Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!pa.dec.com!decuac!hussar.dco.dec.com!mjr
From: mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: file attributes
Message-ID: <1991Jun30.212024.25313@decuac.dec.com>
Date: 30 Jun 91 21:20:24 GMT
References: <1831@sranha.sra.co.jp>
Organization: Netnews posting simulation project
Lines: 26

erik@srava.sra.co.jp (Erik M. van der Poel) writes:

>On the other hand, I think it is also important that we do not release
>software to end-users until we are reasonably sure that the specs
>won't change. End-users are hit hard by incompatible changes.

	Reality check: have you ever actually *WORKED* with end-users?
You never get to find out if your software meets their needs until you
release it to them and get their reactions. Sometimes you find out that
you've totally missed the mark - then you look really silly if you've
gone and spent all that time and effort standardizing something useless.
Other times, you find that end-users needs change - sometimes requiring
the very incompatible changes you decry.

	When someone gets up on a soapbox and starts yammering about all
the Great Things they're going to do for the user community, I tend to
react the same way as I do when a politician starts talking about the
Great Things *he is going to do for me. Yeah, right.

	Your arguments would carry a lot more weight if you stopped
writing "I think this" and "I want this" and "I want vendors to that"
and maybe cited some hard information that indicates you have an idea
that users would be willing to pay for - *that* will make vendors and
programmers and maybe even UNIX wizards listen.

mjr.