\_ SMTP quoth Jim on 3/15/2002 13:01 as having spake thusly:
\_
\_ I personally need to thank Derek for showing me and everyone else the power 
\_ of GNUe.  Sure is a lot more than the web site shows it is.
\_ 
\_ Thanks Derek

I'd like add a hearty 'me too' to that.  

Although I can understand and respect the reticence about developing
front end apps until the backend is totally happy (or moreso) getting
a front end app in the water will probably be a significant milestone.
It'll make everyone say 'oooh' 'aah' and 'can we migrate now?' sorts
of things.

Akin to when I found out that gnumeric supported pasting in a very
pleasant way.  :-)

One point I'd like to echo from the meeting was Derek's point about
giving the end users what they want not some whizbang coolio feature
that makes your peers happy.  Also be sure to call it what they
expect.  This rang similar to ESR's "think like a manager: the bottom
line".  eg: Users don't want a "database rollback" they want "undo".

Sure, it's a PITA to think like the folks devs see to often as the
enemy ("lusers", "phbs"), but if you're going to make your mark in the
corporate world, get those folks to love you and you'll never be
hurting.

Well, until they hire someone at 2.8M$ to cut jobs in a 'rightsizing'
move, embezzel money, to do bad SEC things, and walk away with a smile
and your retirement.

David