Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!Jake-S
From: Jake-S@cup.portal.com (Jake G Schwartz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP promo
Message-ID: <32806@cup.portal.com>
Date: 15 Aug 90 02:58:01 GMT
References: <1854@ac.dal.ca> <5088@uafhp.uark.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 16

Someone recently mentioned that HP released the HP48 "in a rush" so the publi
could discover its bugs. On the contrary - so far all the bugs in versions
A through D were discovered IN HOUSE. Bill Wickes explains pretty much the
history of the ROM development and the bug list in his talk at the Chicago
HP Handheld Users Conference. None of the the bugs are fatal. If only 7 or so
bugs exist in 256K of ROM code, shouldn't that really be considered a 
sort of milestone in software development? They can't just start making
chips in a frenzy, and if they discover a minor bug just scrap the whole
mess and throw out the first umpteen thousand chips for the next revision.
If they are to make any sort of schedule (and the machine was ALREADY several
months late by all rumors that circulated last year) they've gotta ship 
what's done and fix the minor things along the way. Since none of these bugs
so far discovered are "killers", the way HP went about it seems logical to
me.

Jake Schwartz