On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:19:33 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:
>> I disagree. These say exactly what has happened and tell me what I
>> want to know, which is that something new has been released, which is
>> to say, made available for download.
>
> Which is entirely different from the “release” implicit in e.g. “release
> candidate”, hence they don't say what they appear to say. Since the
> latter term is unlikely to change, I'm asking that the announcements
> don't unnecessarily overload the meaning of “release”.
I've always hated the term "release candidate". It's been released, it is
a release. A release candidate is something which may be released, but
hasn't yet been chosen.
> > I disagree. [ANN] could mean anything: planned? canceled? needs help?
> > ("Oh, 'released', why didn't you say so?")
>
> As above, “released” is a poor term for this, since it *already* has
> connotations of “all done, out the door, ready to go” as evidenced
> in “release candidate” (not released, but we think it could be) and
> the distinction of the triumphant announcements that accompany
> *actual* releases.
I think you have it completely backwards. It's quite possible, even
sensible, to release a draft paper, release an experimental prototype, or
release an alpha version of software. I don't agree that "release" has
any connotations of "all done" at all. Being released and being ready for
release are orthogonal concepts: patients can be released from hospital
before they are ready, and software can be released before it is in a fit
state for production.
I don't know how some people have started using "released" to mean
"production-ready", but it makes no sense to me and I wish they would
stop. I think it is a poorly thought-out practice and it leads to people
being confused when inaccurately titled "pre-release" versions are
released.
[...]
> Whatever is chosen, please reserve “RELEASED” for the
> commonly-expected meaning of something akin to “no longer in
> intensive development or bug-hunting mode, now ready to go out on its
> own and be used with abandon by the masses”.
Commonly expected by who? That's certainly not any meaning of "released"
in any dictionary I know of.
--
Steven
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