A developer who worked with the Sparrow team has divulged his work on a Windows version of the popular email client, and says that a beta was due sometime in the next few weeks โ that is, until Sparrow was acquired by Google and ceased its development efforts earlier this week.
Another episode of the Sparrow saga. From the posted screenshoot in the article i will not personally use this, but it’s certainly interesting to imagine what will be the implication of Sparrow for Windows.
Another Interesting part is the fact that the developer of this app (Sparrow for Windows) is not an internal part of Sparrow team. He’s doing it for himself under the permission of Sparrow founder Dom Lecca.
My question is does he get fees or any kind of financial incentives for developing a version of Sparrow for Windows? If not, then this is another instance of spec work, where developers work just to get an approval from his/her clients. Like an entry exam. It’s not only unnecessary but also unethical.
Taken from No!SPEC Campaign:
Why is spec work unethical?
The designer in essence works free of charge and with an often falsely advertised, overinflated promise for future employment; or is given other insufficient forms of compensation.
As a result the client/employer will often employ other designers using similar unprincipled tactics to change and/or resell the creative work as their own. This also promotes the practice of designers ridiculously undercharging themselves in the hopes of โoutbiddingโ any potential rivals, devaluing both their skills and those of the graphics industry in the process.
I’d be pretty pissed if i’m doing a spec work for the sake of idealism and find out that i’ve been left behind.