🚀 go-pugleaf

ab@nova.cc.purdue.edu (Allen B) writes:
> alex@cs.umd.edu (Alex Blakemore) writes:
> > coke%net23@spectrx.saigon.com (Brian Policky) writes:
> > > Is there an official release date for NeXTstep 3.0?
> >  On Friday, someone at 1-(800)Try-NeXT told me the release
> >  date is Aug 24.
> 
> I hate to flame, but I'm really tired of hearing this.  I
> feel completely betrayed and more than a little angry.
> 
> Considering our semester starts on the 24th, the 3.0
> release is really too late for me whenever it is.  I got the
> impression from early news of 3.0 that I'd have it up and
> running by now.  The date kept slipping and so did my chance
> of using it any time soon.
> 
> A big "Boo!  Hiss!" to missing a summer release date.  I now
> either have to close our lab or wait 'til October to get the
> job done right.  I'm sure other Universities have similar
> situations.
> 
> If NeXT is still aiming at higher education, they're not
> hitting it very well.  Our machines should be stable and
> consistent all semester long.  Making me do an upgrade
> once a semester is underway is not a way to be my friend. 

It's clear that no one at NeXT delayed Release 3.0 in some misguided attempt  
to aim at higher education.  It was delayed because problems came up during  
the beta testing.  I'd just as soon leave beta testing to beta testers  
instead of "releasing" a product so that everyone finds themselves a  
beta-tester.

"Things just happen" is an unpleasent and unfortunate fact of life.  While  
I'm no more pleased about a late summer release than you are, I'd like to  
know what you think the alternatives for NeXT were?  Would you have prefered  
a buggy release on July 15, with a more stable release in mid-September?

This kind of problem is not unique to NeXT.  Suns & IBM's are the most  
widespread workstations here at RPI, and we have all kinds of software which  
we were promised would arrive in May and which has not arrived yet.

That said, I do agree that it's very frustrating for those in a university  
setting when these releases come out so late in the summer.  I suspect it  
doesn't make a whole lot of difference to companies, but to universities the  
timing is critical.  Not only that, the best time is always the end of the  
spring semester, and the worst time is always start of the fall semester.

--
Garance Alistair Drosehn     =     gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu
ITS Systems Programmer            (handles NeXT-type mail)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;           Troy NY    USA