Yet in the time you spent wasting keystrokes on this thread, you both could easily have filed bugs.
> On Jul 15, 2015, at 8:38 PM, Alex Zavatone <z...@mac.com> wrote: > > Same here. I ran QA for one of the Director and Shockwave teams at Macromedia > back in the mid 1990s. > > Based on the result of effort put in to reporting bugs and amount fixed, > there is no way I can justify reporting bugs even if I had the time to afford > to do it. The time lost (that our employers pay for) from an issue does not > magically give us the free time to write up an issue we hope will be fixed, > but probably won't. > > I can't afford the luxury to report any more bugs. > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Jul 15, 2015, at 3:18 AM, Michael David Crawford <mdcrawf...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> Please understand that I do not wish to get anyone in trouble. It is >> common for heads to roll over product defects. That is not even >> remotely my objective. >> >> To be perfectly clear: this is a widespread, systemic problem in many >> industries but in my own experience and that of many others it is >> particularly bad in the computer industry. >> >> The problem I see is that users pay for features not for quality. >> That's what users believe anyway; it's not hard to convince them >> otherwise but it's uncommon for high-tech products to obtain market >> share because they are good, rather they succeed because they are >> first to market. >> >> I once consulted for Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications because they >> once owned the smartphone market with Windows CE devices but then >> Apple ate their lunch with the iPhone due to Sony Ericsson's poor >> quality. >> >> I have many gripes with Apple's product but this eMail is not the >> place to discuss them. However I request that Apple's engineers and >> managers read every Radar bug I have ever filed - >> mdcrawf...@gmail.com, also from my amcc.com and atimi.com Apple IDs. >> >> I was a Senior Engineer working in the role of "Debug Meister" for >> Apple's Traditional OS Integration team in 1995 and 1996; despite my >> love for my work I requested an internal transfer to PowerBooks >> because I gave up all hope that our bugs would all be fixed. I was >> offered an internal transfer to Copland but declined it because I had >> the sense that Copland would never ship. >> >> While I was at first hired as a contract Script Monkey for MacTCP >> 1.0.1 in 1989, I was able to get sign-off to debug the test tool >> because, as my Newfie ex-wife would say, "strm_echo was a piece of >> work." >> >> I went on to find a code generation bug in the MPW C compiler; while >> regressing it I found that increasing the number of characters in >> certain source code symbols led MPC C to crash. To be clear: my >> program didn't crash, MPW C crashed while building my source. >> >> A couple years later I received a developer CD whose MPW release notes >> clearly explained my bug then said "Don't do that". >> >> By then I was with Working Software; it was on the ropes when I hired >> on, and ultimately failed because my predecessor made a piece of work >> out of QuickLetter, sued Working Software for failing to pay his >> ransom but lost, stole the source code then shipped a competing >> products with many of the exact same bugs as QuickLetter had at the >> time he left the company. >> >> In 1993 I wrote data analysis code for a particle physics experiment >> at CERN. I required seven weeks to come to grip with CERNLIB and its >> associated tools such as PATCHY, sort of like a cross-platform JCL >> only undead exhumed and reanimated. I required three days to write my >> own patch then four days to run my Monte Carlo simulation that >> calculated the acceptance, or sensitivity of our detector. >> >> Particle physicist require all manner of software but are hardly ever >> to actually obtain any. Every law of physics other than general >> relativity - gravity - is to be found in CERNLIB yet despite decades >> of wandering its Gordian Labyrinth I have yet to actually find any. >> >> When my own patch was cooked and so ready to serve I asked my >> collaboration's grad students and postdocs to have a look at my >> source. At the time I was still an undergraduate but had worked in >> the software industry for six years. They were all stunned at my >> FORTRAN source's eloquence and beauty. >> >> "The reason particle physics software is so hard," I growled angrily, >> "is that YOU PHYSICISTS MAKE IT HARD!" >> >> After Vietnam my father left the Navy, studied for his MSEE at the >> University of Idaho in Moscow then worked as a Civil Service engineer >> at Mare Island Naval Shipyard until he retired at thirty. >> >> He wrote test plans. >> >> Nothing but test plans, by hand on paper with a ball-point pen. >> >> Here's what happens if you don't get your test plans right: >> >> The Sinking of the USS Gitarro >> http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/16.52.html#subj2.1 >> >> (Actually "Guitarro") >> >> What I usually tell people is that "Someone sunk a submarine at the >> height of the Vietnam War because he didn't read the instructions". >> In reality, someone sunk a submarine because his test plan failed to >> provide the instructions. >> >> There is lots more I could say but I will write up a more compelling >> argument than post it