Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts
From: roberts@cognos.uucp (Robert Stanley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: FullWrite Update
Message-ID: <1743@cognos.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Nov-87 15:30:25 EST
Article-I.D.: cognos.1743
Posted: Thu Nov 12 15:30:25 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Nov-87 03:48:40 EST
References: <424@ur-tut.UUCP>
Reply-To: roberts@cognos.UUCP (Robert Stanley)
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 37
Summary: Complete ~= finished ?

In article <424@ur-tut.UUCP> dhac@ur-tut.UUCP (Darren Jay Hacker) writes:

>I just got off the phone with those *nice* people at Ann Arbor.  They said:

>	1. FullWrite Professional has been completed*.  They are working
>		on removing the known and pin-pointed bugs in the program.

>	* Or so they say

Even if this was only reportage of a telephone conversation with a
keep-the-customers-happy person, it makes a disturbing statement.  How can
a program of any kind, let alone a commercial product, have been completed
while programmers are still fixing it?

This posting is not really a flame at Ann Arbor Softworks, but at an industry,
because I have a horrible suspicion that this statement reflects an attitude
which is endemic in the business.  I once owned a successful software company,
and if I think about it, there were reflections of such a way of thought right
there at home.  So what hope is there for turning this around?  The Mac
interface introduced a whole new way of thinking about computers.  The
LaserWriter introduced a whole new way of thinking about publishing.  Any
chance that Apple will come up with a whole new way of thinking about
delivering *trustworthy* software?

Ummmm, I remember talking to a manager in an IBM software lab who was
witnessing a severe case of "get the product out on time, regardless of its
state".  On the whole, I am glad that FullWrite's introduction has been delayed
until they are comfortable, and I shall look forward to reviews from those of
you who decide to use it.  I guess the problem is, how do we learn to estimate
how much time and effort it is really going to take to do something?

Robert_S
-- 
Robert Stanley           Cognos Incorporated     S-mail: P.O. Box 9707
Voice: (613) 738-1440 (Research: there are 2!)           3755 Riverside Drive 
  FAX: (613) 738-0002    Compuserve: 76174,3024          Ottawa, Ontario 
 uucp: decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts          CANADA  K1G 3Z4