Janoc,
first I want to say I have utmost respect for people that donate anything for the betterment of the humanity.. Time, money, software skills, whatever.
But most charity organisations will actually not accept just anything that you think might be useful. They will accept only money, non perishable goods and important stuff. Because they (and people they help) have no need for Gucci bags or such. They need other things...
Basically, what you're saying is, Open Source programmers are doing something for their own reasons, priorities, and whatever they do we have to accept because we didn't pay for it. It was, like charity, a gift, and we do not get to criticize what was so graciously given to us, with great effort and completely free...
And Open Source programmers don't care what poor users that cannot afford expensive software say... Users are not to complain.. It is free, and even if it is almost unusable except for proof of concept, Open Source programmers will not try to make it real software that users can actually use... Nooo, because, they are not really interested if anybody will ever use it, they are just writing it to show how smart they are, and for the bragging rights..
I must have misunderstood you (my comprehension of English is limited, sorry), because last time I checked, Open Source was meant to make viable replacement for overly expensive commercial products. so everyone, even the poorest one, can have the same chance for education, better life and such...
I use Open Office and find it easier to use that new MS Office with retarded Ribbon... LOL Teletubbies...
Kicad I tried, and couldn't use it. It is pretty much unusable in it's current form. It is technically capable, but usability is not there.
It kinda works, but you cannot achieve productivity in it...
It is currently in a stage of a proof of concept software.
Team proved they are fantastic programmers, capable of writing fantastic, technically sophisticated software. They are. Kudos.
But Kicad has no workflow, user interface is confusing (that's being kind), Libraries and their management is just.....
Great software is not just about clever code and algorithms.. Great software is one that is great to use, intuitive, quick, useful....
So no, I'm not ungrateful to a gift given to me.. I politely refused to take it, because in it's current state it is useful to me as ice on Antarctica , and sand in Sahara..
And if it is helpful to someone I'm happy for them.
To me, it isn't, and won't be until it is made useful in addition to free..
In which case I would be glad to financially support the effort, to help develop it, and to help it be available to those that are not fortunate like me....
And no, I cannot contribute in other way, my time is limited, and have no programer skills on the level to be worthy to join the team..
I'm not prepared to donate to the project that I think goes nowhere with it's current direction, that is not very useful to me, or most people out there..
Maybe, in the future, Kicad team will be able to make it more complete and such and I will change my mind ...
I'm not saying I can understand their vision, and maybe they are going in great direction and Kicad is destined for greatness.. I hope for that.. I really do.
But for now i don't see it.
Regardless, to developers, thank you for all of your selfless and hard work, but no thank you. Maybe some other time.
Best regards,
Sinisa