Getting things the wrong way round . . .

[Richmond Mathewson]

Dear Bill,
  You are about 90% correct. And I really did not mean
my posting to be inflammatory.
 However I would quote Mark Wieder's message to you (a
sort of backhanded defence of Runtime Revolution that
actually supports some of what I said and generally
levels things out):

"In RR's defense, I do have to say (and you are no
doubt well aware)
that this is the first large-scale beta program they
have undertaken,
and as such there will necessarily be some rough
edges. One of those,
of course, is that beta-tester expectations should be
clear from the
start to avoid end-game ambiguities. I'm sure the next
beta program
will have this resolved beforehand. It's very rare in
the software
industry to see a beta program run this long (that
isn't a slight to
the RR team, but rather kudos for giving it the time
it deserved),
this widespread, or this public a process. (and props
again to Bill
for overseeing the effort."

I will reiterate that I have only admiration for 2.9,
and admiration that you were able to sustain such a
long Beta-testing period without people demanding an
earlier upgrade - and a real systems development cycle
should be fairly long; especially when deliverables
constitute lots of bugs that in their ironing out may,
in turn, throw up other problems or conflict with
other parts of a complex system.

My criticism is, and has been for about 6 years, that
Runtime Revolution's handling of its relations with a
loyal customer/user base is not as good as it could
be. I was not the only one who did not understand when
(and if) Beta testers who had valid licences as of
Christmas 2007 would receive copies of 2.9.

I have supported Runtime Revolution (admittedly in a
way that has sometimes rubbed some people up the wrong
way) ever since I downloaded Runtime Revolution 1.0 in
2001, by uploading stacks that were by-products of a
CD for Music Education I developed, some stacks for
self-help with Phonetics I developed for the
University of St Andrews, a commercial package for 13
year olds to further their knowledge of Bulgarian
Literature, and from EFL stacks for my language school
in Plovdiv. I also did some work which was later
incorporated into a program/UI that was developed at
the University of Copenhagen. I also provided
redesigned toolbars for RunRev 2 which, I believe,
were used for teaching purposes in Germany and
California.

I will not stop supporting Runtime Revolution in the
way that I do.

But I will also not stop criticising Runtime
Revolution when I feel things are wrong.

I believe that a healthy use-list can cope with both
of these.

At present I would be far more concerned about Mirye's
apparent attempt to steal Runtime Revolution's thunder
by tacking its name onto the front of Runtime
Revolution in a way that gives an impression that it
is somehow responsible for RR's development.

Earlier this year Mirye offered me the chance to
transfer my RevWiki (which is, frankly, very low on my
list of priorities, although I have sporadic bursts
of, largely misplaced, enthusiasm) to their website
with offers of money. Another party, whose opinion I
greatly respect. warned me off, stating that Mirye's
goal was empire building and I would eventually
forfeit content control of the Wiki.

I may be a bl**dy-minded undividual, but I have what I
believe are perfectly valid reasons for being so.

I respect, Bill, what you have managed to effect at
Runtime Revolution (one could make slightly weak jokes
about Palace Coups, teaching Revolutionaries to be
revolutionary, and so on); however that does not stop
me from believing that on the whole there is an
unspoken antagonism between RR and its loyal
user-base; and I do not mean only on the materialistic
level of handing out free versions of the RAD.

I have taken Sarah Reichalt's comments into
consideration here too.

sincerely, Richmond Mathewson.

--- Bill Marriott <bill at runrev.com> wrote:

scrubbed Bill Marriott's message as sent to Richmond
Mathewson off-list.

Let us just say that the nub of the message was that
my initial posting under this heading was inflammatory.

____________________________________________________________

A Thorn in the flesh is better than a failed Systems Development Life Cycle.
____________________________________________________________


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