🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec19.023609.26000@news2.cis.umn.edu> charlie@umnstat.stat.umn.edu (Charles Geyer) writes:
      [ -- related material deleted -- ]
>
>It is fair to say that no computer company puts quality first, ahead of
>featurality.  Until they do, quality will remain abysmal.
>
      I think some put it high enough on their priority list 
      to make their products fairly high quality.  I would put
      "Turbo-Tax", "Quicken", and Borland's "Turbo-C" in this
      category.
>The issue is not whether they exercised "due care" or whether they found
>the last bug.  The issue is whether bug fixes for all serious bugs are
>provided as a matter of course, and by "serious" here I mean anything that
>affects the functionality of the software, and whether product is simply
>not shipped with known serious bugs.
>
>Every time I say something like this on the net.  Industry people tell me
>that economic realities (according to conventional wisdom) dictate that
>deadlines come before quality.  He who ships first gets the customers.
>
      Here you have the central issue.  As a consultant, I have
      convinced some clients that much of the non-commercial software
      (both public domain and FSF) is of higher quality than the
      commercial equivalents.  I have installed 'less', 'RCS', screen,
      gnu-tar, and others on this basis.

      I recall one contributor to such software saying, to paraphrase,
      "This product represents me, and I'm not gonna release it until
      its right."  In the commercial world, such an attitude would, in
      my opionion, be likely to lead to disaster.  So commercial
      vendors DO have to balance their priorities.  However, the
      failure to fix significant bugs promptly is unforgivable.  

      Which means no more business from me and others I can convince
      likewise.

>And that's why computers don't work.
>
>(end rant)
>
      Understandable.
      You do have to be really careful.  I evaluate products very
      carefully, using money back guarantees if possible.  Once
      I have confidence in a product, such as Turbo-Tax, I note
      whenever the company involved has any major changes, such
      as in leadership or ownership, and then reevaluate before
      I trust updates.
>-- 
>Charles Geyer
>School of Statistics
>University of Minnesota
>charlie@umnstat.stat.umn.edu

      Note.  I have no interest in any of the software mentioned 
      other than that of satisfied user.
-- 
Al - aclark@netcom.com - My opinions are my own.