[Motorola Droid 3] sylentprofet:
my thoughts

here's my two cents, this being my post and all.

when i started developing for the droid 3, i had seen Hash's work for getting a CM ROM going, but he hadn't (yet) started porting AOKP, so I made that my goal. i had not contacted him at this point.

he beat me to it, and he had a decent working build going for a while, but then it seemed like an update just wasn't in the cards. so i decided to start compiling my own based on his work. by no means am i a "developer", i just understand computers and enjoy reading and learning new things. i'm also not completely new to the android scene. i had compiled ROMs successfully before (I was the first person to port AOKP to the Acer a200 tablet).

no matter what combination i tried, i COULD NOT get Hash's git code to compile. i'm talking multiple nights of working until 4 or 5 in the morning, failed compiles, hunting down ****. and i'm like, wow, this guy really put in a huge amount of work just to get this thing to this point, it's god damned amazing he even pulled it off in the first place.

so i donated five dollars to him and dhacker29. that five bucks to Hash got my foot in the door, and he was a little more receptive to listen to my stupid questions about "why won't X work". we tracked down the problem together, and now about 450 people around the world (what's up China! Brazil! Canada!) are using updated builds (albeit imperfect).

it takes about 2 to 3 hours of intense computer time to compile a ROM. i'm talking about can't really watch a movie because it will skip, you just let the computer do its thing. on top of that, all the time invested in coding and tracking down errors. all for the love of it, unpaid, after 8-12 hours already spent working that day.

to everyone "feeling forgotten" or holding out to donate until everything works, i say this:

take a second and ask yourself how much more enjoyment you've gotten out of your D3 than if it were bone stock. having to put up with all those damned preloaded apps and blur and this and that and the other dumb thing. not even an ICS update, let alone anything else remotely cool. Motorola forgot about us about a nanosecond after the last D3 came off the production line.

now quantify that. is it worth a dollar to you? five dollars? ten? how much happier/more productive/entertained-ier are you?

nominate one trustworthy individual to act as the pool, and everyone throw your money in together. if we're lucky, we might have a hundred or two dollars. then, email hash and be like, hey! remember us! well, thanks for all the time and effort you've already put in, and maybe, just maybe, do you think you could put in some more to make this more functional? you might be surprised how nice of guy he is. this is by no means a solicitation for donations on my part, Hashcode deserves all the thanks.

it is completely the wrong place for this conversation, but i just feel like something needs to be said. non-developers do not understand what flaming hoops developers jump through basically for fun. development threads are exclusively for releasing code, error/bug reporting, and contributing in some way, not forum chatter.

oh by the way, new CM build going up shortly (for free). i dunno if anything has changed, i just did it for funsies. check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

have a good new year/holiday everyone.