Boris Liberman wrote:
Hi!
KW> Writing the code is less than 20% of a project's time. The rest is
KW> debugging the stuff, and getting it to conform to the original KW> requirements. WindowsME is a bad example to compare against, because KW> like a lot of MS software, it's written and released with as little KW> testing as the customers will tolerate.
It is really too general a statement, don't you agree? There is of course 80-20 rule - 80% of work for 20% of time that you might be referring to. Let us also not compare operating system that has to, well, operate tens of kinds of peripherals with firmware for a camera, no matter how complex the darn camera is.
KW> If anyone made a camera (or car, or cell phone, or TV) with as high KW> level of bugs in it as a typical windows release, they wouldn't be in KW> business to make a follow-up model...
That's perfectly correct.
KW> Adding stop-down metering to the *ist-D would have required KW> re-validation of the camera firmware, just as manufacturing was about KW> to ramp up. Not a clever move, given the small number of customers who KW> would even notice.
I beg to differ. If your code is written with proper modularity, and you have tested each module separately and found it bug free, and if you then integrated your modules and tested the system, then of course a change in one or two modules would require re-testing of these modules plus testing of the integrated firmware. You don't have to re-validate all of it.
I have noticed that both Canon and Nikon have put out upgrades of their DSLR firmware. So it can be done, and it should be done and even more, the camera should be built in such a way that it can easily be done by the user, not the in the service center.
KW> I wouldn't rule out this feature turning up in a future firmware KW> upgrade, though, once the development team have some time to play with.
I sure hope you're right.
As for M$oft - well, it is completely, I repeat, completely, different story - another time, another place, different crew of actors.
Respectfully.
Boris
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
