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<p class=MsoNormal>Even Microsoft think it’s worth issuing fixes and
indeed updates LONG after 18 months has passed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Barely a day goes by without some Windows update or other
shoehorning itself into my XP system that Microsoft last got my money for almost
10 years ago.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>And I can only hope that you were being funny in that
passage about “low quality requirements” not being bugs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I cannot think of any other product for which I am asked to
pay the sorts of $$’s I am asked to pay for software that would come with
a complete denial of liability should it turn out to be partly or entirely unfit
for purpose or actually cause me loss or harm.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Actually, I can think of one product where the customers are
treated with disdain equal to that of the software industry .... and interestingly
it’s the only other industry where the customer is referred to as a “user”
by their “dealer”.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz] <b>On Behalf
Of </b>Richard Vowles<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, 19 September 2009 15:49<br>
<b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [DUG] A change in upgrade policy coming from Embarcadero<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'>Comparing software development to plumbing is a road
to madness, surely? Thats almost certainly like saying software development is
an engineering discipline, which it has clearly been disproved from being.<br>
<br>
Delphi consists, last I heard, of 26000 different source files - to expect that
entire tree to be "bug free" is questionable in the least. Besides, a
bug is defined as being something that does not meet the requirements. Given
Delphi's "set of requirements" for shipping is determined at the
point of shipping, technically it meets those requirements and thus has no
bugs. All subsequent "patches" are, technically, not bug fixes but
requirements changes. As the quality of requirements set by Borland were
clearly much lower than people would generally consider acceptable (for Delphi
2005, and most certainly for Delphi 8), that is really a mismatch in
requirements expectations. Remember, we are talking *Borland* here, not
*Embarcadero*. Embarcadero, I think, has a pretty good track record, and a much
higher bar. But even E have "feature defects" they consider
acceptable when shipping. Everyone does.<br>
<br>
As an interesting aside, Support and Maintenance on Delphi (and all IDEs from
Borland and I am assuming from E but I haven't closely looked at the
T's&C's) *specifically exclude* bug fixes. Included are new versions and
workarounds (if possible). S&M is also only provided two versions earlier
from the current version (from memory) meaning even D2006 is excluded from the
attempts for workarounds. <br>
<br>
I'm sorry, but I would not commit to writing an application and then fixing any
things its users considered bugs gratis for eternity. I would consider it
reasonable for 3 months as long as it was agreed to in the original payment
schedule, but I would *certainly* not expect it after 18 months. In the case of
a development tool, with the importance of supporting technology, I would expect
new releases every 18 months and would be concerned if I did not see new
releases coming out from the vendor.<br>
<br>
Richard<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>2009/9/19 Kyley Harris <<a
href="mailto:kyleyharris@gmail.com">kyleyharris@gmail.com</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Paul. I agree 100% a professional
software company, E, should not charge 1cent to license holders for genuine bug
fixes and should package free releases independantly of feature releases until
they are fixed. Otherwise they are not professional anything <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>When I pay my plumber to fix a
leak. I don't expect to have to pay him to fix the new secondary leaks he
caused by being a bad plumber<br clear=all>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><br>
-- <br>
---<br>
Richard Vowles, Technical Advisor<br>
Developers Inc Ltd<br>
web. <a href="http://www.developers-inc.co.nz">http://www.developers-inc.co.nz</a><br>
ph. +64-9-3600231, mob. +64-275-467747, fax. +64-9-3600384<br>
skype. rvowles, LinkedIn, Twitter<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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