🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct31.055032.3074@netcom.com> Leonard Rosenthol,
leonardr@netcom.com writes:
>>Which got me to thinking. Leonard, and any other software development
>>professionals out there, I would ask of you this: Why is it, in your
>>opinion, that beta-testing seems to pass more bugs than it used to? I
>>remember getting games and applications for my old Apple II+ that worked
>>flawlessly -- why now do we have such problems that the current "joke"
>>is:
>>
>	I would have to say that it is because software has gotten more
>complex, operating systems are more complex and so there is much more
chance
>for errors.  
>
>	No software developers plans to ship with bugs, and most actually
>believe that they come pretty close to "bug free" when it goes out the
door.
>However with the many different possible configurations of INITs and
such, 
>things get really confusing and the chances for bugs to slip through the
cracks 
>becomes greater.  
>
>	Well that's my two cents...Anyone else care to comment??

Leonard, you don't think the pressure to get a product out of the door,
beat the competition, and get some cash in the old corporate coffers for
the work that's already been done has something to do with the problem?

As I see it, Salient scored a coup on other compression products by
releasing AutoDoubler 1.0 back in January. The program really was
bug-ridden; Salient went through five versions in the first month.
Clearly, in my opinion, it was released too early. But equally clearly,
by releasing it "too soon" Salient got the bucks and the support of those
who might ordinarily have bought MDS or SpaceSaver instead had they been
available at the same time.

Now, a half year later, Salient has most of the bugs out of AD. Aladdin's
initial release of SpaceSaver had numerous problems too, but they're
being solved. It, too, was released too early.  But everyone seems to be
doing that. System 7.1 has a readme file that says that Quadra users
should NOT use the Quadra software installer included with System 7.1!!! 
Why didn't Apple remove or fix that install option before releasing the
software if it knew there was a problem?  Answer:  because it was in a
rush. Marketing and promotion had already been planned.

I think that Salient and Aladdin are the "good guys" in the compression
market, and that both firms really want to serve customers and put out
good products at reasonable prices. But let's not pretend that marketing,
market share,  and promotion considerations play no role in releasing a
product "too soon"!

Jeff Needleman