The OS/2 hoopla.

[Ralph Cohen]

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999 11:38:49 -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:

>    OK, just wanted to ring here for a moment and bring a little reality check
>to the various complaints I've seen on list.
>
>    While the OS/2 release wasn't a massive workover, some bugs were fixed and
>it is a release which is progress.  A lot of people seem to be missing that
>point.

I think it is quite understandable that this point was "missed" by many
PMMail/2 users on this list.  Many of us had communications with
Southsoft over the past year which led us to believe that this update,
which was originally promised for release in January, would contain
significantly more in the way of fixes and feature enhancements than
PMMail/2 2.10 actually contains.  Also, I don't think that anyone
expected that the intense support that PMMail received from its authors
prior to the release of version 2 would suddenly end.  (The primary
reason I switched from PostRoadMailer to PMMail/2 was precisely because
PMMail was being actively supported while PostRoadMailer was not.)


>    I don't think anyone who has complained can say exactly how long the deal
>was in the works, how long BSW has had the code or what Southsoft would have
>done with it if BSW had not stepped forward.  I think it is supremely unfair
>to make any judgement on this release when so little of the facts are known.
>Leave that for the next release.  Give BSW some time to work with the code, to
>get a feel for it, to be able to listen to and address the concerns of its new
>found userbase before pulling out the mortars and flamethrowers and going to
>town.
>

I really haven't seen much in the way of flamethrowing here, just a lot
of justifiable  statements of disappointment.  There is ample evidence
that BSW was aware they would be taking over PMMail at least a month
before the updates were released, and we also know that their tech
support people have been monitoring this list for at least that long. 
Therefore, it is unfortunate that a simple statement wasn't made prior
to or concurrently with the PMMail/2 2.10 release acknowledging the
extremely limited number of changes it contained and promising more
significant changes in the future.  I think that such an
acknowledgement could have eliminated a lot of the expressions of
disappointment appearing on this list.  For those of us who downloaded
PMMail/2 2.10  and fired it up with great expectations - without the
benefit of such a statement from BSW or even a list of changes since
2.0 - our expressions of disappointment are quite understandable.


>    Commend BSW for picking up the product.  It comes with a lot of high
>expectations and a lot of work that needs to be performed just to catch up
>with the industry as it stands now, much less the long-standing bugs and
>feature requests.

I agree with your sentiments and I did exactly that last week.  I am
quite hopeful that under the stewardship of Thomas Bradford and Company
we will ultimately receive a version of PMMail/2 with the bug fixes and
many of the feature enhancements for which many of us have been
patiently waiting for almost a year.

Ralph Cohen

rpcohen@neurotron.com