Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!mike
From: mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: PageStream comments
Message-ID: <21163@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Date: 29 Jan 89 05:58:24 GMT
References: <7200075@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <2030154@hpcilzb.HP.COM>
Organization: NASA - Ames Research Center
Lines: 62

In article <2030154@hpcilzb.HP.COM> daves@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Dave Scroggins) writes:
>/ hpcilzb:comp.sys.amiga / schwager@m.cs.uiuc.edu /  8:59 pm  Jan 17, 1989 /
>
>> 
>> Well let's see -- it IS advertised in the Feb. edition of a major
>> Amiga magazine as "Shipping Now!".
>> 
>And last March they said that I could trade in my PageSetter disk + $55
>for Publishing Partner Pro (now "PageStream"), but that I had to act
>quick cuz the offer ended... what was it, May 1st? 
>
>
>> I also got a couple of comments about demos of this package that basically
>> said it was/will be the best Desk Top Publishing for the Amiga ever.
>> 
>> To quote- "it will be the defininitive desktop publishing system for the
>>            AMIGA."
>
>The demo was indeed very impressive.  But what I want to know is: how could
>any business person in their right mind start advertising for a product
>that's so far from completion?  This is really appalling to me.  I'd
>rather work for IBM than conduct myself the way SoftLogik has. 

This reminds me of Shakespeare. Conceived in Jan (1987), advertised in
July, intended for release in, hmmmmm, lesee, September, yeah, that sounds
about right. Oops, some bugs, needs postscript, hey! Let's add some on
screen text editing, yeah. October, sure no sweat. Run them ads! Full page,
color? Why not, how bout 2, no 3, why not 4 color? Oops, 1.3 drivers? Faster
you say, sure, why not lets use them. Still in alpha stage? Oh, well, what's
another month. December, yeah it ships in December. Hey, these 1.3 drivers
still crash. What? you say it's January? Wasn't it January a year ago?
You expect to get paid? not until Shakespeare ships, probably around February 
or so. Memory management? What's that! Oh well, if THEY have it, we better.
Well, it's out. Crashes? What do you mean it crashes! Chief programmer quits?
Get Smithwick in here. What's that make, 11 programmers now? 
Hey mike, here are some more bugs, like your new
features. Oops, a bug is Leo's code. Got it. The Whiztronic drivers still
don't work. Advertise? We can't afford to advertise. Hey guys, you see the
reviews. "Great program if only it worked right!". Oh well. 14 hour debugging
days. I feel like a real programmer now. Don't even shave! Caligrapher bug
screwing up font loading. Damn! Thanks Carolyn. Drivers finally work! 
Multi-page issues don't guru. "Gee, this seems like an entirely different
program". Got rid of those ugly default colors. Big order from Europe.
"Hey Mike! I got house payments to make, how're the bugs coming?"
1.1 ships! Ahhh, blessed sleep! ZZZZzzzzzzz. . .  

1.1 reviews are in. "Say, now, this is a really nice program, and it works
to!". "Finest dot matrix output!"."I especially like those nice new little
features. . ."

And so ladies and germs, such is life in the glamorous world of commercial
software development.

I can sympathize with the Soft-Logik people, especially since they cashed
my check in September.

Mike, "I survived Shakespeare, and use it too!"
-- 
          *** mike (cerbral GURU, insert M&Ms to restart) smithwick***
"The great thing about standards is that there are so many of them!"

[disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]