"convert it to seconds" & "Philosophy"

[Frank D. Engel, Jr.]

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On Apr 30, 2005, at 1:27 PM, simplsol at aol.com wrote:

> Hi Heather,
> It's nice to know someone IS listening.
> The response I was hoping for was something like this:
>  "Yes, Mr. Looney, we are aware of this date/time problem from all of 
> the other posts on the discussion group and bugzilla. We, too consider 
> it serious and have dispatched the resources to fix it promptly. 
> Estimated completion is tentatively scheduled for 7:13 pm GMT on May 
> 17th of this year. We'd like to thank you, and all of the other people 
> who brought this to our attention. We are committed to making Rev the 
> best X-talk RAD in the history of civilized mankind. Thank you, again. 
> Heather"
> OK, that was probably too much to hope for... ;-)

Yep.

>  I agree, in general, that bugzilla is the place for bugs. I only two 
> problems with the bugzilla approach:
>  1. It seems to have turned into a celestial black hole, where things 
> go in but do not come out. Don't misunderstand, the upgrades from 
> Version 1 to 2, and 2 to 2.5 were very helpful. But there are critical 
> items (like reliable dates) that have not been addressed in all of 
> these versions over all of these years.

True for other bugs as well.  There are *lots* of 'em in there.

> 2. A lot of bugs do not get the votes they should.
>  The date/time problem is a good example: people can write, test, and 
> sell programs with date/time math that appear to work properly - until 
> daylight savings time changes. They won't vote because they don't know 
> they have a (serious) problem.
>  Another non-voting group is the newbies who try Rev. and, before they 
> can be impressed with the vast capacity, easy access, awesome speed, 
> etc., they're gone forever because of their experience with the 
> tables, menus, documentation, etc. - and, of course, they don't vote.
>  Bugzilla is geared toward assisting the veteran Rev. programmer - not 
> making Rev. more marketable to (the vital) new users. Many times on 
> the list new users have observed the Rev. seems to be a beta product 
> rather than a shipping program. I can see why they say this, there are 
> design and usability issues beyond what one would expect when moving 
> to a new programming environment. These do not get put into bugzilla 
> because we veterans have learned to work around them. Some of us take 
> a perverse pride in knowing obscure, undocumented, non-intuitive 
> workarounds, mentioned on the list 8 to 10 months ago. None of these 
> receive votes but they limit sales. And sales of Rev. are important to 
> all users of Rev.
>  If there was an interest, I could list the top ten items I believe 
> are costing Rev. customers, items that may not have many bugzilla 
> votes. Is there an interest?

I'm sure I could list a bunch of my own too, that's not the point.  And 
BZ was not meant for "veteran Rev programmers" either, it was meant to 
help us report problems to Rev as we find them, and to make feature 
requests.  If you are looking to benefit the programmers, that would be 
the purpose of this list, correct?

>  And last, "philosophy". I usually disagree with everything Richmond 
> posts. I certainly do not see any long-term benefit from open sourcing 
> Rev. I do like the idea of a free introductory product. But, beyond 
> that, I like the idea and

I see a benefit, and right here in this posting, too!!   All these bugs 
everyone is complaining about would have a whole lot more people 
waiting to *fix* them, rather than just report them to an already 
far-too-busy support team!

> the experience of open discussion enjoyed on this list. We tend to 
> learn more from those we disagree with anyway. As long as discussions 
> are conducted with civility, propriety, and decorum please let them 
> continue (under the watchful eyes of the ever-supportive listmom).

That would be the general idea.

- -----------------------------------------------------------
Frank D. Engel, Jr.  <fde101 at fjrhome.net>

$ ln -s /usr/share/kjvbible /usr/manual
$ true | cat /usr/manual | grep "John 3:16"
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life.
$
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