Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Isaac_K_Rabinovitch
From: Isaac_K_Rabinovitch@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Who's Fault is Fastback
Message-ID: <2016@cup.portal.com>
Date: 15 Dec 87 18:16:16 GMT
References: <1907@cup.portal.com> <1238@looking.UUCP>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 40
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.1472


brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
->>I simply point out that RLL is a *very*
->>commonly used technology, sufficient to justify documenting Fastback's
->>incompatibility with it.
->
->Was it that common at the time your copy of FastBack was written?  Here's
->where larger companies get in trouble -- they can't make a new release with
->every new hardware change.  They release once or twice a year, if they're
->very efficient.  Lotus 123, the most successful software ever, releases once
->every 2 years.
A good point, though I hope most software developers don't set out to operate
like Lotus!  Anyway, the files on my Fastback diskette were created last
June 1.  I *think* RLL drives were common then, but since I don't use them
I don't really know.
->Believe me, it's not a matter of "edit the hardware page to say don't use
->RLL".  These manuals are printed in 10,000 copy lots, and new releases
->and print runs must be coordinated to avoid inventory wastage.  RLL was
->not that common a year ago.  Don't be so surprised.
Which is why The Lord invented Update Notices.  There's a one-page update
stuffed in the Fastback manual, but it's a year old!  

I don't suppose Fifth Generation has done that bad a job, considering the
kind of technology they have to work with.  But neither are all the people
complaining of Fastback problems demented crybabies.  

Addressed to the public at large:
Probably we've worn this topic out, but here's a suggested idea for the
next Big Software Controversy:  when you see a posting from someone who
complains that your favorite program blew up on him, don't assume the
person is a brain-damaged wimp.  Even if the fault is his and not the
software's (and you can *never* know that a piece of software doesn't
have some tragic bug you've never run accross) your responsibility to
those less expert than you is to help them raise their expertise, not
cuss them out for having been born a twit.  Besides, you may have something
to learn yourself!

Isaac Rabinovitch
Disclaimer:  Just because I think you're wrong, doesn't
             mean I don't think you're a fun person!
:-)