About the author
Dave Winer, 56, is a software developer and editor of the Scripting News weblog. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School and NYU, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.
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A message from developers to users 
On behalf of all developers I want to say something to all users.
We need you.
Without users, there can't be any software.
Because, as we know, software is a process.
And the process of software, at some point, is driven by users.
The job of a developer is to seed the process.
To say, here -- I think this is a good idea.
Then it's up to the users to agree or not.
But it goes way beyond that.
Developers, when we do our most appreciated work, are paving cow paths. Making things we know people want work better.
So the process is:
1. Users do something.
2. Users do other things.
3. They do more of some things than others.
4. Patterns emerge.
5. You see which way to go.
6. You make that way easy.
I think all good developers know this, at a visceral level. But the longer we do this, the clearer it is.
There wasn't always a Mother's Day or a Father's Day. At some point we woke up and realized, hey, we need these people. And we appreciate them. So let's give them a day.
So we need to feel, imho, the same way for people who use our software.
I'm feeling this very clearly now, as the uptake begins for my latest works. The users' presence is being felt. They're showing me things I need to look at that I wasn't looking at before. The feedback loop is kicking in.
6/24/2012; 1:44:25 PM.
