Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!amanda@intercon.com
From: amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: HyperCard 2.0
Message-ID: <1564@intercon.com>
Date: 22 Nov 89 22:04:09 GMT
References: <31728@watmath.waterloo.edu> <14078@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <36655@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: news@intercon.com
Reply-To: amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation
Lines: 61

In article <36655@apple.Apple.COM>, chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
> Me, personally, I'd rather a company keep their mouth shut until they know
> what's going into it and when it's going to ship. The alternative (the
> "Fullwrite will ship next week, really, honest, for sure this time!" or the
> "Lotus 1-2-3 is going to be the best thing since sliced bread!" syndromes)
> generate a lot of heat and negative vibes all around.

I share Chuq's amusement at the no-win pressure from people, but there are
some serious (and not-so-serious) issues here:

 - People like to be "in the know".

   Stuff that Apple people are working on is usually very nifty stuff.
   People outside Apple like to find out about it so that they can impress
   other people with the nifty stuff they've found out about.  MacLeak is
   a prime example.  I am pretty confident in claiming that one of the
   reasons they are as popular as they are is that they usually get pretty
   accurate leaks.  Everyone who reads the last page first, raise your
   hand :-).  How many project leaders would have a heart attack if they
   saw a MacWeek mug appear on an engineer's desk :-)?

   My sympathy lies with Apple on this one, for one important reason:

 - Products are not stable until they ship.

   Getting advance information only helps you plan if it is accurate.  Things
   come up at the last minute.  That is they way of engineering.  Even with
   all of the disclaimers plastered all over it, Apple went way out on a
   limb with the System 7.0 preview.  I think it was an excellent move, but
   I still look at the nice big black binder as more of an "artist's rendition"
   than a draft IM volume.

   If Apple does anything other that vague direction statements, people will
   start planning on future products, and if anything happens (which it will)
   to change or delay those products, they will blame Apple.  No information
   is often better than wrong information.

Let's take a real live non-Apple example.  My company did a preview of our
next product at a recent trade show.  It was explicitly presented as "this
is a preview--you can't buy this, but you will be able to buy something like
it in a few months." We got lots of good response, and lots of requests to
beta test it :-).  The product as it stands has some resemblance to what we
showed in October, but it has some major differences, too.  Some things have
been dropped from the design spec, and others have been added.  If we pinned
our design spec to what we showed people, we'd be doing a disservice to our
customers and ourselves.  Apple is even more in this position, since their
market is a lot bigger than ours, and their products have a lot more mass
appeal.

Companies have already put out ads claiming their stuff is System 7.0
compatible.  This is *stupid*.  Until it's frozen and disks are shipped,
even Apple can't claim that.  If Apple publicized their design goals for
future versions of HyperCard, they would lose the flexibility they need to
solve the problems they face and make it the best possible product.

Well, enough soapboxing for now :-).

Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
amanda@intercon.com
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