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From: fry@zariski.harvard.edu (David Fry)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: system 7.0b???????
Message-ID: <5733@husc6.harvard.edu>
Date: 15 Feb 91 11:53:29 GMT
References: <9102150545.aa05600@Bonnie.ics.uci.edu>
Sender: news@husc6.harvard.edu
Organization: Harvard Math Department
Lines: 52

In article <9102150545.aa05600@Bonnie.ics.uci.edu> rhutchin@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU writes:
>I wonder why Apple is so naive as to think that "distribution" of all these
>beta versions of system 7.0b????  is totally under control.  Many of my Mac
>acquantances, who are no more developers than Saddam Hussein is a good guy,
>have the latest version, 7.0b4, running on their computers, and have had
>7.0b1 or better since a couple days after its Halloween release date.
>Disclaimer: I personally have not run it on my machine, mainly because I'm
>concerned about VERY important data on my hard drive (not cuz I'd feel bad
>about it).
>
>Anyway, I guess my point is...  What is Apple's point in not allowing
>distribution?  You simply say it
>is a real unstable beta that is "for fun" and warn people to use at their
>own risk.  Could it be that Apple doesn't want to reveal system 7.0,
>that it's some big trade secret?  Come on, I can assure you that it is no
>secret!!!
>

Clearly Apple is not very concerned about copies of the System
betas falling into the "wrong" hands; otherwise they wouldn't
have mailed out 9000 copies to developers.  There is no shame
or secret being hidden.
 
The real reason Apple isn't distributing it is: it's not done.  A
large company like Apple can't afford to release broken
products, even with the understanding that it's not stable,
may be dangerous, or whatever.  People would get the wrong
idea about broken or undocumented features, you'd see endless
complaints that it's too slow because people don't understand
about debugging code, and others would be angered about losing
data because of a crash (even if they knew perfectly well they
shouldn't be using it).  In the end, everyone would just
remember all the bad things about System 7.

This ignores the fact that they're not going to go to the
expense/effort to send out/upload all the disks and 
documentation for a toy that's not done.  And to really use 
the betas safely and effectively, you need to carefully look at 
the stuff on that CD-ROM.

Small companies can prerelease products, give out early
samples, and discuss future plans because they desperately
need publicity and attention.  Large companies (Apple, IBM,
Ford, etc.) can't risk having their reputation soiled
unnecessarily, or being held to an early, imprecise
announcement.


David Fry                               fry@math.harvard.EDU
Department of Mathematics               fry@huma1.bitnet
Harvard University                      ...!harvard!huma1!fry
Cambridge, MA  02138