----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Karavidas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~ ~ ~ > Not to jump all over you, but how do you suppose Altium is supposed to > fix bugs if we don't report them? Excellent point Tony, But I think that there are actually some other priorities too! I think that the first thing we have to do is pull together as a group, and "poll" the major players out there on just what we want to do, and how we can effectively go about doing it. I think that it really is clear that we want and need a Protel 99 SE SP7. I also think that we all must realize that Altiums priorities are with DXP now, and we are not going to get very far if we attempt to draw resources away from DXP, which I do not believe that we have to do. I think that we have crossed the major hurdle that was in place in that most people out there now appear that they are really ready to admit that Protel 99 SE is if fact a software package that has some real serious bugs out there which are causing some real stability issues and problems, and is in fact flaky, and that Protel / Altium has never appeared willing to admit to any of this, nor have some of it's staunchest supporters. But the facts appear to speak for themselves. Protel / Altium will just have to face the facts. I think that if Protel /Altium are faced with a unified front from their customers and users, I think that we actually can get a lot of things done. I think that another major issue and hurdle is also about to fall into place, or actually out of the way, and that is the issue of DXP. Many are ready to abandon Protel 99 SE in order to jump on the DXP band wagon, thinking that all of their software problems and shortcommings will go away once we get past DXP SP1 and learn how to operate DXP. What many of those people do not understand is that even if all of the code was rewritten, by an entirely new team of programmers, the environment and mentality that allowed this to happen with Protel 99 SE is still very much entrenched at Protel / Altium, and that means that the same thing will happen with DXP, unless the customers and users confront Protel / Altium and let them know that this type of programming and lack of support cannot be allowed to continue. I don't think that it is going to take much to convince most people out there that unless we as a group demand more from Protel / Altium, we are simply not going to get it. Many of those people will soon find that the current attentiveness of Protel / Altium management in the DXP forum and their willingness in trying to get things worked out with DXP, is only a temporary situation brought about by the need to start collecting annual renewals for ATS in just a little over 2 weeks now, in an attempt to head off a PR and Financial Disaster, not to mention potential legal issues. As soon as they can convince enough people that DXP is really working, so that they can start collecting revenue from ATS as well as new DXP sales, we will see that support in the forum evaporate, and we will be in exactly in the same position that we have been in with Protel 99 SE for the past however many years. And it is not even as simple as that, not only since any new code base not only has its own new problems, but not every thing in DXP is in fact new, which means that there may be some old problems sneaking into the mix. So as I was saying, I think that we need to organize ourselves and come to a consensus as to our direction, and if we cannot get everyone's support, we can at least request that everyone ackwiess [sic?] to not interfere with an otherwise unified attempt to get things done. I then think that we need to sort out just exactly what it is that we think we want to accomplish, and go from there. Then I would say then comes the compilation of the real bug list. One of the things that I have tried to make very clear, but I am not too sure that I have been able to do, is to let everyone know that I do not expect Protel / Altium to have to continue to support Protel 99 SE. I am not asking for that. What I am asking for is to have Protel / Altium make an effort co meet its customers and users in the middle ground somewhere, and make one last effort to fix some of the remaining problems with Protel 99 SE so that it can continue to be used, without some of its current problems, by all of its current customers and users, at least up and to the point that DXP is in fact a real and viable product. Then if Protel / Altium wants to abandon Protel 99 SE, since they obviously appear to feel that they cannot develop it any further, then so be it. But actually, I really I believe that with one more Service Pack, Protel 99 SE could be transformed into a very stable, useable, middle of the road product that they could continue to sell just as is, for many years to come, just as it is, with out any new development. More importantly, those customers and users who have bought into Protel 99 SE relatively recently, but are just not ready for whatever reason to step up to DXP, will be able to continue using a much more stable version of the Protel 99 SE product they paid good money for, rather than being totally abandoned by Protel / Altium with Protel 99 SE left in it's current unstable condition. At a very minimum, a concerted effort at this time by all customers and users to really attempt to get to the bottom of some of these bugs, now that we have gotten past our first hurdle above, will at the very least leave those people who continue to use Protel 99 SE with a fairly well researched bug list and understanding of pitfalls and things not to do if you do not want it to crash. First and foremost, most of us have jobs to do, and projects that must get finished, so I think that one of the important things that we must do is to respect each other's time constraints. This means nothing will happen overnight. But it also means that if we all do a little, then we really can get things accomplished. That said, I nominate you all for the SP7 committee, and I will now go to bed. JaMi ************************************************************************ * Tracking #: F11BB67F7999E64DA64E25752BE42D35403D8DC6 * ************************************************************************ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
