Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!huxley!glenn From: glenn@huxley.huxley.bitstream.com (Glenn P. Parker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Re: APRs (FLAME ON) Message-ID: Date: 12 Apr 91 21:15:39 GMT References: <9104082143.AA24021@pan.ssec.honeywell.com> <9330013@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> Sender: glenn@huxley.UUCP Reply-To: (Glenn Parker) Distribution: comp Organization: Bitstream, Inc. Lines: 40 In-reply-to: mike@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM's message of 12 Apr 91 16:34:20 GMT mike@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Mike McNelly) writes: > "Fixed in a future release" may seem like weasel-words but it's > necessary if the name of a future release is not entirely stable. For > example, consider the possible confusion to customers if the engineer > had responded "fixed in release 11.xx" and that release was subsequently > renumbered to 10.yy. > > Also, in the mad world of releases, sometimes unrelated releases > unexpectedly leapfrog each other due to slips of one part or another. > This accounts for some creative release renumbering and further > confusion for everyone, the engineers included. Naahhh, them's weasel-words alright! If HP/Apollo really wanted to convey any concrete information in such a report, they could either: 1) Specify a _date_ by which the problem would be fixed. 2) Specify a maximum number of releases that would follow before the problem was fixed, i.e. "Fixed within two releases" or "Fixed in the next release." As a user, I would even be willing to be a _little_ generous when given this kind of feedback, by allowing for a bit of slop in an estimate to compensate for "leapfrog" releases and/or delays due to other significant events (like acquisition by another company :-). There's no disguising the fact that the only thing "Fixed in a future release" says is "Don't call us, we'll call you." That's certainly not what I want to hear from a technical support organization. Of course, "Fixed in a future release" is infinitely better than "Performs to specification," which (in some cases I have read about on comp.sys.apollo) is the purest form of BS (bureaucrat-speak). -- Glenn P. Parker glenn@bitstream.com Bitstream, Inc. uunet!huxley!glenn 215 First Street BIX: parker Cambridge, MA 02142-1270