No-Can-Do Attitude

[Rodney R. Korte]

On Mon, 11 Oct 1999 13:14:27 -0400 (EDT), Ralph Cohen wrote:

>On Mon, 11 Oct 1999 08:56:06 -0400 (EDT), Rodney R. Korte wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 10 Oct 1999 12:36:16 -0400 (EDT), Ralph Cohen wrote:
>>
>>>Total amount pledged so far: $875
>>
>>Whoopee!  That's almost enough for 3 days' salary & overhead for
>>one really poorly paid programmer!  That should really motivate
>>Bob & Ike to work for weeks or months to fix bugs and prepare
>>a new update.
>>
>
>Wow Rodney!  What a great no-can-do attitude!  It's a shame you

Ah, you don't know me very well.  I "can do" anything! :-)
A little dose of reality is always a useful thing, however.
A dose of reality about software seems to be just what was
needed at this point.  Maybe time will prove me wrong.  That
would be fine with me.

>apparently haven't followed any of the ongoing discussions on this list

Actually, I've used PMMail from the first release to most recent.
I have been on the PMMail list from its inception and followed
the "ongoing discussions".

I do have a good product, one which I feel I have gotten my
money's worth many times over.

I don't feel that Southsoft "owes" me anything, and I'd be 
happy to pay for an upgrade too.

I don't see the many "bugs" that people complain about.  
The last two versions of PMMail have crashed on me maybe twice
in the past two years (and that may have been the infamous
1.50 bug, I can't recall).

I do wish it had some specific features and different behavior,
but I'm satisfied with what it is.  It is what I bought.

The thing that aways amazes me is how the people on this list
seem to think that adding this bell and that whistle is as
easy as snapping your fingers.  And they want it *now*.  And
then they want another button, and *another* feature, and
_another_ behavior.  And they want it in the *next* release.
PMMail is an excellent client for what it was designed to do.
When and if it gets many of the features that people want,
it will need to be redesigned and rewritten, or we'll end up
with a piece of crap.  It will cost lots of money to do this,
and frankly, I doubt that the OS/2 numbers would justify
the work (yes, I hear the snickers from the audience).

*IF* there is a release on the verge of readiness, I think
it would be a great idea for Southsoft to prepare and release
it.  However, it seems to me that we don't know what the 
status really is!  Another interesting attribute of many of
the participants of this list is to read statements from 
Southsoft (after badgering them for a response) and read into
that response whatever they want because of wishful thinking.
The fact of the matter is that a release is "real soon now", 
which from experience, you should know may be 6 months away.
You may not like it, but that is the way it is.

I think it's great that you are "putting your money where
your mouth is".  I was just pointing out the reality of the
software ->business<-.  It costs money, and lots of it, to 
create and distribute software 10, 20, 100 or 500 copies of
something is great for an evening project, but not for a 
full-fledged software business.  Believe it, I've been there
(with OS/2).

Have a good day (with more pledges).

Rodney
--
Rodney R. Korte                   OS/2. Operate at a higher level.
rkorte@psu.edu                 ---> MIME, PGP (at URL below) welcome.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/rrk102