I've said this previously, and I'll say it again: we're severely under-resourced. Not just XFS, the whole fsdevel community. As a developer and later a maintainer, I've learnt the hard way that there is a very large amount of non-coding work is necessary to build a good filesystem. There's enough not-really-coding work for several people. Instead, we lean hard on maintainers to do all that work. That might've worked acceptably for the first 20 years, but it doesn't now.

[…]

Dave and I are both burned out. I'm not sure Dave ever got past the 2017 burnout that lead to his resignation. Remarkably, he's still around. Is this (extended burnout) where I want to be in 2024? 2030? Hell no.

  • NateNate60@lemmy.ml
    ·
    10 months ago

    This problem is pretty common across most parts of the Linux space. Everyone wants to volunteer coding work, which is great, but not what's desperately needed right now.

    The Linux community needs more than programmers, or else it will consist only of programmers. We need UI/UX experts, or we'll never have the simplicity and ease of use of iOS. We need accessibility designers or we'll never match up to the accessibility of MacOS. We need graphic designers and artists or we'll never look as good as Windows 11. We need PR professionals and marketing experts or we'll never be as notable as the Windows XP startup sound.

    We don't have enough volunteers that fit into these categories. The next best thing you can do is contribute your money so that your favourite project can hire the people they need.

    • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
      ·
      10 months ago

      That's more the desktop environment than the Linux kernel though. Gnome, for example, is a simple, good looking, accessible desktop environment.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.ml
        ·
        10 months ago

        I love and use GNOME daily, but I think it's still the case that the interface "needs some getting used to" for a Windows/MacOS user. The design paradigm is just not familiar or self-explanatory to anyone who has regularly used desktop computers in the past decade.

        • sederx@programming.dev
          ·
          10 months ago

          but I think it’s still the case that the interface “needs some getting used to” for a Windows/MacOS user.

          why do you think thats unreasonable? its a different system

          • NateNate60@lemmy.ml
            ·
            10 months ago

            I think it is unreasonable because a Windows user (i.e. myself) can quickly get up to speed with MacOS within five minutes without the need for external instruction. I can manage a MacOS system perfectly fine even without any prior knowledge of how it works. I can figure out how to configure the settings to do what I need it to do without needing to search for how to do it online.

            GNOME took almost a week to get used to and remember where things are located, such as what is located in Settings, how the task flow works, and so forth. I never got used to the "disappearing dock". I had to use an extension for that. GNOME is just way more different than the others. Meanwhile, my grandpa picked up Cinnamon as a lifelong Windows user within five minutes.

            • Miaou@jlai.lu
              ·
              10 months ago

              IDK, choosing between ctrl or the cmd key on macos always felt like a flip coin, I hated it

            • sederx@programming.dev
              ·
              10 months ago

              Why are you talking like gnome is the default Linux DE? Its not. As you said yourself cinnamon is better for some folks.

              • NateNate60@lemmy.ml
                ·
                10 months ago

                It's not, but what distros frequently top the list of "user-friendly" distros?

                Ubuntu, PopOS, Fedora, and friends.

                Maybe it's not how it should be, but that's currently how it is.

                • Miaou@jlai.lu
                  ·
                  10 months ago

                  I never heard of PopOS, and fedora is definitely not meant to be user friendly. I'd have mentioned first Mint (which ships with cinnamon I believe) actually

                  • NateNate60@lemmy.ml
                    ·
                    10 months ago

                    I would encourage you to look up "user-friendly Linux distros" on your favourite search engine and check the first few results.

                    PopOS is System76's distro. It's quite popular among beginners and frequently recommended to those just starting with Linux. I don't personally use it.

                    • Miaou@jlai.lu
                      ·
                      10 months ago

                      Will do, it's been a while since I've been a beginner I suppose. Nonetheless, few years ago mint would have been the goto recommendation, at least in my circle. I think I even got my mom to try a live version out of curiosity

    • ______@lemm.ee
      ·
      10 months ago

      I don't know a single ui person or artist that gives a single f about open source.

      I think as a dev you naturally grow to respect the open source space because of how much you take from it.

      I would love to be proven wrong though

    • Spzi@lemm.ee
      ·
      10 months ago

      Without too much knowledge, I have the strong feeling this is equally true for the Fediverse and Lemmy.

      And while it is fairly obvious and straight forward how to contribute as a programmer, it's less so for all the other, equally important, tasks.