Ask Slashdot: Non-Coders, Why Aren't You Contributing To Open Source?

Jason Baker writes: Most everyone is using an open source tool somewhere in their workflow, but relatively few are contributing back their time to sustaining the projects they use. But these days, there are plenty of ways to contribute to an open source project without submitting code. Projects like OpenHatch will even help you match your skill set to a project in need. So what's holding you back? Time? Lack of interest? Difficulty getting started?

Comments

Re:Look what those assholes did to gedit.

[Kjella]

You know, I could swear someone told me this wasn't a problem with open source, I wish I could remember their name... see-a-lots? They said that unlike normal software or pri... pro.. propiratory software as they called it they said open source is all about choice. If I didn't like anything I could just change it to make it look and work like I want it to. The details are a bit hazy to me, but I hope it's easy to use and comes with a good tutorial. And it had the strangest name, I thought those belonged in a kitchen drawer. Knife? Spoon? Ah no, they called it a fork. Not sure what kind of fork that is, it sounded almost magical. You know like in Star Trek "Use the fork, Luke". Come to think of it they did look like they had seen that a few too many times. Or maybe you should try a different bistro? Sorry, distro. I think it was some kind of collection of forks, like cutlery. You wouldn't want to eat steak with a butter knife, right? Or maybe you're just holding it wrong, that's what the nice person in the fruit store told me. A real genius he was, it even said so on his shirt. Maybe he can help you too?

Re:Cult

[Chrisq]

I do not support cults. Nuff said.

But are you a member of the cult of people who do not support cults?

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Apologies to Bertrand Russell