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I selected clear design, documentation, robustness, price, support - since these are the things I won't go without. (OK, sometimes you have to make compromises..)
What if I had to rank them?
I fully see that this ranking is guided by my current major project. With another prject, I'd quickly re-rank them, even an upside-down list is thinkable.
1. Robustness - that's why I want a library.
2. Reasonable Price + Support.
Depends on how long-lived your projects are. But if you expect to build upon the library, it should be around for a few years, bugs getting fixed, etc.
3. Extensibility vs. Feature-complete.
I can live with missing features, IF I can add them easily, and integrtae them with the enxt update without hassle. The point is that the library actually gives me what I want.
4. Good clean design
Amazing how far that falls down when the "sink or swim" questions are out of the way. I also count "flexibility" in here. A "mediocre" design is still required, and poses a short term problem - above items pose long term problems.
5. Good documentation
Yeah, just slightly more important than "runs on a toaster". 
6. Multi-Platform support
Partly covered by "Feature complete" already. It is of course a concern if you plan to expand to other platforms - or you simply DON'T KNOW.
Software development is a tradeoff between requirements - that's why there is no universal solution.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist
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Why that get ranked so low -- don't you want to rely on someone out there -- who's getting paid to be responsive to your issues?
I don't care too much about upgrades -- but updates and fixes are very important!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Peter Weyzen<br />
Staff Engineer<br />
<a href="http://www.soonr.com">SoonR Inc -- PC Power delivered to your phone</a>
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Frankly, if it gets to the point where i need to contact support, i'm already hating the product.
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Also, many products allow one to buy the source code as well. Then you can go right ahead and fix it yourself, without having to threaten 100 support people with bodily harm...
(This all hinges on the good & clean design of course)
--
Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
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Wow, I'd never have thought that good documentation beats stability. 
/ravi
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote: Wow, I'd never have thought that good documentation beats stability.
Both different side of coin.. you require both to form a coin!
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
Never mind - my own stupidity is the source of every "problem" - Mixture
cheers,
Alok Gupta
VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV
Support CRY- Child Relief and You/codeProject$$>
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ThatsAlok wrote: you require both to form a coin!
Sure, I'd like to have both too. But I prefer that the code work and have less than perfect documentation, rather than it being well documented and unstable. 
/ravi
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wrote: rather than it being well documented and unstable.
yeap same here! but i prefer both 
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I'll take well documented over robustness anyday.
I can fix the bugs, but if I don't know the author's intent for the library it is almost useless except as an idea to start from when writing my own.
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lol.
...platform neutrality is one of my top requirements (after stability) and look where that figures.
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I guess peopel started to click from top to bottom "yeah, I want", then either got bored or figured maybe they can't get everything.
Badly designed poll, but very interesting question.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist
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Wait - are you suggesting there was a flaw in the poll? Florida... Florida... anyone home? (I'm referring to dangling chads, here). 
/ravi
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Even though I can spare on things like Price if I'm not the one paying the bill I believe it is most important for me to understand what a library does in order to use it. Since I'm relatively new in this business I haven't ran across many 3rd party libraries with sourcecode yet but those I already used were either so complex or so badly written that I couldn't reconstruct properly what the hell they were actually doing. But since I have the Sourcecode, given enough time I would simply rebuild it and use my version anyways ^^
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Just incase the vendor went bump.
Brainware Error - reboot required.
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Assuming you get full source code with a library...
norm .net wrote: Source Code
Um, yeah?
I want you to build me a plane. Oh, and I get the plane.
Gary
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It's normal for software companies to offer the source with there framework/libs - so what the problem?
Or have you been in the business for just over 2 minutes
Brainware Error - reboot required.
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norm .net wrote: It's normal for software companies to offer the source with there framework/libs - so what the problem?
Hey normnet, relax and take a deep breath.  Reread the survey. "Assuming you get full source code with a library, what features are most important?"
The most important feature when getting the source code is to get the source code.  Maybe in UK you have to restate the obvious, or maybe there's problems understanding the Canadian inflections on the English language.
norm .net wrote: Or have you been in the business for just over 2 minutes
I've been "in the business" longer than C#, VB, .Net, Windows, Linux and DOS have been around, maybe since before you were born.
I'm one of them old farts. 
FYI - My software goes into escrow when the customer requires it. We sell applications, not libraries, so we don't just give out our crown jewels as part of the sale.
Gary
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ghle wrote: We sell applications, not libraries,
So the survey says... "What do you require in a software library?" and my answer was source code. 
Brainware Error - reboot required.
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So the survey says... "What do you require in a software library? Assuming you get full source code with a library" and norm .net wrote: and my answer was "source code".
Sorry, I guess there is some hidden meaning in there I am not grasping. Too many dead brain cells, and I can no longer grasp the obvious.
When it's stated I get source code, I know I'm getting source code and I don't have to specify it again as an additional feature. But that's just me. 
Sorry for the comfusication. 
Gary
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And I thought my brain had gone for a second
![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif)
Brainware Error - reboot required.
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Gary
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I will not buy any library without source code for two reasons. The first is debugging. The second is if the company closed its doors I will still be able to use the library in the future.
John
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It should contain a CListCtrl.
It surely can't be called a Library if it misses a CListCtrl
codito ergo sum
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Funny that good performance (CPU utilization and memory footprint above all) is not listed. It is true that some applications may not care about performance, but a library?
And of course, everything else on the list, please
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just buy a bigger CPU...
no one worries about performance anymore...
_________________________
Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau.
Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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