Why?

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2004 at 07:13:11PM -0400, Fairlight wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 30, 2004 at 05:35:54PM -0400, Kenneth Brody may or may not have
> proven themselves an utter git by pronouncing:
> > No one is *requiring* you to do anything.  But, how are you going to
> > get a bugfix if you don't get a new version with the bug fixed?
> > 
> [snip]
> > 
> > You feel you should be able to get bigs fixed, but not have to actually
> > get the bugfix to correct it?
> 
> They way -I'm- interpreting what Jay is saying is that one should be able
> to get a bugfixed 5.0.9, not an upgrade to a 5.0.13 that has the bug
> fixes but -also- may have tweaked/added/broken features.
> 
> That's how I read it.  "I don't want to have to upgrade to 5.0.13, I want
> my 5.0.9 fixed."

That would be nice, but I'm not sure I do, actually, mean that.

I'd be *happier* if their policy was modified to "point releases will
not include new features, only bug fixes", which is functionally
identical to that.

> > What's so hard about "try it on the latest version, and if it still fails,
> > let us know"?
> 
> People have been edgy about upgrading versions for a long time, Ken.  4.5
> comes to mind, when indexes started being whacky.  A lot have been skittish
> since then, and don't want to upgrade, they just want their current version
> patched for the bugs they find--but no extra features/functionality/etc.

Indeed, I have a whacky one going right now where byte identical key
files will display some records on one machine with 4.8, and will
*not*, on another machine, with 5.0 *or* 4.8, even in record number
mode.

> And there's some resistance (as some stated) to the new licensing scheme.
> A lot of people shied away from WinXP for the same reason.  I can actually
> think of several products where people stopped upgrading because later
> versions did things they didn't like.  fP is not alone there.

Indeed.  

"Paying customers".

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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                2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning