sysadmin of your own empire

[m000gletje@app.wafrn.net]

tbf if said request comes from someone who actually has the capability and skills to contribute themself that's a reasonable thing to say

but of course that's only a minority of cases where that happens

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@m000gletje @TodePond Yeah like literally the first bullet point in the thing I’m writing is just “not everyone is or can be a nerd”

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@m000gletje @TodePond Yeah “use our software! It’s inconvenient!” is very obviously a bad sales pitch nobody will listen to - often motivated by the strange idea that you should, as a moral imperative, suffer to use technology

[m000gletje@app.wafrn.net]

look, i've had my ride with trying to be a sysadmin, sure it's fun to have your own services you can fuck around in without the approval of anyone

but it shouldn't be a necessity and rather something you can get into if you want

actually foss/generally tech nerds should be forced to go outside, touch grass and interact with the normies so they can get off their imaginary selfhosted planet and get a grip on reality

[yaxu@post.lurk.org]

@TodePond I guess without large amount of state funding it's not going to happen, especially from an accessibility standpoint.. Until then I guess we have to make do with people mostly making software for themselves

[todepond@mas.to]

@yaxu strongly disagree! there are huge incentives for designers and product people to get involved with volunteering, just like programmers.

and yes accessibility is a huge factor of this. getting design and product-oriented people involved means software becomes accessible to more people

[gwenthefops@transfem.social]

@TodePond@mas.to and technical writer

[mgclgrl@transfem.social]

@TodePond@mas.to FOSS engineers at the very concept of UX: ​​