[news.eclipse.simultaneous-release] Re: Can someone explain how this can

[Eric Rizzo <eclipse-news@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

mattiaso wrote:
> Itïs so sad to see that the new Galileo release only contains crap in my 
> wiew, more or less. (I looking from the perspective - core java developer)
> How many time do I use the functionallity "edit in diff mode". Perhaps 1 
> min every week.
> I canït emagine that the community hasn't flagged for more important 
> features than "edit in diff mode". How can this be?
>
> It would be really nice if the eclipse community have some feature 
> request voting  (and if there already exists, listen to the voting) or 
> at least look 5 minutes at, for instance, Intellij and analyze what the 
> developers really needs. Can someone please explain how this can happen, 
> because I don't understand?

Something a lot of (most?) users of open-source software do not 
understand is that the decisions about priority, of what gets done when, 
are made by the people doing the work. In a healthy project (such as 
most of the Eclipse projects), those people use input from the broader 
user community in making those decisions (for example, votes and code 
patches on Bugzilla reports). But in the end, a LOT of things can drive 
those priorities.
If you want to drive a particular feature, enhancement, or bug fix, then 
you have to be INVOLVED. Yes, it takes time and a lot of effort to 
become a committer on a project (rightly so), but you can contribute in 
a lot of other ways: entering bug reports and enhancement requests, 
answering questions on the newsgroups and/or IRC and/or mailing lists, 
submitting patches to existing bug reports, writing and/or updating 
documentation (wiki or other), etc.
But to expect that your particular priorities will be considered without 
any of that kind of involvement on your part is irrational, silly, and 
honestly, quite selfish. You get a lot for nothing with open-source 
software, but you don't get whatever you want (unless you've contributed 
enough to become a committer or committee/board member; those things 
require getting INVOLVED).

I hope this helps your understanding of how things work in the 
open-source world.

Eric