Ron, I am afraid that you are in the minority. A lot of users has asked hj
to release a public beta, so that we can check it out, and help find bugs.
I found this out a while back when beta testing for nettamer, that is when
you get everything working right for one computer, that does not mean that
it will work for all computers. When I was in the beta team for nettamer,
and rainbow, the author would get everything working right we thought, and
maybe five of us would say it is ready, and the sixth person would come in
and say it was not working right for him. So the public beta is to get as
many bugs out as possible before releasing the official releases. Now, you
don't have to test any beta, you have the right just to wait for the
official release, but if you find a bug in it, just remember, that you did
not help test the beta. Beta testing is not for evrybody. Actually, I was
hesitant to get into beta testing when I moved into windows, but I have
been getting braver lately. Arkenstone is doing the same thing now with
releasing public betas, because so many users wanted them to do it also.
At 10:33 AM 10/9/99 -0500, you wrote:
>JFW listers, please excuse my ignorance, but I am a bit confused! Yes,
>even more than usual! Is the a JFW version 3.3, a version 3.31, a version
>3.31.31 and now, a version 3.31.35 Release Candidate 2???
>
>What in the hell is going on? Why is HJ putting up program versions full
>of problems and bugs for us to find for them. Doesn't HJ have competent
>enough people to find their programming problems an bugs? If we are going
>to do their work for them, then, it seems as if some of us should be hired
>as paid beta testers.
>
>Do not misunderstand. I am very reluctant to criticize HJ because I am
>deeply appreciative of their work and am a genuine admirer of Ted Henter
>and what he has accomplished. However, releasing a program, even as a
>"release candidate" prematurely, with the objective of letting us find the
>problems and bugs, is a highly questionable practice. I suggest that they
>establish a "representative" group of typical users as paid beta testers,
>send them the release candidates, and then, after the problems and bugs are
>worked out, HJ can put it up for the rest of us to download and/or they can
>ship them out to us as officially released upgrades or new versions. I
>realize that even then we will probably find a few small problems, but the
>current approach is only creating chaos, giving them a poor reputation, and
>confusing many users.
>
>Ron Milliman
>
>
>
>
>-
>Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
>
>
Walter
-
Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
