Upgrade version and pricing [was] Re: Fix it before moving ahead

[Brian Yennie]

> I agree with you about RunRev's support and also cringe about jumping 
> in but I think the second comment deserves response because I think 
> this is somewhat behind some of the carping:
>
> You may wish they were more bug free but in fact developer products 
> are more complicated and function at lower levels than user software 
> and as a consequence have, in my 30 years of using such software, 
> consistently been MORE buggy, not less than consumer products.  There 
> is no way for Revolution to ever even approach being bug free and it 
> is unrealistic for anyone hear to think there is an obligation by 
> RunRev to make bug fixes available forever for free just because there 
> are bugs.

I think I should clarify, because you make a very good point. What I 
meant to express is that developer tools need bug fixes to be even more 
_important_, not that they realistically end up with a smaller actual 
number of bugs.

I don't think anyone is suggesting forever support. We're talking about 
fixing 2.1 just a little more despite the oncoming release of 2.2, 
right? 2.1 has not reached maturity with regards to bug fixes, and I 
think more than a few are just scared that it never will and that this 
will be a repeating pattern.

If we're talking bottom line, I hate to put it this way... but I've 
been using xTalks for 10+ years and bought every single release of 
Hypercard, Supercard and Metacard/Rev along the way- every single 
one... except for Rev 2.1. I'm on the fence for 2.2. New features are 
buggy, and bugs are outstanding on old features.

Rev is still a very solid product (if you want to know how I really 
feel about it, just consider that I spend a lot of time on these lists 
even though I haven't done any commercial Rev work in more than 6 
months). But some of us are scared that it's slipping.

Like I said before, I'm going to look at 2.2 and 2.3 with an open mind, 
and let RunRev's work speak for itself. But I think the concern is very 
valid- none of the principles of business or comparisons to other tools 
or anything else in this thread sways me from the reality that in 
day-to-day use, Rev is less reliable than I want it to be today.

FWIW.

- Brian