Subject: Re: more vs. better (was Re: morning hack...)
From: Dom Lachowicz (cinamod@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Apr 12 2001 - 23:19:44 CDT
Hiya Paul,
>Oh dear.
>
>There comes a point in every release cycle when this temptation rears its
>ugly head. As soon as the dreaded "feature freeze" time starts looming on
>the horizon, people start working really really hard to "sneak in" all
>sorts
>of cool stuff that's not officially in the release.
Feature freeze has always been on the horizon... well, at least for the
features listed on the AbiSource page that haven't been touched in a year or
two.
What I'm saying is that this feature matrix needs to be re-evaluated, combed
over, pruned, extended, and then implemented. There are some things that I'd
personally like to get into 1.0 and I'd be thoroughly upset if they weren't
in there. My top two are:
1) Macros
2) Embedding/Embeddable
But our list goes further. Martin posted a TODO list that we came up with at
GUADEC. I want this list to be fluid, at least for the next week or two. We
can all evaluate what needs to be done, and what we'd like to see in the
release. I'd dislike to release a feature-disadvantaged 1.0 just about as
much as I'd dislike releasing a bug-ridden (or 1/2 implemented features)
1.0.
If you see my point, I commend you, because it's a fine line...
>Ask yourself which target you think those millions want us to shoot for:
>
> - N features that all work flawlessly, or
> - N + 5 features that all work pretty well most of the time.
I'd like N + 5 features that work flawlessly. My mother always said that
some good things are worth waiting for. This is the only time that I've ever
agreed with my mother ;-)
>The product we're collectively producing isn't a hobby, it's incredibly
>valuable software that large numbers of people want to be able to rely on
>for their daily use. We have a responsibility to those people to do our
>best to give them something polished that they can use.
True, true, true... I've never disagreed with you here.
>Opening up the flood gates to even more features just postpones this
>much-needed work, and delays our eventual release indefinitely.
Not entirely or necessarily, but your point is well taken. Human nature and
all...
>Are you proposing a Linux-style even numbered stable release that we'd
>devote resources to maintaining as such? Is there a group of people
>willing
>to create, support, and maintain such a release?
Not entirely, I'm advocating not skipping the 0.8.0 series. Anything before
1.0 should be considered development and unstable. Point releases are
usually considered stable/unstable after a 1.0 release. n < 1.0 means
alpha/beta code, so beware, even if the middle number is even...
>If so, how is that different from the old notion of 1.0 as the release
>where
>we finish polishing the current feature set so it's rock-solid?
See above.
>Paul,
>designated grinch
Not a grinch, possibly more of a "voice of reason", "second opinion", or
"devil's advocate". You gotta learn to choose your words more wisely :)
Dom
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