Customers fixing code (Score 3)

You write:

However, they will become more and more knowledgeable with the software, especially from the user-side. This will extend codewise if they can get the source easily. There'll be situations where they want to fix stuff themselves, in order to meet deadlines and other things.

I don't quite agree. The time it takes to determine that a bug exists, locate the bug in the code, figure out what the fix should be, test the fix to make sure it works, test the fix again to make sure it didn't break anything else, then to implement the fix, is just too much for most people.

It's not that they aren't intelligent enough to read code and see the problem -- I can usually do that, and I'm not a professional programmer -- it's that it often requires a significant amount of time and mental energy to wrap your mind around a problem. I don't want to take *my* time fixing *your* code, even if it's something that I need done quickly. I have more important things (to me) to do. Instead, I would prefer to call you up, describe the problem, perhaps give a rough explanation of what I think the bug is, and then be able to say "Our service contract says you'll take care of this. When might I expect an updated version?"

I don't think that open sourcing would drive companies away, unless they had enough resources to dedicate people to understanding and maintaining the code in-house. In that case, they're not buying the product anyway, and wouldn't be interested in a service contract either. However, it may pull in some people who would like to know what's going on inside that box on their desk -- people like me who like to tinker around with the code, but don't want to have to rely on my own skills to get some jobs done.

kipli