🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C1F9D7.3Ay@wm.estec.esa.nl>, guy@wmsg02.wm.estec.esa.nl (Guy Brooker) writes:
> ...
> I'm sorry Michael, but it seems I am not the only one to have missed your more
> enlightening reply on Quicktime in comp.sys.sgi.graphics. ...

> Would it be possible for you to outline the levels of integration of
> Quicktime into IRIX and its supporting applications that are being
> planned ?
> ...

Michael can, should, and no doubt will respond or not as he feels
appropriate.


However, very few of the people with return addresses within sgi.com
who post to comp.sys.sgi* can prudently say much about future products,
plans, or ideas.  Very few of us who post have the authority to offer
nondisclosure agreements.  Most of us are only soldiers in the trenches.

Many of us have worked on projects that have been cancelled, and based
just on statistics, it is quite possible that a few of us are now
working on something that we will all be surprised to have cancelled.
The pain of that is enough.  No one likes to have that pain augmented
by disappointed customers shouting at Ed and threatening or filing
lawsuits about broken promises.

There is no such thing as effective net-news disclaimer.  An innocent
answer can be taken by third parties as an official promise.

It is impossible to predict exactly what a future product will do when
complete enough to ship.  Anyone making a pre-announcement knows that
what, if anything, is finally shipped will differ from the current
hopes and plans.  Thus, almost any pre-announcement is a lie, a
statement intended to make someone believe something known to be false,
even in those perhaps rare cases when the announcement is a complete
statement of current plans.  Some companies more regularly
"pre-announce", but they do not let the peons do the announcing,
because those "truths" must be managed carefully.

If you want pre-announcement, it-could-turn-out-to-be-the-truth, your
best source is your salescritter.  Yes, I know about "non-disclosures",
customers who need information for planning, and others who just need
to feel the cutting edge.  Still, sales people and big bosses are paid
to take the risks associated with pre-announcing, and to keep the
stories straight.

I thought Michael's answer, "when it's ready", was a humorous (because
of the name "quicktime") response to a question that might not be
answerable here and perhaps should not have been asked here.


Vernon Schryver,  vjs@sgi.com