A Noobies View - Needs to be said

Sorry this is  a repost - the typo monsters got me.

I must say this is the first time I have posted here. However I thought I had something worth reading and wanted to share it all with you.  As many of you will see, I am a fairly new member to Unity.  I started using dolphin several months ago and was amazed.  I am currently the CTO of a project aimed at helping non-profits.  This project has been in the works for a little over a two years now and is close to launch.  I share this with you because it relates to what I feel needs to be said. 

I have been in the web development industry since 1995.  AOL was still text based, and I was stuck in a hospital bed at William Beaumont  Army Medical Center.  I had nothing to do for over a year in bed but learned  to use computers;  use the net as a gateway window to the outside world, and take my mind off my troubles.  I discovered I had a "knack" for this computer stuff, and ended up setting up the patient record system for the hospital.( some of you may have read the story of my dog Buddy calling 911, I have Epilepsy from  an open skull fracture in case you are wondering)

After I was released and sent home, things were bleak.  I was not in the best condition mentally or physically, and became somewhat semi-unsocial.  The computer was my way to cope.  In the computer I controlled my world.  It did what I told it to do, nothing more, nothing less. 

If I got an error, it was because I asked it to do something that I had not defined yet.

I went on to college and other places.  I got my MCSE, A+, etc. etc.  In my spare time, which seemed to be dwindling by the blink, I kept up with current trends, ideas etc. (Keep in mind this was well before blackberry, or anything of the sort.)

I was using a P.C.  I never got into the whole Mac thing although i was raised on apple like many of us were.  I own one but its  a paperweight.  I have not found the time to figure it all out.

One of the things I liked about BoonEx, Dolphin, and Unity was that it was open source.   That says that the code is available to be tinkered with; modified if you will.  That fact releases users from the containers that most software solutions tie you down to.  I was also impressed with the number of members and activity. 

The first time I installed the software, it took me about 2 hours.  I checked and rechecked everything just to make sure I got it right.  EVERYTHING worked fine.  I read and followed the instructions.

Then I came to a point where I wanted to start making some changes.....I used the search capability within BoonEx and Unity and so far have found every answer to every question; quickly, simply, and in plain English.  This was too good to be true!

To date, I have not had to contact customer support, or any other BoonEx entity for help.  Although I am surprised at this, I am also amazed.

Here is the core for this posting:  You now know my background, I'm not a computer whiz kid.  I am  a typical user with certain circumstances, that has had no problems with any part of Dolphin to date.

I have made some adjustments, and my team had modified things from time to time; as is normal with any large scale development project.  But what we got was what we expected.  It was an open source starting point.  That's what any open source product  is.  A starting point.

I have been reading a lot on D7 lately and subsequently  been on Unity a lot more than normal in recent weeks.  I have seen a lot of bashing talking about old releases, even the current release of Dolphin.  I wanted to make this as clear as I can:

OPEN SOURCE IS JUST THAT OPENSOURCE.  You are not buying an out of the box solution, ever.  You are purchasing a modifiable rendition of what it can be or what you might want.  The rest is up to you.  BoonEx has no control over your server or your live environment.  You get the basics and have to work from there.  WORK is the key word.  All open source should be treated as Beta.  Learn it, Know it, Master it.  If you cannot, hire someone who has.  There are enough resources here on Unity not to mention Google and now YouTube even to make it easy for someone who has familiarity with the system to do almost anything.  How long does it take to get familiar with it?  It took me about 2 months to get comfortable with it, but that was while I was doing other things as well.

I know people have been kind of going to the negative with the pre-release of D7.  I downloaded and installed a test version, I have yet to get it to work fully.  But here's the "ketch":  I didn't expect it to work.  It's an alpha of an open source project.  The fact that most of it did work impressed the heck out of me.    

I have also read where people are mad at some of the BoonEx people for taking a business trip to see what other companies are doing.  All I can say is get over it.  Honestly, I don't even know what that is all about.  I for one have not had a true vacation since I don't know when; but I can tell you that a business trip, regardless of the pictures taken is not considered a vacation in my book.  It's a time for networking and "spying on the other guy".  Enough Said.

In closing I will say the following:

Everything on the net should be treated as a living organism.  We are only limited by our imagination and our skill set.  What we choose to do with our knowledge effects everyone around the world every day.  We are unified in that aspect.  Our brothers and sisters will continue to press on even if we fall, and develop the future for tomorrow we can only dream of today.

If you like this post let me know.  If not let me know.  I am what I am, It is what It is.