A Newbie's ramblings.

[Martin Baxter]

barryb at libero.it wrote:
> May I chip in?

I don't think anyone will mind :-),

> I have just finished my trial period of Media.
> Seems to be what I have been looking for since
> Hypercard days. However, I am a bit put-off buying 
> by the several posts on this list about bugs in the
> latest version. Have they or will they all be 
> sorted out soon?
>

Your concerns are understandable. But you shouldn't be too alarmed by
what you read here. Pleasures and successes of using this software far
outweigh the problems. It's just that solving the problems is what this
list is about.

Revolution is fundamentally a very sound piece of software. Any
show-stopping bugs tend to be fixed pretty quick. Bugs that have
workarounds will be lower priority. This list will help you know what
the workarounds are.

Media is a relatively new product, and a different type of tool from its
older siblings, but I don't recall seeing much in the way of Media
related bug-reports.

Bugs in general always creep into everything somehow. Runtime Revolution
has a bug-reporting database where users can report the details of
suspected bugs. Reports with reproducible symptoms will get fixed
according to rational priorities.

This list is often used to get confirmation from other users whether a
problem is local to a single user/platform or whether it is a general
behaviour or should be considered a feature or a bug.

There are some very smart and helpful people here. No matter how trivial
or arcane your question, it will almost always find an answer here.

In earlier versions there used to be many more bugs than there are now.
This improvement is the result of a conscious effort by the company.

> As for the List itself. Isn't the PC/Mac
> controversy ever going to drop out of places like
> this? I have room on my desk for both as well as a
> Penquin box. Revolution is a product that knocks
> down
> the barricades, let's try not to rebuild them!
> Maybe people who cite dubious data about Marketing
> Shares might like to contemplate the following:
> "Statistics are like bikinis, what they show is
> interesting but what they hide is essential!".
>

Amen to all that. It rears its inevitable head from time to time. But
it's difficult to imagine a less appropriate forum for platform-sniping.
Fortunately most list-members resist the temptation to take part.

I dare say that like you, many of us here run several different
platforms, and are only interested in what is appropriate to each task 
rather than general beauty contests.

For me, the principal attraction of Revolution is that it liberates me 
from having to commit to using any given platform. I can just use 
whichever offers me the most advantage at any given point.

> Anyway thanks for the many good tips.
> Hoping to join you very soon.
>
> Barry
> 

Martin Baxter