Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ll-xn!husc6!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn ) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Who should pay for upgrades? Keywords: New OS's, updates, upgrades Message-ID: <8732@smoke.BRL.MIL> Date: 22 Oct 88 20:22:01 GMT References: <2702@skivs.UUCP> Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) ) Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD. Lines: 18 In article <2702@skivs.UUCP> dr@skivs.UUCP (David Robins) writes: >This is a problem I have with upgrades. When Apple changes the >operating system, the software companies have to fix their products to >accommodate the change. Can they be expected to also foot the bill >for mailing out new disks to users, when their product worked just >fine (not enough bugs to warrant an update) under the operating system >that existed when the software was written and marketed? I have no sympathy with this argument. The vast majority of breakage appears to be due to the application software developers NOT FOLLOWING THE PUBLISHED RULES when they wrote their code. Apple has been fairly careful to make new releases upward-compatible for products that followed the rules. (They even have in the past accommodated some important software that had violated the rules.) When the fault is in the application product, it is only fair for the application product developer/marketer to bear the cost of remedying the defect. If they make the customer pay for their mistakes, they deserve to lose their customers.