Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!cbmvax!peter From: peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: Information on Amiga Technical Reference Seri Message-ID: <22539@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 18 Jun 91 14:32:39 GMT References: <3036@public.BTR.COM> <22455@cbmvax.commodore.com> <3096@public.BTR.COM> Reply-To: peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna) Organization: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. West Chester, PA. Lines: 68 In article <3096@public.BTR.COM> valentin@public.BTR.COM (Valentin Pepelea) writes: >In article <22455@cbmvax.commodore.com> peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter >Cherna) writes: >This is absolute nonesense. Nobody in his right mind would start using tricks >or undicumented features that would break their software in the future. This >cynical attitude has no place in this discussion. This "cynical" attitude is based on a significant amount of experience figuring out just which trick or undocumented feature dozens of pieces of software that people who claim to be in their right minds have indeed written for our computer. The attitude not only belongs in this discussion, it is CENTRAL. >What imbeciles are going to do with a usefull tool is totally irrelevant to >this discussion. Besides, we all have a constitutional right to shoot ourselves >in the foot. Commodore chooses to not avail itself of this right :-) Remember that the people you refer to as "imbeciles" (I rather think of them as developers who are already grappling with a sizable amount of documentation and rules who you wish to inundate with an order of magnitude more stuff) are quite capable of shooting Commodore in the foot. That is also central to this discussion. >>Further, Commodore has a very dynamic and accessible support program. >>Official developer support is affordable and easy to reach. > >If you can afford the $450/year fee, plus the long distance phone charges. >Many of our contractors cannot afford this 'accesible' program. I believe you should look at the fee schedule again. It's considerably less than that. >>If you have a question, ask it, instead of asking for the source. > >And then there are questions which will never be answered, particularly not >on Usenet. Like, is there a bug in function XXX? Please do not claim to know what is and isn't answered on Usenet. I myself have answered countless individuals who have asked or reported a bug in the system. When there is a problem in the OS, I tell them so. When the problem doesn't appear to be in the OS, I've often helped them to locate the reason and identify a fix. The kind of questions that don't get answered typically involve proprietary information that can't be disclosed, like how many 68040's will be in an Amiga 9000... >The 1.3 RKMs are certainly a vast improvement over their predecessors. >Particularly when it comes to examples. But there is no substitue for >source code. I agree there would be some benefit to some developers, for the source code. On the other hand, just look at the reams of wonderful software written for Amigas, MACs, Windows, etc. that do not have source code available. There are plenty of developers out there capable of doing fine work without source, and a good thing too. The cost to Commodore in terms of what it will do to the future of the OS and the hardware is significantly greater than any benefit you imagine might be reaped. >Valentin Peter -- Peter Cherna, Operating Systems Development Group, Commodore-Amiga, Inc. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!peter peter@cbmvax.commodore.com My opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer. "Gosh, didn't he have anything positive to say at all?"