The simple fact is that there is NO way in HELL that a single commercial entity could produce a piece of software, this large, and monolithically support it.
Pluto tried.
Pluto died.
It has taken a community of people to be able to continue development, to be able to develop the pieces that Pluto simply did not have the ability to, for a variety of reasons, including that certain features got lower priority due to pressure from investors, etc.
And I can tell you've never done any software development. In any project, open or commercial, the first 60% gets implemented quickly. The problem is, the last 20% are on the upper swing of an asympyotic scale.
Read that last sentence again.
The amount of time to fill in what is considered the last finishing details is the absolute killer for any project, because you're also debugging during this time, and having to support others during this point. It makes NO difference whether the project is commercial or not. The only difference lies in the prioritization. You may think things are progressing faster if YOUR features are being worked on, but what about SOMEONE ELSE'S features?
Stop being selfish and think about the bigger picture.
-Thom
Thom,
I think you're seriously misunderstanding what I'm saying. I think that because your replies are turning slightly aggressive.
Of course I've never done any programming/developing, if I had, why would I have helped pay you for development.
As far as a commercial entity not being able to develop and support LMCE or a project like it, I disagree and we'll probably just forever disagree on that point.
I certainly understand that the last 20% is the most difficult. But I bet it would be much less difficult if the devs were paid to do only that. Imagine if LMCE stuff wasn't what you did after work but it's what you do FOR work. Am I to believe that more wouldn't get done?
Please don't take my posts as any sort of attack on the project or it's devs. Quite the contrary, I'm making the point that development would go faster and be broader if more people paid for it.
I think of my own profession, if a friend asks me to help him with his network and I know it will be free. I'll get to him when I have the time. If, on the other hand, someone needs help and they're paying me $150/hr, I'll MAKE the time. Paid for stuff happens faster, that's the only point I'm making.