at: >> >> Solving the Software Problem >> a Taxonomy of Error >> http://www.warplife.com/jonathan-swift/books/software-problem/ >> >> However I will close with the mail I sent to Richard Stallman just now. >> >> He is quite diligent with his email; in 1990 I had the idea he could >> tell me how to get connected to the Internet. His reply? "If you >> don't have a place to just plug in I really don't know." >> >> ********** >> >> Richard, >> >> The ancient Greek play "Lysistrata" portrays some women who put a stop >> to a war by refusing to make love to their men. This has actually >> been done several times, once recently in south america but I don't >> recall the details. I would be happy to produce the [needed citation] >> but not just now as my dialup doesn't really work. >> >> The problems I see with poor quality - not just in software but >> hardware as well - are not specific to any one codebase. It is >> widespread in Free Software, Open Source and proprietary software. >> >> For years I have worked diligently to advise others of ways they can >> fix their code, as well as why they should do so. My articles, essays >> as well as mailing list and message board posts are quite popular but >> also controversial in that there are many who do not welcome my >> message of quality. >> >> Quite a serious problem is that some of these faults are in systems >> used by law enforcement. For example some clever fellow escaped from >> prison by sending an email to an employee at his prison. Again I >> don't recall all the details but would be happy to dig them up. >> >> Similarly innocent people go to jail or even prison because of software >> faults. >> >> My jocular outlook on life frequently leads to my own arrest. Not the >> last time I was in the slammer but the time just before that, I was >> promptly ordered released on my own recognizance - that is, without >> bail. Even so I was detained for five more months before my case was >> completely dismissed. I think the world of the Clark County, >> Washington Sheriff's Deputies but they were unwilling to release me >> until they received my release order themselves, which somehow got >> dropped on the floor. >> >> No doubt you've seen Terry Gilliam's "Brazil". That's happening in >> real life this days and with increasing frequency and severity. >> >> I could detail the problems I experience but there are so many. It's >> not just me; consider that Mozilla stored its email in a proprietary, >> compressed database. I lost my email database when my filesystem >> filled up. I did report the bug at http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ but >> when I did so I found many other reports as well as gnashing of teeth >> because that bug had been reported years before but not fixed. >> >> While the Mozilla developers - not just the Mozilla corporation but >> its unpaid volunteers - are among the more-egregious offenders there >> are many others. >> >> Other problems are the introduction of "features" that I and others >> regard as bug, and the deprecation of features that I and others >> depend on for our livelihoods. >> >> I am well aware of the Free Software community's opposition to Apple's >> proprietary code, vendor lock-in and other evildoing but at least at >> one time, Apple Computer produced very high-quality products. >> >> But no more, and not for a long time. >> >> I discuss this in: >> >> Apple's Deep Insight Into User Interface Design >> http://www.warplife.com/mdc/essays/jump-the-shark.html >> >> The bug I found in 2012 was trivial to reproduce, however the steps to >> reproduce it are quite obscure. While I could help Apple fix just >> that one bug by filing a report at http://bugreport.apple.com/ what I >> really want is for Apple to clamp down on all the hookers and blow >> that are readily available within Infinite Loop. >> >> Again: these are widespread problems. I find examples almost >> everywhere I look. Free Software is no exception. >> >> However: >> >> My satirical writing and my harsh, confrontive criticism in meatspace >> aren't doing the job. Recently I attempt gentle diplomacy. To some >> extent that seems to help, but I'm just one person. >> >> Can you help in any way, or recommend something or someone else who can? >> >> Ever Faithful, >> >> Mike >> -- >> Michael David Crawford, Consulting Software Engineer >> mdcrawf...@gmail.com >> http://www.warplife.com/mdc/ >> >> Available for Software Development in the Portland, Oregon Metropolitan >> Area. >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) >> >> Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. >> Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com >> >> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: >> https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/zav%40mac.com >> >> This email sent to z...@mac.com > > _______________________________________________ > > Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) > > Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. > Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com > > Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: > https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/dangerwillrobinsondanger%40gmail.com > > This email sent to dangerwillrobinsondan...@gmail.com _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. 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