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From: jdarcy@encore.com (Jeff d'Arcy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.encore
Subject: buglists etc.
Summary: I'm in trouble again
Message-ID: <jdarcy.653758452@zelig>
Date: 19 Sep 90 15:34:12 GMT
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Distribution: comp
Lines: 48

As expected, I'm already getting flak from other sources within encore
(especially Customer Service), so I'll have to duck out of this thread
shortly.  I've also been contacted privately by several customers, and
IMHO that mail has been very constructive.  I'd like to see that sort
of communication continue, but I'd also like to point out a couple of
things:

	1) What I post is my OWN opinion, not Encore's.  As often as not
	others within Encore take quite strong exception to my opinions.
	PLEASE don't assume that my posts are anything other than the
	ravings of a slightly deranged and more-knowledgeable-than-most
	UMAX user.

	2) I post and exchange email on my own time and as a private
	individual.  One of the reasons I maintain visibility is that
	I enjoy talking to our customers, but I will not violate my
	confidentiality agreements or intentionally intrude upon our
	CS department's turf or that of our independent distributors
	such as DISC.

	3) Flames are not productive, and I will try to discourage them
	despite the grief I get for doing so.  We need to know how our
	customers feel about our products, but posting criticism that
	neither reveals new facts nor offers suggestions for improvement
	is not very helpful.  I've only seen a couple of such posts, so
	don't feel that I'm putting down the usual content of the group.
	In particular, I think that Gordon Irland's post was extremely
	helpful and productive.  Robert Claeson also contributes a lot
	of very helpful material, as do others whose names escape me.

With that out of the way, I'd like to offer a suggestion just to see what
sort of reception it gets.  I cannot change the way Encore does business,
but our customers can.  People have suggested that we should publish a
bug list, and I've objected based on the inevitable "scariness" of some
OS bugs.  How would people feel if Encore were to distribute a version of
the buglist, *knowing* that some of the scarier items had been omitted?
Would that be a sufficient demonstration of good faith?  Remember that I
have nothing WHATSOEVER to do with whether such a plan gets implemented.

Please POST responses to the last paragraph above; email is more appropriate
for responses to the remainder.



--

Jeff d'Arcy, Generic Software Engineer - jdarcy@encore.com
      Nothing was ever achieved by accepting reality