🚀 go-pugleaf

eilersm@aruba.ccit.arizona.edu (Michael Eilers) wrote:
>once again, people are missing the point: If I was a programmer, wouldn't
>it be a dream to have half a million beta testers blithely take over my
>job and find all the bugs for me? How many other corporations, large and
>small, have such a resource to plunder--and are doing such a great job of
>pludering it? I used the netscape beta 2.01b for about 2 days and it was a
>complete dog--crashed constantly and predictably. This software wasn;t fit
>to be released to the alpha testers, much less let out of the company
>pool, yet they left it to me to find the bugs! I certainly remember
>reading all of the "release agreement" before i dowloaded the stuff, and
>it said lots about Netscape not being responsible for anything at all ever
>including the ozone hole, but it did't say anywhere "Sorry, this version
>is a real dog, expect to have to rebuild your system after using it for an
>hour!"  If any other company (let's use Adobe as an example) released a
>piece of software so buggy, even with a "b" on the end of the name, they
>would be chased into the fire--but not beloved Netscape.

>I'm just dissapointed that a promising company is behaving so arrogantly.
>Don't believe me? wait until you get charged $45 (student or not) for the
>next version of Netscape. After that ridiculously inflated public sale of
>stock, they are under pretty severe pressure to make big bucks this
>year...

>Yes, caveat downloader and all that--if I use beta software, I should
>expect a crash or two. I guess my problem is with the attitude expressed
>by their premature releases... I don't want to *deprive* anyone of the
>bility to do this, I just want to see people recognize this practice for
>the corporate monolithic behavior that it is.

>michael

why do i feel like a slow-witted trout rising to the fly?
oh, well, i just can't resist....

michael, buddy, you are WAY off-base here. netscape's beta program is
one of the most enlightened, and effective, that i have seen.

when i choose to beta-test software, i am capable of accepting the
responsibility which accompanies my choice. you need to learn the same
thing. navigator is typically stable for a mid-beta product--certainly
as solid as betas i have tested for adobe, 3m and scitex. and i didn't
even have to sign a non-disclosure agreement for navigator!

"let's use Adobe as an example" yeah, let's. ever wonder why you're
using Photoshop 3.0.4? because 3.0 was shipped with an EXPIRATION
date. do you remember 2.5? It crashed on save if your mac had more
than 32mb of RAM. Convenient time to discover that you had just lost
an hour's labor on a large image, particularly when it was repeated at
one graphics shop after another, all over the country. and these were
release versions. AND i didn't bitch too loudly, either, because
Photoshop's a damn good, damn complicated, program, bugs and all.

finally, if you were a programmer (which you really should try, to
gain some perspective), you would understand how difficult it is to
trap errors in a piece of code which is going to be used on several
different platforms with a near-infinite variety of system
configurations. it is because of netscape's open-door beta policy that
their RELEASE software is as stable as it is.

michael, i sure as hell hope you pay for all the software you use--the
developers deserve the money for having to endure people like you.

sean bell
bells@ix.netcom.com

damn, suckered again.