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Kdenlive Developer Jean-Baptiste Mardelle Is Missing
jones_supa writes "Kdenlive's project leader Jean-Baptiste Mardelle, who always used to let people know if he was going to be away for a couple of days, seems to have just disappeared. His last e-mail and blog post were in early July and they didn't suggest any problems. While there's many Kdenlive fans out there for the KDE-focused open-source video editor, it seems new development efforts around the project have ceased. Also the Kdenlive Git repository hasn't seen any new commits (aside from the automated l10n daemon script) since early July. There has been also people in KDE forums and Kdenlive developers' mailing list pondering about the status of the project, being left none the wiser."
He's been kidnapped by a Gnome
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
Open source software sucks
Quite the opposite. Since it's open source, it can be forked and can continue development. With close sourced software, once development halts, for whatever reason, nobody else can work on it.
So this is actually an example why Open Source software rocks.
I did a quick google and found that he posted on September 16: http://lists.kde.org/?a=120532466800019&r=1&w=2 So let us hope that the man returns. On a bigger topic, this is the kind of software that would really benefit from having far more contributors. I am not a programmer but I'd think that working on a video editor is rather cool.
Which is different from closed source software, how?
Take SpaceMonger, for example. There one day, gone the next. Guy's still around, personal blog notes the disappearance, and essentially told people to just not ask. Well alright, then.
I do agree that when an open source software project goes stagnant because one or more active developers quit, it's rather indicative of the fact that just because the source is available that there is no guarantee whatsoever that somebody else will pick it up. But at least they can.
Given the nature of the Kdenlive software itself, video editing, I think it would be foolish to rule out a mafiAA hit.
It took me two minutes to get an address and telephone number for the guy. Maybe it's current, maybe it's not. But instead of just pointlessly speculating, maybe somebody who personally knows him from KDE events should give him a call and see how he's doing. On a side note, I can't believe this is on /. Phoronix? Yes, because its a worthless gossip rag. It's getting really old with /. taking crap articles from Phoronix and putting them on the front page.
We've had two people die in the year and a half since I started this job, we still release and bugfix.
And you're still there?! Get out while you have a chance!
I've noted in my career that you see this happen to proprietary products (of all types). Unless the product has large well organized team and good cash flow to support it, the departure of a keep person often results in the product becoming an orphan. The hurdle of training up a new staff member is too large compared to other things the company could spend money on, and the product dies.
What are you talking about? He's discovered the holy grail. What do you do with a bad developer? Kill him and the company will hire a replacement. Brilliant.
Closed source software development will stop when it doesn't make money. It might be because the software is no longer relevant or because it sucks, but always because it is not making any more money for the developer(s). Open source projects can continue on if they suck or if they don't. There is no filter in that regard. The need to make money effectively weeds out undeserving projects and ensures there isn't a glut of half assed copycats. That is, there are a fewer number of properly QA'd more fully featured offerings for any given piece of software. And if closed source projects are good, they generally make money so they continue until they don't. Sure there are some decent open source programs. But for a workstation or laptop, I buy closed source apps and don't mind paying for them. For servers, open source seems to be at least as good as closed source. But it easier to make money selling support contracts for servers (like database servers or JEE containers) than for individual programs. So it still comes down to money.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Oh, so like WinAmp? Gone after Dec 20, 2013.
A lot of people dropped off the Net in July, well at least they stopped posting and doing stuff until they can secure their email, and communications.
/Adoption can be amusing...
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
The filter for OSS is lack of interest. When no one is interested in the capabilities, it is abandoned.
The filter for closed is lack of sustained monetization, whether the software is still useful to users or not is irrelevant. Many times older versions with fewer use restrictions end up being 'good enough', and kill off the 'business model' the developer wants to use/change to, so the whole program is abandoned. SaaS is a perfect example of this progression. Today's feature is tomorrow's monetization killer and is removed. What the user actually wants becomes more and more irrelevant as it finds its way to bottom denominator hell.
Yes, the difference between Open Source and closed source is that often the Open Source project gets visible before it gets finished, therefore you see the projects that failed early on. OTOH closed source is usually not released before the developer considers it ready for use, therefore you'll never get to see most failed close source projects.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
The fact that it's a passion-project would be precisely why you'd drop it without warning. Imagine you were working on a product for money and the money dried up, you'd stop developing. The same thing happens to a passion project when the passion dries up.
On top of that, if it's like anything I've ever lost passion for it's usually a case of not logging in for a day, and then a couple of days, and then weeks, and by the time you've accepted that you're actually not ever going to log in again it seems pretty pointless to go and tell people "hey guys I'm gone", especially if you're user base are jerks.
Then read the summary.