> Microsoft will throw a beta of an operating system/SDK/Framework (.Net
> being my example) out to the development community years before it is
> actually officially released. I remember playing with .NET when it was
> in it's infancy. It wasn't very stable, but we got familiar with it long
> before we ever used it.
Actually, the technique (specifically with .NET) was to state that
it was "almost complete" on the various microsoft.whatever nntp forums and
other websites. This generates some discussion from developers regarding
"How" it would work, and "What" it would look and feel like, and how it
would be used, connecting to what other tools, and so on.
All the while, Microsoft hadn't laid down a single line of actual
code on the product (or what they had laid down, was just a very basic
skeleton). They take the comments and feedback on their "almost complete"
product, and _then_ begin building it, using the basic "specifications"
from the community at large.
It is for the same reason that major applications and releases
have been "delayed" for many months at a time. The fact is, the product
didn't exist when they said it did, and early betas/pre-releases to
developers were just rough "outlines" of what they built around the
discussion from community people in their forums and newsgroups.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.. they are a marketing
company, and that's how they make their money, by listening to their
customers and their audience. In many cases, they listen too broadly, and
in others, not deeply enough.
> Luckily, there are a million people on this forum and they continually
> checked the website for the link to become available.
For some of us, it wasn't a matter of "Get it first!", but more
along the lines of "Get it, before it ceases to become available any
longer!" There is some urgency to make things happen to meet deadlines,
but in the real world, delivering something late, is better than
delivering it early with bugs/incomplete/broken features. You lose a lot
more customers and inertia if your "Latest and Greatest" tools and OS is a
hacked-together, buggy piece of swill.
Of course, that directly contradicts with the community that I
spend most of my time in.. where "Release Early, Release Often" is a very
important piece of getting a solid product out on-time and bug-free.
> Should those of us that did not make the conference be left in the dark?
I've been to a couple of the Palmsource conferences, and the cost
of attending is now too prohibitive for me, for the actual benefit I get
from really being there. I'd certainly be in the dark (unable to pay my
power bills), if I attended every year I wanted to go. I have to meter the
benefits of going, vs staying back and listening to the reports and
feedback from people who attended directly.
Keep in mind, I'm just a small minority out here in one corner of
the PalmOS development area (along with a few others, Aaron, John, Keith,
and so on), so these new Windows-centric development choices, though
frustrating, don't really affect me directly... but the overall direction
of the company, centered around the decision to _support_ these tools, is
a pretty important topic for me. I represent a slice of a community that
is directly affected by these choices Palm is making.
d.
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