Reading Christian Reinhardt's thesis brought to mind some of the challenges facing free software, especially desktop software.

The coming 3.2 release of KDE will attract a very large user base. The improvements in speed, the depth of features and the user interface improvements make for a very good desktop experience. However, the natural goal of any open source project is to attract not just users, but contributors. At best, new users learn the system and start contributing. The majority aren't ever heard from. At worst though, some users place demands on developers that they are unable to fulfill. The situation could develop where the users are frustrated by the lack of response from developers, and the developers are frustrated by infinite and insatiable expectations of the users.

The solutions are not simple. It may be that this project will be breaking new ground. KDE is a successful widely used desktop environment almost wholly built by and supported by volunteers. Where is the necessary support to come from? It is unreasonable to expect anything more from those already contributing. Remember, people don't scale well.

The developers will for their own sanity build walls of protection around themselves. This must be applauded as enlightened self interest. We benefit from happy, motivated programmers. If all their time and energy is used in supporting users, the development process will come to a halt. Or even more insidious, those contributing could lose their motivation to contribute because of thoughtless and demanding users.

So the task of supporting new users will have to be done by users themselves. An example of this very thing is the Gentoo project. Individuals who have learned by doing pass on their knowledge by helping new users to configure their systems. What they are doing is far more complicated compared to using a desktop environment. What is remarkable is the almost total lack of a sense of entitlement. This illustrates a paradoxical and perverse aspect of human nature; the more you do for someone, the less they appreciate it. So, who will step up to the plate? Will someone establish a kdenewbies site where discussion and support can take place? Or maybe publicise and support existing channels? Or WTFM?

As Christian Reinhardt says on pages 85-86 of his thesis, newcomers are educated by responses on mailing lists and forums. One necessary part of the education is to communicate reasonable expectations. This usually comes in a blunt comment, such as RTFM, or 'show us the code'. This is sometimes criticised as elitist, but remember this basic fact. What the project needs are contributors, not users. This is not a democracy, or an egalitarian utopia. I have personally experienced in another context a caring generous community turned stingy and hard due to a few unappreciative and demanding individuals. I would hate to see that happen here.

I was pleased to see this project mentioned in Christian's thesis, on page 92. I hope I haven't abused my readers by these comments. I'm sure I'll be 'educated' if that is the case.